U-Haul restoring old Pennsylvania Railroad Warehouse on Oregon Avenue
A 1928-built Pennsylvania Railroad Warehouse that has been called the, “last major surviving monument to the Pennsylvania Railroad’s great transportation empire,” is being restored in South Philly. Earlier this year, U-Haul purchased the 330,000 sq. ft. building at 8 E. Oregon Ave. for an adaptive reuse project “to help Philadelphia reduce its inventory of unused buildings and fulfill U-Haul’s Corporate Sustainability Initiatives.”
From PhillyVoice:
In April, U-Haul officially reopened the warehouse as the Riverview Store, providing a range of products from truck and trailer rentals to towing equipment, moving supplies, and U-Box portable moving and self-storage containers. That’s the first step in a renovation process that will eventually include more than 1,000 indoor self-storage units, both climate-controlled and nonclimate-controlled.
Nice, that’s about the only viable usage for the building. Much better then knocking it down.
Better than knocking it down, but not as good as a large format art gallery like Tate Modern.
Sure something along the lines of Tate Modern would be great! But that idea sort of skips over the “viable” aspect…
Does this mean that the Washington Ave U-Haul places will be heading south, opening more large Washington Ave properties to mega development?
That’s a valid question, but I don’t think this new facility is a relocation; I think it’s just an expansion. Plenty of South Philadelphians have more stuff than their 1,000 sq. ft. rowhomes can store (myself included). In any case, I do love that repurposed factory at 12th & Wash.; I think the mega development is best left to that spot two blocks west of it!