A couple of readers have reached out in recent weeks, wondering about the ongoing construction at 1425 Federal St., a building that was most recently the home of Mel Davis Used Cars. Just a few years back, when Mr. Davis was still doing his thing, there were two other auto

The Parker Spruce, at the northeast corner of 13th & Spruce, was built as a "bachelor hotel" in the 1920s, but as the decades wore on, it transitioned to a seedy hotel of ill repute. A Philadelphia Weekly writer spent a night there in 2006 and found the accommodations to

A few months back, we brought 1805 Washington Ave. to your attention, noting that two buildings were being renovated and signage had appeared that announced a new restaurant called Chick's. A reminder, most recently, the western building had been home to a restaurant called Tasty Asia while the larger eastern

Over the weekend, we noticed a sign posted at the corner of Columbus Blvd. and Callowhill St., advertising a townhome project called Callowhill Court. And as we told you yesterday, we were concerned about this sign because we thought that it meant curtains for the Renaissance Plaza project, and we

The area around 16th & Girard has been dominated by Saint Joseph's hospital for many years, with the large building sitting on the southwest corner and many nearby properties used as surface parking lots for employees, patients, and visitors. But the hospital closed last year, and as we told you

400 N. Columbus Blvd. has all the potential in the world. It's huge, spanning about five and a half acres. It's right on the Delaware waterfront. It's easily accessible from both Old City and Northern Liberties. But for as long as we can remember, it's been sitting half vacant, with

William Penn was really on to something when he laid out Philadelphia on a grid, as it makes navigating our town incredibly easy for residents and tourists alike. Even when you throw in the occasional Passyunk Avenue, it's pretty tough to get lost in the core of our predictable city.

Perhaps you've wondered why residential projects tend to look so similar to each other from year to year and neighborhood to neighborhood. Maybe you think it's laziness from the small pool of architects in town. Or perhaps you place it at the feet of the developers, who are just trying

We were drawn to the 4th & Queen intersection recently, thanks to a reader wondering about a zoning notice on the southeast corner. This building was renovated a few years back, along with a number of buildings to the south. That renovation included the closing of Queen Village Pizza and

We've been at this awhile, and we sometimes find ourselves considering some material for a potential post and spending a few minutes trying to remember whether we already covered it at some point. Such was the case with a property at the southeast corner of 5th & Master, where we