The months keep falling off the calendar and development around Temple has continued to buzz. Derelict buildings have been demolished and replaced with shiny new (often boring) buildings. Lots that sat vacant for decades have turned over. So much construction has happened here of late, people who graduated even five years ago wouldn't even recognize their former neighborhood.
While all of this makes perfect sense in the abstract, we figured we'd give you a visual example of just how much change has come to a random intersection in the area. There's no particular reason we picked 12th & Dauphin, but it certainly illustrates the point. Check out some images of what the area looked like back in 2009, thanks to the brilliance of the Google Maps Time Machine feature.
Only five years ago, this intersection, which sits only a couple of blocks from campus, was in a sad state. Things have changed considerably in a relatively short time period of time.
On the northwest corner, four buildings have appeared. All are multi-unit properties, and we'd have to guess they're catering to students.
Same deal on the southeast corner. While an active, occupied building is clearly preferable to a vacant and blighted one, it's really a shame that the new buildings have none of the character of the one that once stood here.
But at least those builders bothered to use some brick on their facades. We spied an additional five buildings on 12th Street, just south of the intersection, all of which liberally utilize stucco on their exteriors. Some might argue that vacant lots are preferable to buildings that look like this. And while maybe it's a close contest, we'll still take the structures, thank you very much.
As you can still see, this area still has vacant lots interspersed among the old buildings and new construction. The northeast corner is still entirely vacant. This likely means that more construction is coming at some point. We've wondered aloud on multiple occasions whether the neighborhood will eventually get saturated, but that time isn't here yet, it seems. We'd wager that five years from now, this intersection will look different than it does today, and many of the remaining lots will get snatched up and redeveloped. If we're lucky, those builders will put just a little more effort in on the design side.