August 19, 2026
Evan Kaucher/Cannonball Club
Cannonball Club, located at 1105 Frankford Ave., will combine luxury car storage with a cafe, bar, co-working space and social hub.
Cannonball Club, a car storage facility and private social club, is wrapping up renovations to its 30,000-square-foot Fishtown site that includes a cafe, bar, co-working area and potential future retail space that's surrounded by what its founder describes as a "cathedral" of luxury cars.
While some locals are skeptical about how the club at 1105 Frankford Ave. will fit into the neighborhood, owner Chris Allen believes it has the potential to dispel preconceptions about car culture by appealing to high-rolling owners, auto enthusiasts and anyone in between. Its opening is scheduled for Sept. 10.
"What I wanted to provide was a viable social club," said Allen, 32. "A place kind of like a Soho House for cars that you could actually use seven days a week. … I just want a place that car people and non-car people could come in, enjoy and objectively think, 'Oh, that's pretty cool.'"
The cafe, which is open to the public, began serving coffee and tea last week and will eventually offer an array of pastries and sandwiches from Focaccia Affair. The modestly sized cafe space serves mainly as a reception area. It's enclosed by glass panels that allow customers to view the main fixture — the grand 21-car display room, which is visible from nearly every inch of the space.
The building, which housed the Otis Elevator Company in the early 1900s, features 30-foot walls that display rare, vintage or just-plain-cool cars and motorcycles from local members who pay thousands of dollars per year to store them there. Some of the vehicles include a 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, 1976 Ford Gran Torino and Fiat 600 Multipla from the 1950s — as well as some rarities gifted to Allen from local dealerships and race tracks.
The storage area, being hailed by ownership as "museum-quality," is climate-controlled to reduce humidity and utilizes a trickle charging system that keeps the cars' batteries from dying or overheating. Surveillance on the site will be deployed 24/7 and a professionally trained staff is available on-site for detailing, hand washes, sourcing obscure parts and other modifications.
"We really feel that our concept is going to attract the right mix of people," Justin Miller, director of guest services, said in a statement. "Of course the top-tier auto storage will be for a select group, though we have a younger member profile with some hot street machines. So, not just the posh and polished car collector set."
Cannonball Club in Fishtown welcomes its guests to its street-facing cafe at 1105 Frankford Ave. Nearly all other areas of the 30,000-square-foot site will be for members only.
A flight of stairs brings members to a 50-foot, 20-seat bar and adjoining dining lounge, which may just be the main draw of the space for automobile agnostics. To perfect the lounge's aesthetic, Allen and his brother, James, worked with a handful of partners, including their mother who runs an antique store, to curate an eclectic, maximalist and surprisingly car-free atmosphere. The bar and lounge can be rented out for private events, but Allen said he wants to make sure the space is available for his loyal members.
"There's not a shred of car art up here," Allen said. "I think the whole Americana, car art aesthetic is awful. I have seen enough neon and Sinclair gas pumps. I don’t need to have any Shell signs. … So we've gone for sort of rich, crazy colors and weird art."
The main building that holds the car storage, bar, lounge and cafe is attached to the next-door rowhome, where Allen said his team envisions the top floor as a co-working space for Cannonball's members and the bottom floor as a rotating retail space.
"The cars are part of it, but they're not the whole story," Miller said in a statement. "It's really about creating a comfortable, interesting environment where you can drop in for an hour or stay all day, meet different kinds of people and feel like you're part of something without it being forced."
Other than the public-facing cafe, Cannonball's amenities — including its bar, lounge, co-working space and car storage — are reserved for holders of the club's membership plans, which cost $250 a month without car storage and $850 a month (in a yearlong contract) to include a vehicle.
Becoming a member also involves a vetting process, which Allen describes as a casual conversation with him and his "guys," but includes guest privileges and unlimited access to the site's full event calendar, which may include anything from car shows and live music to yoga classes and book signings.
Members of Cannonball Club luxury car storage facility in Fishtown also have access to a 50-foot full bar and adjoining lounge area.
Since Cannonball was first announced in the spring, negative feedback regarding its concept have circulated online — largely focusing on the exclusivity of the programming. One Instagram comment under the business's post said, "the whole neighborhood is so against this being here."
The Fishtown location will be Allen's second Cannonball site. He also has a storage facility in Huntingdon Valley that he has occupied since the pandemic, but called it relatively "soulless" compared to the Philly spot. He said he's no stranger to the backlash and has heard plenty of "hipster" allegations, but said he still believes the space can be an accessible third space for the public.
"If somebody wants to come in here and talk about the intricacies of Honda B-series engines or just really nerd out, I want them to feel like they have a place here," Allen said. "But also a place where they could bring their non-car friends to mingle. … I want to have a bit more of a melting pot where it wasn't super elitist and difficult to get in."
The Jenkintown native said he has been obsessed with cars since he was a kid. Growing up his favorite movie was the 1981 comedy "Cannonball Run," which he partially named the facility after. He recalled building his first car — a Factory Five kit car — when he was 14, which he still has to this day. He has also competed in several professional races around the world, two of which he's won.
As a lifelong fan of automobiles and a Philadelphia-area native, Allen also views Cannonball Philly as an answer to everything that is wrong with "car culture."
"I'm just excited to see a different concept in Fishtown," he said. "I do think we've struck an interesting balance of the private social club in an amazing building with an objectively interesting backdrop. … Selfishly, this is the club that I want to hang out in, and I like to think that other people share that sentiment.”
Cannonball's cafe is open every day from 8 a.m.-2 p.m., and the full site will be open to members starting Sept 10.
