Developer Craig Grossman says while there has been a little bit of development over the years, the opening of Triple Bottom Brewing marks the start of a cascade of new businesses expected to open there over the course of the next year.
"This really was the center of manufacturing back in the turn of the (last) century," said Grossman, general partner of Arts + Crafts Holdings.
There are a lot of warehouses on Spring Garden east of Broad Street, in a neighborhood between Northern Liberties and Fairmount he calls Spring Arts.
"This pocket had been sort of passed over for the last several decades but once was the center of manufacturing," he said. "I think people have been driving past these buildings for several decades, and they've just fallen off of the map, if you will."
Grossman says there has been a slow transition in the neighborhood, but he expects a significant transformation soon.
"You'll continue to see more small to midsized businesses open up on the upper floors of these buildings," he said. "You'll also see more ground-floor activation, so there will be a barbecue restaurant opening up later this fall, and there will be a music store opening up. There will be two restaurants in 2020."
Grossman says as the neighborhood begins to fill in, change will ignite on the street and pockets of activity in the area will be knit together.