Northern Liberties is getting 96 more apartments on Front Street

The Northern Liberties apartment boom continues with a 96-unit building proposed for 901 N. Front St.

The seven-story structure includes 24 vehicle parking spaces and 27 bike spaces, with the garage space screened by a public art installation. It will consist of a mix of studios and one-bedroom apartments.

The architect is Designblendz and the developer is simply listed as 901 North Front Street Associates.

The Northern Liberties Neighbors Association offered light critiques of the structure, including a note that the fiber cement siding with metal-wrapped articulation might not age well.

“We would appreciate a mix of units that includes two-bedroom in addition to studios and one-bedroom, and feel that the units at the interior of the building do not have sufficient daylight,” a community association letter to the developer reads. “Given the development in this area, a commercial space is warranted.”

The project needs no zoning exceptions, although it is subject to the Civic Design Review committee, which offers nonbinding critiques of large developments.

Northern Liberties has been at the center of an apartment boom in Philadelphia in the last five years. The Northern Liberties Neighbors Association says it has reviewed plans for almost 6,000 units in that time.

Regional lenders have expressed concern that rent discounts may need to be offered to tenants as landlords compete for customers.

“We’ve definitely seen more [multifamily proposals] than any other neighborhood in the city, and it’s not even close,” said Larry Freedman, chair of the civic group’s zoning committee.

Freedman says he’s been encouraging restaurants and retailers to come to Northern Liberties on the strength of all the new housing. The neighborhood already enjoys one of the highest median incomes in the city.

“In 1993, when I became zoning chair, we were struggling to get anyone to build,” said Freedman, who had to make a spreadsheet to keep track of all the new development in Northern Liberties. “Now there’s 10,000 new people coming to the neighborhood.”