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Ten years ago, West Girard Avenue looked like a completely different street. What used to be a sidewalk littered with vacant storefronts is now a budding commercial corridor where new businesses are cropping up left and right. “Walking up Girard Avenue a few years back, all you’d see were cell phone retailers and Chinese food stores. There was nothing that was really of any quality,” explains Aaron Smith of MM Partners LLC. “The biggest obstacle up here is a lack of diversity in terms of retail and commercial business.”
MM Partners, as well as other private and non-profit developers, have been working diligently to improve the value of West Girard Avenue. Their collective vision is to transform Brewerytown into a neighborhood rich in marketable businesses and properties. MM Partners is striving to reinstate the element of quality to the retail opportunities on Girard, and they are accomplishing this by being selective and not saying yes to every offer that comes their way. For example, a Mexican restaurant offering freshly prepared, locally grown fare is much more likely to gain their support than a cell phone provider.
One way the company is achieving this level of selectivity is through a unique tactic. “We’ve been approaching locally owned businesses we feel have created a brand name for themselves in the city, people that have had successful store locations elsewhere who are looking to expand,” Smith clarifies. This was the method that succeeded in bringing in local café Mugshots’ third location to West Girard.
While improving retail spaces and finding reliable tenants to enhance storefronts is a significant piece of the puzzle, aesthetics play a large role in attracting people to any neighborhood. “There are several gateways to Girard Avenue that have been revitalized over the past few years. Right now plans for the entrance at 25th Street are in progress and we’ve been working with the Mural Arts Project on a new mural that will be going up there soon,” explains James Carter, longtime Brewerytown resident and president of the Greater Brewerytown CDC.
In another attempt at sprucing up the avenue, members of the Fairmount CDC have employed a street cleaner. “We hired a guy that sweeps and keeps West Girard clean, it’s made a huge difference,” says Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the Fairmount CDC. “Keeping the area attractive really helps bring in foot traffic, which is what West Girard needs.”
A commonality among many neighborhoods in Northwest Philadelphia is the lack of fresh food options. Invested members of the community are looking to fill that void, and venues like Mugshots, where customers can place food orders through the coffeehouse’s website and pick them up from any of the three locations, are working towards bridging that gap.
Carter agrees with this sentiment and laments the lack of food retailers in the area. He articulates that the biggest obstacle for residents of Brewerytown is the lack of an easily accessible supermarket. Carter has overheard vague rumblings behind the scenes in regards to opening a grocery store, but progress has been slow and a concrete plan has yet to materialize. He has been involved with the Supermarket Coalition, which aims to spark development by putting pressure on politicians and storeowners alike.
Smith of MM Partners acknowledges the need for a shift in residential patterns as well. In recent years, Brewerytown has increasingly appealed to new tenants who include artists and students. While this influx of newcomers is seen as a positive advantage for the community, it creates a largely transitional neighborhood. “We’d like to see these students invest in Brewerytown and say ‘okay, I really like this neighborhood, I want to make this my home,’” says Smith.
Carter has noticed this wave of gentrification, too. Longtime residents fear being priced out of the homes they have lived in their entire lives, which for many is a valid concern. However, Carter insists that for the most part, members of the community are open to newcomers. “We also encourage home owning residents that have lived here for a long time to stay in the neighborhood,” Carter points out.
In an effort to provide aid for these homeowners, a new program was born. “The THPP, which stands for the Targeted Housing Preservation Program, helps people with the repairs and renovations necessary to keep up with their homes,” Carter says.
On the whole, Brewerytown has hosted an array of advancements in recent months. Despite a period of national economic turbulence, small businesses and small developers have both managed to make considerable progress in the neighborhood. West Girard Avenue’s latest developments might be the most noticeable thus far, but the rest of Brewerytown is sure to follow suit.
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Strawberry Mansion: Residential Expansion Projects Replace Blight
The journalists who wrote this article need to do a lot more objective research before writing it! You are giving false preceptions of groups and individuals which do not reflect the reality of Brewerytown.
I wonder what kind of pressure can be applied to a place like Santoro’s (in that first picture) to clean up their appearance. Right now there are some businesses there that are contributing to the blight.
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