Going down 21st Street, it still feels weird not to see the Please Touch Museum building, as it was demolished last summer. As we told you previously, the building wasn’t listed on the Historic Register and as a result US Construction was able to demolish it in favor of plans for eight mansions. The developers are calling the project the Museum Estates at the Former Please Touch Museum, a name that’s a little on the nose if you ask us. The homes will each have 4,700 sqft of living space, with 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and 2 car parking. When the project is done, there will be three homes on 21st Street and five homes running perpendicular to 21st Street, accessed via a pedestrian walkway. Already, work is progressing on the first few homes and the first is listed for a whopping $2.15M.

This price point shouldn’t come as any surprise, as the homes at the Eight on Race project immediately next door have been selling in that vicinity. According to public record, the last home to sell from that development sold at exactly $2.15M, so the inspiration for the price seems pretty clear. The first Eight on Race home sold in 2015 for $1.9M, which gives us an indication that the prices for the Museum Estates project will slowly creep upwards. It doesn’t seem like all of the Eight on Race homes have sold just yet though, so we wonder whether the Museum Estates homes will sell as quickly as the developers might hope.

Speed of sales and construction notwithstanding, the change at this corner over the last five years has been nothing short of staggering. Looking back to the very recent past at this corner, we see a great old building housing a gallery and a crappy old School District building that was previously associated with the Please Touch Museum. In short order, there will be 16 ultra-high-end homes here.

Somethings it seems that noting ever changes in Philadelphia. But when things do change, they can change awfully quickly.