About a year ago, Ultimo Coffee opened on the northeast corner of 22nd & Catharine in a shiny new building. For years prior, a blighted husk stood on this spot, slowly disintegrating. So clearly, we’ve seen an upgrade on this corner. Similarly, on the southwest corner, a pocket park languished for many years, accessible to few and attractive to none. Thanks to the efforts of SOSNA, this corner has turned into an active pocket park, extremely popular with neighborhood’s ever-growing toddler population. Again, things moving in the right direction. And earlier this year, we heard that the vacant and gross southeast corner could soon be rehabbed. Hasn’t happened yet, but we’re optimistic.

Ultimo in new building

Catharine Park

Could change soon

To sum up, two corners of this intersection have been transformed and there are rumors that the same will happen to a third. This being a normal intersection in Philadelphia, there’s one more corner to discuss, and that’s 2201 Catharine St., the northwest corner. For years, this corner has looked awful. Of late, we’re fairly certain that the Chinese take-out place has ceased operations. But we haven’t heard any news about the building nor have we seen any efforts to make it better. That is, of course, until yesterday.

Scaffolding has appeared

View on Catharine

Honestly, we don’t know much about what’s happening at the corner at this point. The permit that was pulled was only for facade and foundation repair. According to one of the guys working on the property, a new owner has entered the picture, but he didn’t know anything about their long-term plans. Hopefully, the building will be in line for a significant renovation, a new business will come into the commercial space, and the aesthetics will turn out better than the now-completed rehab up the street.

That’s not asking too much, is it?