In West Philly

Almost exactly four years ago, we brought the Saint James Pentecostal Church at 4101 Ludlow St. to your attention, speculating that it was perhaps the reddest church ever. We described the history of the edifice, noting that it was originally built in 1846 as the home to the Monumental Baptist Church, which was one of the

We were looking at some aerial images of West Philly last week, which is of course a very common activity that normal people do all the time. Right? Hey, stop looking at us like that.As we were saying, we were looking at some aerial images and something caught our eye near

Philadelphia is a first class city, home to several large corporations and a host of small businesses, but "Eds and Meds" are the biggest drivers of the local economy. The eds are the local colleges and universities, like Penn, Drexel, Temple, and University of the Arts, to name a few.

The 3800 and 3900 blocks of Walnut, Locust, and Spruce were once typical West Philly streets, albeit with a strong bend toward Penn-related uses, including frat houses, small apartment buildings, and small businesses catering to the student population. Penn controversially purchased the four square blocks in the late 1960s and

We've been looking at two potential projects on the 4400 blocks of Chestnut and Ludlow for half a decade, following along as the plans have evolved over the years. First, in 2015, we told you that Orens Brothers intended to build a pair of apartment buildings at 4415 Chestnut St. and 4415 Ludlow

Historically, there were a couple of homes at 3933 and 3935 Powelton Ave., and as was the case with many large homes in the area, they eventually got carved up into small apartment buildings. But time was not kind to these buildings, and both were torn down in the late 1990s or early 2000s, along

Ah, the southwest corner of 40th & Market. For years, there was a janky looking two-story stucco building at this corner, but in 2017 we learned that developers had purchased the building and intended to replace it with a 27-unit apartment building. That sounded great, and given the incredibly close proximity

As opposed to many other parts of town, condos really aren't a thing in West Philadelphia. And you can probably figure out why without thinking too hard on the subject. The most obvious reason is that student housing rentals are a very attractive and lucrative market, so the overwhelming majority of

Standing tall on the 3900 block of Market Street, the University Square Apartments building has recently undergone a massive makeover to prepare it for the (third decade of the) 21st Century. Much taller than its neighbors at 19 Stories, this tower has been the largest privately-owned affordable housing development in the city

It's no exaggeration to say that the boundaries of student housing development have exploded outward in the last decade in West Philadelphia, pushing farther north, south, and west than we ever could have predicted. In terms of northern projects, we've seen development all over Haverford Avenue, with the occasional proposal pushing