About


Welcome to Frankford Avenue!

An Overview

Frankford Avenue is the commercial heart of Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, located about a mile and a half northeast of Center City along the Delaware River. At the height of the industrial revolution, Kensington was referred to as the “workshop of the world” because of the numerous factories that dotted the area in the 1800s.   With the decline of manufacturing in America, many of those great mills went silent for decades.

But, in recent years, artists and new homeowners have begun to relocate to Kensington, many having been priced out of neighborhoods closer to Center City, others simply looking for larger spaces to practice their trade. In Kensington, they discovered a tight knit neighborhood with a strong sense of community that had persevered through hard times.  Now, newcomers side by side with long time residents are working to revive this neighborhood’s creative legacy, by creating art, starting small businesses, and reoccuping a once dormant industrial landscape.

Because a great deal of this activity was clustered around Frankford Avenue, the New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) worked with the surrounding community to create the Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor Plan. Two years ago the city offically recognized Frankford Avenue as an “arts corridor”, prompting new interest and investment in the area as a growing neighborhood.

The Plan

The Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor Plan is an economic development initiative of the NKCDC that focuses on shaping the greater Kensington area’s potential future as an artistically grounded community. The neighborhoods touched by the Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor are places with rich history and exciting new development and investment opportunities. Frankford Avenue is supported by a diverse mix of artists, working families and young professionals nestled in the streets of Fishtown, East Kensington and Port Richmond. NKCDC, in conjunction with strong civic associations, is committed to revitalizing this one-time industrial hub into a vibrant and dynamic place to live and work through the guidelines established in the Corridor Plan.

In 2004, NKCDC, with collaboration from the community, Group G Architects and Market Knowledge consultants, completed a comprehensive plan for the development of the Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor. Built on Kensington’s history, current assets, changes occurring in the neighborhood, and most importantly, community input; this plan outlines economic improvement possibilities for the area.

The plan proposes a mixture of design, promotion and organization strategies that would improve Frankford Avenue standing as a vibrant arts corridor.  Neighbors emphasized that the redevelopment of the avenue should maintain the integrity of the existing building stock and reflect the industrial and authentic feel of the community. Other key elements of this plan are the advocacy of more commercial space along Frankford Avenue, better integration between the neighborhood and nearby public transit, and improving infrastructure through the incorporation of public art. To download a copy of our plan, right click on the link below.

Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor Plan (8mb)

Investment in the Neighborhood

NKCDC has hired Group G, a seasoned urban design firm, to create a plan for the revitalization of Frankford Avenue. The project focuses on the corridor stretching from Delaware Avenue to Lehigh Avenue. Design components range from post-modern bus shelters, to different types of trees, benches and public art. The project has recieved a $1.8 million grant as part of Home Town Streets, a program implemented by PennDOT to promote safe walking corridors around the state of Pennsylvania. It is further supported by funding from the William Penn Foundation and the city’s ReStore Philadelphia Corridors Initiative. A total of approximately $3.5 million has been leveraged for improvements to Frankford Avenue.  Improvements are set to begin in 2009.

Frankford Avenue Streetscape Design Concepts (10mb)



Make sure to check out our News and Events page for the latest updates on Frankford Ave happening!  Also become a Frankford Ave Arts friend on MySpace and Facebook!

Site and content funded in part by the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce

Images on this site were taken by photographer, Karl Seifert.