This isn't Fairmount news per se, but rather concerning our neighbors to the North, but of course, we're very interested in what goes on up in Strawberry Mansion too. And this sounds like great news...

Lofty Goals

A young couple is hoping that artists' lofts will save their neighborhood.

by Bruce Schimmel

Haile Johnston was yanking another rotten timber out of his front porch when he heard the news. The old Eastern Electric factory around the corner—an abandoned hulk occupying the block between 30th and 31st along Cecil B. Moore—might return to life.

"I was thinking, "Anything but a club.' The last thing I wanted was them pissing on my flowers," says Johnston. But club it would be, and that did not bode well for Johnston and his fiancee, Tatiana Granados.

Johnston, 31, grew up in Germantown; Granados, 29, is from Guatemala. They met in a sculpture class at Penn. As Granados finished her MBA at Wharton, renting in Center City became too pricey. They also wanted to live near a park.

While cycling on Kelly Drive, the couple found an inhabited but rough row home for $30,000 in East Park, along Fairmount Park in southern Strawberry Mansion. They have spent two years renovating their first home and organizing their neighborhood. And now this new club would be a noisy monster in the area.

"It's huge," says Granados, of the 60,000-square-foot former factory. And since the fate of their neighborhood would follow this building, the young couple saw little choice. They drained their savings, squeezed their equity and bought the two-story, red brick neo-art deco behemoth for $80,000.

And a fine behemoth is it, says Johnston. "It has windows big enough to throw a car out." With lots of light, open interiors and a location near the park, the couple saw its potential as commercial space for artists, artisans and nonprofits.

The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) agreed and put up $150,000 in seed money for the project. The old factory bridges other TRF initiatives in Brewerytown and Lower Strawberry Mansion. Johnston expects about 50 tenants in the renamed Eastern Loft Building, which will cost an estimated $2 million for completion. Woodcock Design has been hired as architects.

Now Granados and Johnston's hunt for tenants begins. "We're looking for cottage industries, like soap-makers, furniture-makers, frame shops, art stores, galleries. We're pitching the Mural Arts Program to put in a satellite workshop. We want a farmer's market and have met with Bob Pearson of Farm to City."

They've had nibbles, says Johnston, but he admits that his nightmare is for potential tenants to survey the neighborhood "and say that there's no way I'm coming over here." Still he's hopeful. "One of the great things about artists is that they're fearless."

http://citypaper.net/articles/current/cityspace2.shtml

me too. that area could and should be ver nice. some of the nicest homes I've seen outside of Spruce Hill/W. Philly and Parkside.

i believe that area of the city will do good,since it's nearby East Falls and Laurel Hill Cemetery. Especially nearby the park along 33rd St. Hopefully, the nieghborhoods along 33rd St will see a much better future than right now.

i agree and i am too am hopefull. i am a kennsington dweller that is putting the final pen marks on a property at 27th and jefferson. me and my girlfriend are moving in sometime in sept to start a long renovation of our new house(s) and studios. we have talked to haile and he is a really nice guy with grand ideas. one thing that we have noticed about living in north philly is that there are many things that go on up here and there are communities that care and there are thriving buisness districts. brewerytown is not that far. at first we thought that we were taking a huge risk but now realize that we are making a home.

Are you kidding me?

Artists are braver souls than I thought.

no.

Our Strawberry Mansion mansion just went under agreement today, I think. Someone must be reading the blog or the paper...

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Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

you bought a mansion!?! how exciting

I think this is excellent. SoHo got it's start this way, so they're going down the right route.


In 50 years, everything below Allegany Ave will be a part of CC. This is a great start.

Oh no, I didn't buy a mansion in Strawberry Mansion--I'm a realtor and we had a listing for this mansion basically in SM and it went under agreement today.

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Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach