Naked Philly Blog Posts Archive - OCF Realty

Nov 30

At Last, Big Changes Coming to 13th & Washington

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Nov, 30, 2020 | No Comments | Hawthorne

December is going to be a huge month for Civic Design Review, as numerous developers rush to get building permits before the scheduled change to the 10-year tax abatement at the end of the year. Perhaps this race to the finish line will be for naught, with the continued possibility of a delay to changes to the abatement, but it's better safe than sorry for these large projects coming down the pike. Millions of dollars are at stake [...]
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Nov 25

Rose Garden 2.0 is a Positive Step for a Small Patch of Frankford Avenue

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Nov, 25, 2020 | No Comments | Fishtown

The 1400 block of Frankford Avenue has experienced staggering changes over the last decade, with highlights including the arrival of two large mixed-use buildings and the conversion of an old industrial building into the largest City Fitness location in the city. The City Fitness building was previously home to the Chalmur Bag Co., which is now fulfilling all your polyethylene, cellophane, and polypropylene needs in a new space in North Philly. Next door, a three-story building with nine [...]
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Nov 24

Multi-Unit Buildings at Various Stages on Baring Street and Lancaster Avenue

Categories: None

Nov, 24, 2020 | No Comments | West Philly

Over the last decade or so, we've seen an explosion of development in West Powelton, with the intersection of 40th & Baring serving as an epicenter of sorts. Projects in this area generally target the student population and have ranged from single family homes to duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, to buildings with dozens of units. Many of these projects have sprouted on previously vacant lots, but we've also seen a number that have entailed the demolition [...]
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Nov 23

New Mixed Use on Point Breeze Avenue, With Additional Construction Next Door

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Nov, 23, 2020 | No Comments | Point Breeze

Coming down Point Breeze Avenue, there's a new building at 2151-53 Cross St. that's visible from about a block away. Though the address of this property, for a long time a vacant lot, is on Cross Street, the majority of its frontage is on Point Breeze Avenue. So the property sits on a commercial corridor, but it's zoned CMX-1, which is a zoning designation where retail requires a variance if it's next door to residential properties. That [...]
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Nov 20

Three Different Projects on One Block of Bainbridge

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Nov, 20, 2020 | No Comments | Graduate Hospital

The 1900 block of Bainbridge Street is one of our favorites in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood, mostly because the trees on the northern side of the block blossom in spectacular fashion for one week per year in the springtime. Some of the homes on the block are also pretty great, and wouldn't stick out on Pine or Spruce Street in Center City. But since this is south of South Street, none of the homes on [...]
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Nov 19

Milk Depot Progressing on a Changing Block of Marston Street

Categories: None

Nov, 19, 2020 | No Comments | Brewerytown

We first visited the 1300 block of N. Marston Street back in 2015, noting that developers had purchased 1327-33 N. Marston St., a long vacant industrial building. We told you that the developers were working to stabilize the building, a former milk depot, and predicted that redevelopment was probably in store for the property. We expected an addition and a partial reuse, hoping that the building's industrial history would remain apparent with any project. In the [...]
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Nov 18

Aldi is Getting Close Next to Divine Lorraine

Categories: None

Nov, 18, 2020 | No Comments | West Poplar

The renovation of the Divine Lorraine was always going to be the key to unlocking the potential of North Broad Street. For years, the blighted beauty at Broad & Fairmount offered a window into the glorious history of this corridor and provided an example of architect Willis G. Hale at the height of his powers. Unfortunately, years of vacancy and a couple aborted renovation efforts had left the building in a precarious position, a tantalizing architectural gem with [...]
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Nov 17

New Lab at 32nd & Walnut Could Solve the Climate Crisis

Categories: None

Nov, 17, 2020 | No Comments | West Philly

As you walk east on Walnut Street from the corner of 33rd Street, the grade of the street pitches upward, starting the climb that allows the street to make its crossing over the Schuylkill River as the ground itself slopes downward toward the water. By the time you get to 32nd Street, Walnut is already about ten feet higher than the cross street, roughly the height of a single story of a building. Given that you [...]
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Nov 16

Will Market House Appear Soon on Washington Avenue?

Categories: None

Nov, 16, 2020 | No Comments | Passyunk Square

Historically, the triangular parcel formed by 8th Street, Passyunk Avenue, and Washington Avenue was the site of maybe a dozen homes or small apartment buildings which we believe were torn down in the 1960s. A service station opened here by the 1980s, and by the 1990s, Captain Jesse Crab Company was hawking live seafood and fresh produce at the corner of 8th & Washington. After years on and off the market, the business closed up [...]
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Nov 13

Six New Homes Would Change the 2100 Block of Ellsworth

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Nov, 13, 2020 | No Comments | Point Breeze

If you've spent much time in Point Breeze, you've surely noticed the atypical homes on the 2100 blocks of Alter, Ellsworth, Annin, and Federal Streets. As we told you way back in 2011, roughly two-dozen homes were constructed as for-sale affordable housing on these blocks in the early 1980s, eschewing traditional row home architecture. These homes are all two-story twins with driveway parking, gabled roofs, and a healthy dose of vinyl siding. They also happen to [...]
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