One of God's houses has been demolished at 40th & Sansom in West Philly. Razing efforts began in December to knock down the Methodist Episcopal Church to make way for an all-glass building that will host frozen yogurt and pizza, which, after all, are God's gifts to us. One could say that a new form of God is arriving here; the new one tastes cold, smooth, creamy and like strawberry. We think that beats hell at least. The church was slated to be demolished by winter last year, with a completed building by the spring of 2013. Obviously, the timing will be a little different. P&A Associates purchased the church for $2M in 2007.
This is just one of two recent church-related demolitions in West Philly. However, in the other case, a house of God was preserved. Nearby, two historic brownstones were in the process of being razed at 38th & Chestnut this month to make way for a 25-story mixed-use high-rise with retail and apartments. Those brownstones are going down in the name of saving a church. There is also more building happening at 40th & Chestnut, where the $7.5M seven-story 65-unit Hub 2 from Piatt Associates is planned next to the original Hub, which provided an earlier spark in redevelopment in this part of University City.
Across Penn and Drexel there are enough projects happening to build almost a whole new school. Like at 39th & Walnut, where Penn will build a six-story office building at the site of the former Penn Diner, its South Bank campus on Grays Ferry, and the recently completed $100M Singh Center, to name a few. Drexel recently finished its new business school and is building all over. There's not too much more to say here except that it seems to be large-scale major multi-million dollar investment time in University City. Now let's celebrate with some froyo.