A significant new development project is being planned that has the potential to transform an entire Germantown Avenue block at its intersection with West Tulpehocken Street, an area that has struggled with vacancies in recent years.

Developer Ken Weinstein's Tulpehocken Development Associates LLC purchased the former New Bethel AME Church building at 6149-53 Germantown Ave. for $822,125 in July, with plans to convert it into a mixed-use development.

The project, located just a block from Germantown's Washington Lane boundary with Mt. Airy, will join several other development projects nearby - including the mixed-use construction now underway at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Washington Lane, which will bring an additional 47 housing units to the spot where the Comer Paper & Party building once stood. 

"This project is part of our broader vision to revitalize Germantown Avenue," Weinstein said, referring to the ongoing investments he's made along that retail corridor, with a special focus on Wayne Junction, where the southern edge of Germantown meets the transit hub of SEPTA's Wayne Junction Rail Station.

Preliminary plans for the church redevelopment call for 20 to 25 residential units and ground-floor commercial space, maintaining the building's exterior brick walls, Weinstein said.

"We are just in the early design stages," Weinstein told the Local, explaining that the project will meet current zoning code requirements and therefore will not need approval from nearby neighbors. "But when we have more details we will gladly share them with the community."

Julie Stapleton-Carroll, first vice president of West Central Germantown Neighbors, said she's optimistic about the project.

"Ken is approachable, reliable and community-minded," she said. "He is well-connected and responsive to questions and feedback. While some say he owns too many properties in Germantown, it's reassuring that he cares about history and the community."

Neighbors hope that the development could help strengthen the handful of existing businesses in the immediate area, which currently lack amenities such as restaurants, grocery stores and entertainment venues.

"It would be nice to have a restaurant in the neighborhood," Stapleton-Carroll said. "Opening up the facade at the street level will help to connect the commercial corridor to other blocks."

The church property has a rich history. Founded in 1858, New Bethel AME constructed the building on the 13,395-square-foot lot in 1977. The congregation, whose original location was at East Rittenhouse and Morton Street, is the only pre-Civil War African-American church in Germantown.

But the building had a lot of deferred maintenance, which was hard for them to keep up with, Weinstein said. So they sold it to Weinstein and relocated to 3015 West School House Lane, next to the Thomas Jefferson University East Falls Campus, in July. They celebrated their first service at the new location on July 21.

New chapter for an old block

Once a prominent section of Germantown, the corner of Germantown Avenue and West Tulpehocken Street slowly became a mostly desolate stretch of abandoned buildings and boarded-up windows. While a handful of businesses still populate the surrounding blocks, this particular block has been mostly devoid of retail activity for years – a fact that made the recent closure of the Rite Aid, just one block north, particularly worrisome. In recent months, that site had become problematic for illegal dumping until State Rep. Andre Carroll (D., Phila.) helped coordinate cleanup efforts.

But that appears to be changing.

Weinstein's recent church purchase included three adjacent storefronts and he already owns and has renovated 6147 Germantown Ave., which houses both commercial and residential tenants. "We'll renovate those, and keep them intact to maintain a continuous streetscape along that stretch," Weinstein said. "And then we will renovate the church, which is behind those storefronts."

And neighbors say owners of the shuttered Rite Aid at 6201 Germantown Ave. have secured a new tenant.

While nearby neighbors are happy to see investment on the block, they say they are concerned about the impact that 20 new units – on top of all the other additional housing that's coming soon – will have on parking.

"We are glad that it's been bought by a responsible developer," Stapleton-Carroll said. "However, we have some concerns that there is no planned parking. With the Sparrow House apartments just completed on the corner of Tulpehocken and Germantown, there is already congestion and a dearth of parking spots." Residents currently face limited options, she said, with metered parking along Germantown Avenue creating additional challenges.

This story was updated to change the title of Julie Stapleton-Carroll.