In Francisville

The incredible transformation of Ridge Avenue is Francisville is probably one of the biggest development stories in town over the last few years, but somehow it seems like it's been flying under the radar. Many decades back, Ridge Avenue functioned as a neighborhood commercial corridor, creating an environment where residents

Another day, another vacant Francisville lot getting redeveloped.These days, it seems that you can't go a single block in this neighborhood without running into a contractors framing a building, pouring a foundation, or digging a new hole. Ridge Avenue is particular is seeing an explosion in development, with a bunch

Thanks to William Penn really thinking things through back in the day, our city has been easy to navigate since before everybody had a GPS machine in their pocket. Of course, some areas can get a little tricky, with Francisville chief among the confusing neighborhoods that are close to downtown.

Last week, a reader gave us a shout, letting us know that two homes on the northeast corner of 16th & Brown had been demolished. They were even kind enough to share a photo they snapped before the buildings came down.View in the pastDevelopers bought both properties earlier this year,

It was apparently only a matter of time before the building at 1501-05 Fairmount Ave. joined the chorus of redevelopment that's serenaded the corridor over the last few years. This building is rather unique, and because it's an example of low-rise commercial construction in the Art Deco style, it was

We were rumbling through Francisville the other day, and happened upon a 'For Sale' sign on an oddly shaped building across from the Francisville Playground. 723 N. 19th St. has been home to Joy Chinese Food for the last couple of years, and before that another restaurant called a Lucky

It was almost exactly two years ago that we brought a development opportunity to your attention at 1713-15 Fairmount Ave., after we noticed 'For Sale' signs posted on an old garage and vacant lot next door to Stone's Beverage Center. About a year and a half later, we learned that MJL Properties had

The changes around the intersection of 16th & Parrish are symptomatic of what's been happening in Francisville as a whole over the last several years. For quite some time, the eastern side of 16th Street was dominated by a combination of vacant land and an overgrown and abandoned construction site.

We were in Francisville earlier today and came across some zoning notices at the northwest corner of 15th & Cambridge.Zoning noticesThough the zoning notices are posted at the corner, they're actually for 926 N. 15th St., a vacant lot that's a wee bit to the north. Standing at this corner,

When PHA built a bunch of one-story homes in the southern part of Francisville in the early 1980s, they surely would not have guessed that developers would be buying up those homes and building condo buildings in their place just a few decades later. But that's exactly what's been happening