Though residents were sad to see it go after 30 years in the neighborhood, the closure in 2000 of the Eat’n Park restaurant at Penn and Fairmont in Friendship/Garfield presented a great redevelopment opportunity, says Friendship Development Associates Executive Director Becky Mingo. The FDA bought the property, and began a master planning process for the site.
This fall, construction will begin on a new corner building designed by architect Arthur Lubetz that will include retail on the ground floor, 8--10 for-rent artist studios and about 15 loft-style apartments that will be sold to mixed-income buyers. It will adjoin another new building that will include 60 senior-citizen apartments and street-level retail.
Still, Eat’n Park is missed, Mingo says. “We’re hoping for a restaurant” in part of the new corner building, she says.
The for-rent artist studios, of 200--500 square feet each, will be novel for the Garfield/Friendship Penn Avenue stretch.Though the first wave of Penn Avenue artists bought empty fixer-uppers, Mingo says there’s now a new market segment, “usually someone who has a home they’re happy with, and needs an extra work space.”
Source: Becky Mingo, Friendship Development Associates