Blighted building to become high-end apartments

NEARLY EVERY window is shattered. Rust and graffiti cover walls, doors and more. Mortar crumbles from between bricks worn with age or gouged by vandals. Weeds sprout from the unlikeliest of places.

The old Goldtex textiles factory, on 12th Street near Wood, between Vine and Callowhill streets, has been empty and eroding for years, an enormous eyesore to area residents and merchants but an irresistible draw for vandals and squatters.

It was just one of the more than 40,000 vacant or abandoned properties in Philadelphia, perhaps noticed a bit more than the rest because of its prominent location near Center City.

But then blight met might.

Mike and Matt Pestronk - not ones to be daunted by 10-story derelict buildings nor the brazen squatters who call them home - bought the building.

The brothers, who own Post Brothers Apartments, plan to gut it and renovate it into 160 upscale rental apartments. Although the sale went through just a month ago, work is already under way.

Workers have rousted the squatters who laid claim to the property in recent years and have begun shoring up the dilapidated tower. Construction is expected to start in about six months, with the goal of opening in two years, according to the company.

"It's a great building in a great location with a great view," said Mike Pestronk, whose company has converted blighted properties in other parts of the city into rental apartments.

The Goldtex structure produced textiles for decades until the factory closed in the 1970s. Artists and office workers moved in after, but the building has stood empty for about a decade, neighbors said.

"It's so ugly now, and I lost a lot of business when it closed," said Jany DiMopoulos, who opened Jany's restaurant with her husband next door to Goldtex in 1977. "I'm very happy [about the renovation]. It makes Philadelphia more beautiful."