One thing happening with old crumbling Philly churches, whose stones once served as testaments to the eyes and ornaments of the West Philly skyline, is their use for emergency homeless shelters and community programs.

One example of this is the Christ Memorial Church, located at 4233 Chestnut St., where more than

A reader asked us about 100 Market St., the long vacant bar at the corner of Front and Market Sts. with the stellar old timey sign. The property is currently under construction.

As it turns out, this historic building has a fairly interesting recent history. Though it had been empty for

838-840 N. 20th St., at the northwest corner of 20th and Parrish Sts., are being developed into two homes by Dottie Properties, LLC. For years, these were overgrown corner lots.

According to the zoning application, the two houses being built will be single family homes with roofdecks. With all the action

This weekend, after a tasty brunch at Cantina Dos Segundos, we were meandering around the neighborhood, enjoying the disturbingly warm weather. We checked out an Open House on New Market St., noticed that work has apparently resumed at Poplar Point, and witnessed serious masonry work going on at the former

Back in August, Milkboy Coffee opened a new location at 1100 Chestnut St., replacing a beauty supply store and reinvigorating a corner property that looked terrible. Recently, the Pizzeria next door at 1102 Chestnut St. closed down, and the 1400 sqft space is currently available for rent.

This location has seen

Back in September, we mentioned a new construction project at 1235 N 31st. St. from Steph-Sin Development. In the past couple of months, things have progressed nicely, as you might have expected.

Framing is done, windows are in, and sheathing is up, so we'll be looking for some bricks in the

Last month, we covered the transformation of the 2100 block of Carpenter St. over the past decade. As blocks go in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood, it's one of the more impressive stories, with nearly thirty vacant lots turning into houses since 2004. Today, we bring the 700 block of S.

Before a delightful Thanksgiving feast, we found ourselves strolling around a nearly deserted Center City yesterday, and noticed a Zoning Notice at 317-319 S. 20th St., on the corner of 20th and Delancey. For quite some time, this space was home to a lighting supply store and Hans W. Christoph

We're thankful for a lot, but mostly for our outstanding readers.

Gobble gobble!

We were in the neighborhood today, and noticed some serious progress at the construction zone at Fairmount and Uber Sts., and also realized that we haven't said much about this site since the summer. To review, Bill Loonstyn, Jr. of Loonstyn Properties, is in the process of constructing a 25K