In West Philly

Penn's campus technically ends at 40th & Walnut, but off-campus student housing for the university extends far to the north, going all the way up to Haverford Avenue (and beyond). Despite the countless projects we've covered around here over the years, we believe that the area is still ripe for redevelopment. Properties on

The 4200 block of Filbert Street seems like it was a city planner's mistake a hundred plus years ago. The incredibly narrow block extends west from 42nd Street, and ends in a dead end before getting halfway to 43rd Street. We looked at historic maps, and the block has always

It was about a year and a half ago that we told you about Schuylkill Yards, a massive development endeavor from Drexel and Brandywine Realty Trust on the blocks surrounding 30th Street Station. How could you forget, it's the post where we introduced the Dutch concept of “woonerf,” which is a space where

The University of Pennsylvania wants to increase its dormitory offerings, and a green space at the edge of campus will fall victim to this aspiration. The southeast corner of 40th & Walnut is home to a branch of the Free Library, and a field wraps around the building with frontage on

There's a triangular parcel that's bordered by Mantua Avenue, Fairmount Avenue, and 34th Street that's been sitting vacant for as long as we can remember. Google Street View confirms it's been vacant for at least a decade. We know that at one point there were roughly a dozen homes and apartments

A couple readers have reached out recently, wondering what's happening on the north side of the 3600 block of Haverford Avenue. You may recall, several years ago, there was a plan floating out there to build a supermarket in Mantua, spanning four city blocks between 36th and 38th Streets, Haverford

Without thinking too hard about it, you would readily agree that a car wash isn't the highest and best use for a 16K sqft property on the 4100 block of Chestnut. And yet, if you visit this block and direct your attention to 4125 Chestnut St., you'll see the Chestnut

Spruce Hill has some of the most beautiful architecture in the city, with a mix of Victorian homes, Gothic apartment buildings, and more decorative columns than you can shake a stick at. At the intersection of 46th & Spruce, we see examples of some of the types of buildings that make

We've had our eye on the 5000 block of Baltimore Avenue for awhile now, watching as it has slowly improved. We've seen new businesses open on the block, like bar-restaurant Booker's, event space Petit Fete, and artsy gift shop Vix Emporium. We've seen plans come and go without coming to

From the first time we set foot in the Boyd-turned Sameric shortly before it closed, we've had a bit of an obsession with old movie theaters. Numerous beautiful cinemas once dotted the Philadelphia cityscape, but as the years have rolled along, many of those buildings have met the wrecking ball. A handful