Naked Philly Blog Posts Archive - OCF Realty

Jun 15

Years Later, Renovation and Reuse at 23rd & South

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Jun, 15, 2018 | 5 Comments | Graduate Hospital

In their 1963 song "South Street," when the Orlons referred to the "hippest street in town," they were unquestionably referring to South Street on the eastern side of Broad. We don't remember quite that far back, but according to our memory, South Street East has always dominated South Street West in terms of energy, pedestrian traffic, and the sheer number of businesses. And that will probably continue to be the case in the future, though South Street [...]
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Jun 15

Dock Street Brewery Expanding, Opening New Location on Washington Avenue

Categories: None

Jun, 15, 2018 | 2 Comments | Point Breeze

It was maybe a few weeks ago that Mrs. Fox's car started making some funny noises, so we took the car over to our favorite auto garage in town, Sodi Brothers, just south of 22nd & Washington. It was the middle of the day and we were banging on the garage door for a few minutes before a neighbor passed by and broke the news that Sodi's was gone, and might open again in West Philly. We [...]
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Jun 14

Hurry Up and Wait on the 700 Block of Carpenter Street

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Jun, 14, 2018 | No Comments | Bella Vista

It's been a minute since our last visit to the 700 block of Carpenter Street, as it last caught our attention toward the end of 2016 when an older two-story home at 729 Carpenter St. got torn down. At the time, we didn't know what was going on with this property, though we suspected that the demolition activity hinted at redevelopment on the horizon. Checking back on the property today, we see nothing has happened just [...]
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Jun 14

Almost a Hundred New Units at Various Stages of Construction Around 5th & Fairmount

Categories: None

Jun, 14, 2018 | 3 Comments | Northern Liberties

The area around 5th & Fairmount captures the present state of Northern Liberties to a T. For far more years than we can remember, the square block surrounded by 5th Street, Fairmount Avenue, 6th Street, and Green Street was dominated by a couple of old warehouses and some surface parking lots. These buildings represented the industrial history of the neighborhood, even though we're pretty sure they hadn't been used for industrial purposes for quite some [...]
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Jun 13

49 Units in the Works, Behind Some Red Homes

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Jun, 13, 2018 | 2 Comments | South Kensington

There's a half dozen homes on the north side of the 500 block of Jefferson Street which were completed last fall, and you can be forgiven for mistaking them for Philadelphia's latest City Target location. While this shade of red isn't necessarily our taste, the best thing about architecture is that different designs speak to different people, and it's clear that the red works for some people, as folks have come forward and plunked down like [...]
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Jun 12

Etting Street Keeps Filling In, But Unexpectedly, the Street Itself is Historic

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Jun, 12, 2018 | 2 Comments | Brewerytown

It was just a few years ago that the 1200 block of Etting Street was sitting empty and desolate, a Brewerytown block with nary a building. But times have changed, and they've changed rather quickly. View in 2014 Current view The transition is nothing short of amazing, as the block has gone from zero buildings to over a dozen new residential structures. The block has been developed with a mix of market rate homes and [...]
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Jun 12

Soko Lofts Project Rising From the Dead in South Kensington

Categories: None

Jun, 12, 2018 | 5 Comments | South Kensington

There's a huge vacant lot at 1300 N. 2nd St. that's been in development purgatory for over a decade. Back before the 2008 recession, developers were planning a significant for-sale project for this 2.5 acre property, eyeing 160 condo units and 16 artist studios. After everyone finished licking their wounds from the economic downturn, the same developers came back five years later with a project called Soko Lofts, a Piazza-like 311-unit development centered around a courtyard. We [...]
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Jun 11

Will Love Kingdom Fellowship Be the Next Church to Disappear?

Categories: None

Jun, 11, 2018 | 1 Comment | Queen Village

A reader reached out to us over the weekend and gave us the heads up that the Love Kingdom Fellowship Church at 1009 S. 3rd St. was recently purchased by developers. We took a peek at public record, and indeed, a developer based in Packer Park purchased this property back in February, paying $2.8M. Further confirming the situation, we looked at the website for the church and saw that they're currently operating out of a temporary [...]
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Jun 08

Banca Calabrese Building Sticking Around After All

Categories: None

Jun, 08, 2018 | 3 Comments | Bella Vista

A few months back, we told you about plans to tear down some buildings at the corner of 7th & Christian in favor of new construction. To review, developers had 630-638 Christian St. under agreement, with plans to build seven homes with ten parking spaces in place of the existing buildings on the site. Though none of the buildings in question are designated historic, one of them was the childhood home of famous tenor Mario Lanza, while the [...]
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Jun 08

New Zoning Applications Appear at 18th & Washington

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Jun, 08, 2018 | 4 Comments | Graduate Hospital

A Washington Avenue project we've been eyeing since 2011 looks like it's finally coming into focus, just in time to join several other new developments on the corridor. Seven years ago, we told you that Michael and Mario Carosella from C&R Building Supply had purchased the building at 1731 Washington Ave. and were planning to demolish the warehouse on the property and replace it with a four-story mixed-use building. The details of that project called for 15 [...]
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