A Pool With A View Proposed for Fishtown Mixed-Use Project

Fishtowners will vote tonight on what may be one of the more unusual building features yet: a rooftop pool that extends over a sidewalk.

Rendering of the projecting pool proposed for 1220 Frankford Ave. by Morris Adjmi Architects

Rendering of the projecting pool proposed for 1220 Frankford Ave. by Morris Adjmi Architects

Developer Roland Kassis has tweaked and refined the design for his proposed boutique hotel at 1224 Frankford Ave., a project Fishtown residents enthusiastically supported when he brought the first set of renderings before the Fishtown Neighbors Association in February of last year.

The basic structure and elements of the project remain: a new industrial-loft-style building to the north of the existing building at 1220, whose Shepard Fairey mural will become part of the hotel’s interior. A co-working facility with a lounge in its partially sunken cellar in the 1220 building and a jazz club/cafe on the street floor of the new building. A new boutique hotel on the upper floors of the new building, and a members-only pool club on the roof of 1220.

That pool, however, will have a most unusual water feature: a six-foot overhang above the east sidewalk on Leopard Street, which runs behind the buildings. Curbed Philadelphia has photos and a cross-section drawing of the Leopard Street side of the 1220 building.

The pool overhang will require a variance, so Kassis will present his plan for the pool-balcony to Fishtown residents tonight at 7 p.m. at the Fishtown Recreation Center, 1202 E. Montgomery Ave. All Fishtown residents and business owners are eligible to vote on the proposal.

Rendering reveals proposed pool at Fishtown hotel (Curbed Philadelphia)