Cannonball Club, a private automotive social club, is gearing up to open a location in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood this summer.
Designed for connection, passion and business, the space will combine climate-controlled car storage with a lounge celebrating car culture, partner Christopher Allen told What Now Philadelphia.
Allen will develop Cannonball Club with partners James Allen, David Asplundh, Frank Bennett and Justin Miller.
Allen discovered his passion for cars as a child.
“I have been drawing pictures of this dream garage since I was a young kid,” he said.
The dream never faded. In 2019, he opened Cannonball Storage, a collector car storage facility in Huntington Valley.
“There was a vacant unit in Huntington Valley. I basically started it as a hobby business, where I could hang out with my friends and the guys I raced with, and then store some of my cars. Within three to four months, it was full. We had big lifts put in to further expand our capacity. It’s fantastic. We’re stacked. It’s still full,” Allen said.
He spent the past several years refining operations at that location, though one piece was missing: a social membership component. The team did host events like Cars and Coffee, but Allen envisioned something bigger in Philadelphia.
“I started to fall in love with the social aspect of this business. It was interesting to see people who were diehard into cars,” he said.
After searching for the right space, the team landed on a former warehouse in Fishtown at 1105 Frankford Ave.
“It was previously the Otis Elevator Factory and Morse Elevator Factory prior to that—Fishtown was a bustling manufacturing corridor. I love the area. It felt like in an area like Fishtown, something like this would resonate with people,” he said.
The plan is to preserve the building’s history while incorporating modern touches.
“The building is so cool. It has all exposed truss work and all natural light. We’re trying to maintain a lot of character. The facade is actually still historically designated. We think the interior is going to be pretty special; industrial chic,” he said.
Membership will be divided into two tiers. The first tier includes regular social members, who will have full access to the clubhouse, monthly events and meetups, as well as the private bar, food and lounge.
The bar and lounge will be located on the second floor and will feature fare from a local group, though the team has not yet revealed who.
“We’ll have typical elevated simplistic, but upscale bar food and some good veggie options. We want a small menu. That’s key,” he said.
The second tier is for car storage members, who will also have full social access.
“The big thing we’re trying to emphasize is that this is not a day in, day out parking facility. We’re viewing it as more of a car museum. This is very much toward collector cars. We want our members to come from all walks of car culture,” Allen said.
He said there are few restrictions on which cars will be allowed in the space, including models like Camaros, Jaguars, Ferraris, Lamborghinis or even Hondas.
“If you’re absolutely in love with your fifth generation Honda Preludes and you want to pay our storage collection rates, bring it on over. I am not going to discriminate, especially if you’re the kind of person who likes to interact with the club,” he said.
For those who love cars or are simply looking to explore a new space without committing to a social membership, a public-facing coffee shop will also be open, featuring a local roaster.
“It’s not huge. It’s about 750 square feet. There’s a few bar stools there. It’s like an espresso bar that actually overlooks the main ingress and egress ramp for all the vehicles in the space, as well as the big racks that are three high, kind of like a New York City-style parking garage, but a little bit more eloquent looking.”
The team looks forward to welcoming a wide range of people into the space.
“If you’re a young 22-year-old, but maybe you don’t even have a car and you just love the idea of motor sports or just want to be around it. Or, maybe you just want a really nice, sort of quiet place to work with an interesting backdrop, and you don’t know the first thing about cars. Or, you’re a rich dude and you’ve got 50 Ferraris; that works too.”
The partners are primarily focused on opening the new location but have plans to potentially expand the concept into South Jersey down the line. The goal is to softly open Cannonball Club in mid-June, followed by an opening bash by Labor Day.
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