1828 Frankford Avenue

Pennoni provided structural design, and construction administration services for this 4-story, 10,000-SF mixed-use, multifamily apartment building in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia.

The building is formed of three floors of conventional wood construction supported off concrete basement walls and footings. The interior bearing walls are supported off steel moment frames at the second floor, providing a desirable open plan first floor commercial space.

Pennoni worked closely with the architect and owner to achieve their goal of maximizing the development potential of the site by utilizing toe-only retaining wall footings. This allowed the building to be built up against the property line. Pennoni provided custom façade details such as curved steel lintels around the windows to support the architect’s goal of accentuating the buildings character.

The requirement to limit the number of columns and walls at the first floor as well as a challenging aspect ratio presented added complexities when designing the lateral stability system. Pennoni fully utilized their design expertise to develop a minimal, cost effective structural system that could be hidden within the architectural finishes, therefore providing a greater net rent-able square footage for the developer.