Artist’s rendering of proposed five-floor building on N. 52nd Street near the Market-Frankford El stop.

A Philadelphia born-and-raised entrepreneur plans to build a five-story, $6 million “entrepreneurship hub” on 52nd Street, just north of the Market Street El stop.

Tayyib Smith, a self-described “serial entrepreneur” who has worked in the music industry and started ventures around Philadelphia, introduced the plan on Wednesday night during a zoning hearing with Achieveability, the neighborhood’s registered community organization (RCO). 

The 27,000-square-foot building at 53-59 N. 52nd St. would occupy what is now a vacant lot and would be dedicated to helping local entrepreneurs get small businesses up and running, including office space for rent and services like accounting and tax help.

Smith, who is a partner in the co-working company Pipeline, said that there is a shortage of services in the city for aspiring local entrepreneurs for “next level” services beyond remedial job and career training to get small businesses off the ground.

“There’s very little programming to help someone create their own business,” he said.

The commercial space would feed this mission as well. The Women’s Opportunity Resource Center (WORC), which provides business and financial resources to economically disadvantaged women and their families, will be the tenant, according to the plan.

Smith’s plan, which is two years in the making, comes on the heels of national attention on the 52nd Street corridor as a flashpoint of protest in recent days. Smith and others hope the investment and other plans will draw black entrepreneurs to “West Philly’s Main Street.”

The proposal, which would combine four lots (53-59 N. 52nd. St.) seeks variances for the height of building and the size of the rear yard. The lots are zoned CMX-2, which limits the height to 38 feet. The proposed building would be about 50 feet tall.

Some in Wednesday’s meeting voiced concerns about how the space – which will include some co-working options – might contribute toward the gentrification of 52nd Street.

“This is not a WeWork in any way, shape or form,” Smith said, referring to the co-working franchise.

Smith, who lived at 52nd and Chancellor as a teen and whose father still lives in West Philly, said he often feels “survivor’s guilt” for his success and wants to help provide some of the opportunities he has received over the years in a more systematic way for local entrepreneurs of color.

“I have a deep connection to Philadelphia,” he said. “I am not the person trying to gentrify 52nd Street.”

The plan was largely supported during Wednesday’s meeting and will next go to the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment for approval.