Leaving Fishtown For Frankford? (Huntingdon, Somerset: middle-class, loft, townhouse)

[7thgen]

Call me crazy but my wife and I are leaving the neighborhood (Fishtown) we've called home for the past 8 years. Don't get me wrong, we still thoroughly enjoy our vibrant Fishtown that is riddled with new construction and new NYC hipsters flocking down here every day - it's just a much different neighborhood nowadays. Fishtown back then was similar to Port Richmond a couple years ago. It's somewhat lost its Philly roots, some for the better, some for the worst.

So why Frankford? We've looked all over the city for affordable housing that is near public transit. More specifically, the El. Most of Kensington or Fake Fishtown as most call it (south of Lehigh) is all bought up and 3b townhomes are now being sold for close to 400k - craziness! We've checked out Northern Kensington near Somerset and K&A station for some glimmer of hope for the area and it really doesn't seem like there is any. Harrowgate (Tioga Sta) has a lot of investment coming in with a few nice residential & commercial loft buildings but it really doesn't feel as safe as Frankford does. Which isn't saying much because Frankford is still a rough area.

We're about to close on the 4b townhouse that we just bought for 80k near the Frankford Transportation Center. The block we're on is extremely well kept and a lot of its residents have lived there their whole life. There is an area of Frankford known as Northwood that features some beautiful homes. Some of which have been meticulously maintained. I know we aren't alone in our move to Frankford as we have friends who recently transplanted from Old Kensington up to Northwood to get a bigger place to raise their kids. Anyone on here living in Frankford or considering a move up north?

[chessimprov]

K&A, is that synonymous to Allegheny station?

Northern Kensington is or is really close to 19133, the Badlands. I would just not go there if you don't have a reason to go there even during the day.

I'm not a big fan of Harrowgate or Frankford, but less a fan of Harrowgate. If you don't have a lot to lose and this is your affordability and you want the city, go with Frankford. Just live as smartly as you can being in the city as I'm sure you know and good luck with everything. Strongly consider cyber school for your children.

[S688]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

K&A, is that synonymous to Allegheny station?

Northern Kensington is or is really close to 19133, the Badlands. I would just not go there if you don't have a reason to go there even during the day.

I'm not a big fan of Harrowgate or Frankford, but less a fan of Harrowgate. If you don't have a lot to lose and this is your affordability and you want the city, go with Frankford. Just live as smartly as you can being in the city as I'm sure you know and good luck with everything. Strongly consider cyber school for your children.

I know Frankford well, good job at wording that as gently as humanly possible.

[7thgen]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

K&A, is that synonymous to Allegheny station?

Northern Kensington is or is really close to 19133, the Badlands. I would just not go there if you don't have a reason to go there even during the day.

I'm not a big fan of Harrowgate or Frankford, but less a fan of Harrowgate. If you don't have a lot to lose and this is your affordability and you want the city, go with Frankford. Just live as smartly as you can being in the city as I'm sure you know and good luck with everything. Strongly consider cyber school for your children.

Agreed about the badlands. Some investors are buying up around that area but being a Philly native I can't see west of the El and north of Lehigh ever getting better. I won't have kids while living in Frankford. We're both entrepreneurs and moved to Fishtown long before anything cool showed up. We see Frankford with a lot of the same attributes that Fishtown had back 10 years ago. We're just trying to be ahead of the curve and be a part of another Philly neighborhood that used to be beautiful, making its return to its intended state.

[7thgen]

Originally Posted by RUGGLES99

Mindboggling. Fishtown, Frankford. Back in the day two lower middle-class, predominately white, Catholic and ethnic -- Irish, polish, etc. Basically neighborhoods no one would consider moving to unless you were down and out. And now look, $400k for sloppily built dumpy row houses being bought by young people with no real class or sophistication. Sad, very sad. Ten years from now, Fishtown will be a virtual slum again, and the cycle will start again.

Highly doubt Fishtown will become a slum again in 10 years. Us millennials love public transportation and loathe cars. These neighborhoods back in the 1800s were beautiful. You're remembering them from a different era and I don't think you understand how these cycles actually run. My wife and I have no desire to buy new construction and share your hate for the sloppily built row homes of today. Our new house is a Victorian/Queen Anne built in the 40s that is in incredible shape and has been very well preserved.

Ten years from now Fishtown will be absurdly expensive, riddled with Whole Foods type businesses and a neighborhood mentioned in the ranks of Brooklyn's Williamsburg and Chicago's Wicker Park. Philly is just late to the game and will become just like Brooklyn/Boston/DC over the past decade where every new neighborhood was once deemed incredibly dangerous a few years ago. Who knows what Frankford will be 10 years from now but for us we don't see it getting any worse than it currently is with the constant influx of people buying up near the El. It started with NoLibs, then Fishtown, now Kensington. THIS is the cycle.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by S688

Fishtown was never a 'slum.'

Right! I was thinking the same thing. Just like Fairmount was never a slum.

[1ondoner]

This is a good example of gentrification. It is good when it happens organically but disruptive if driven by external factors (read new residents coming in).

[7thgen]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

This is a good example of gentrification. It is good when it happens organically but disruptive if driven by external factors (read new residents coming in).

Happy to be considered good gentrification?

[nimshady123]

Personally I don't see Frankford gentrifying anytime soon on the scale of Fishtown. I find it interesting that you would decide to skip over Kensington and Harrowgate which is most likely due to how hard those neighborhoods are being affected by the opiod crisis. I think Lehigh Avenue and the underpass immediately after prevent development further in Kensington. Over my way in Port Richmond there are a few new homes that I agree look sleek but seem very shoddy construction.
Frankford can really be split into two neighborhoods that can be night and day. The Northwood section (West of the El) is a stable lower middle class neighborhood with plenty trees and beautiful twins. The rest of Frankford east of the El has more a similar built environment to pre gentrification Fishtown. This section is much rougher and in the next ten years I can see it possibly stabalizing with a few new homes and new businesses. However unless Philly lands something on the scale of Amazon's HQ2 I don't see full gentrification taking off in the near future. Frankford now is much rougher than the Fishtown I remember as a kid and change in Frankford will come slower than in Fishtown due to distance to Center City and what is currently happening between Frankford and Fishtown around Somerset and K&A. Good luck and I would be very curious how this turns out for you guys

[PhilliesPhan2013]

Originally Posted by 7thgen

Agreed about the badlands. Some investors are buying up around that area but being a Philly native I can't see west of the El and north of Lehigh ever getting better. I won't have kids while living in Frankford. We're both entrepreneurs and moved to Fishtown long before anything cool showed up. We see Frankford with a lot of the same attributes that Fishtown had back 10 years ago. We're just trying to be ahead of the curve and be a part of another Philly neighborhood that used to be beautiful, making its return to its intended state.

I'm a Philly native as well, although I'm probably younger (23) than you since I'm technically Generation Z. I'm not sure about Fairhill, but I can definitely see the areas west of the El (Norris Square and West Kensington) becoming as revitalized as East Kensington. I walk through those areas frequently, and new homes are popping up at places I would have never imagined as a kid a decade ago: Front and Huntingdon, 5th and Norris, 4th and Cecil B. Moore, etc. I used to take the train into Temple before finding a place on campus, and I always used to look out the window and see how vacant Ludlow (approximately Girard to Cecil B. Moore, 9th to 6th Streets) was back in 2016. Two years later, and new housing is sprouting up everywhere in that neighborhood!

If we can keep the positive trends and job/population growth going, then the 2020s will be a very interesting decade for the city. I'm expecting Strawberry Mansion, East Parkside, Belmont, and parts of Kingsessing to undergo revitalization. There aren't explicitly bad parts of South Philly anymore, so I expect it to continue to densify and grow wealthier. I think that development will eventually jump across Lehigh Ave and reach at least Somerset Street, the area around Tioga will continue to become its own little enclave due to all the industrial loft conversions, and I believe that Frankford certainly has the bones to become revitalized. Cobbs Creek and some of the neighborhoods north of Market Street in West Philly will be interesting to watch, as will Germantown.