The Fairmount neighborhood is one of the more charming in Philadelphia. Large houses, charming blocks, close proximity to the museums, easy access to the park, and the list goes on. Unlike many of the neighborhoods we commonly cover, Fairmount arrived years ago. And while it sees its fair share of

Across the street from where there are plans to transform a huge vacant lot at 27th & Girard into a four-story mixed-use building with ground floor retail, on the north side of the block, improvements have steadily been coming along to a three-story building with ground-floor retail space. This building

A couple of months ago, we told you about plans for the Soko Lofts, a rather large mixed-use development planned for a 2.5 acre site at 2nd & Thompson. That project, as last detailed, will include 311 residential units, 4-6 retail spaces, about a hundred parking spaces, and a Piazza-like

In late May, we told you about plans from the folks at People’s Emergency Center to rehab Hawthorne Hall. The plan for this curved, mud-toned, historic, and beautiful building along the 3800 block of Lancaster Avenue is to create a retail space for Mighty Writers, a restaurant space, residential units, and a theater space.

Over a year ago, we brought 2835-37 W. Girard Ave. to your attention. Formerly a pizza place, a fire took place here several years ago, leaving the building in its currently blighted state. Recently, the owner has cleaned up the facade some, taking our advice by adding something that resembles

A couple of months ago, we told you that eleven town homes would soon be rising on the southeast corner of 2nd & Wharton, site of a warehouse fire back in December. According to several reports, this warehouse had been the site of several unlicensed activities, including an auto repair

In West Philadelphia, as the Baltimore Avenue commercial corridor has strengthened, it has continued to crawl west block by block. The relocation of the Mariposa Coop to 48th & Baltimore in the spring of 2011 marks one of the more prominent landmarks in the corridor's westward crawl from Clark Park

Baby step by baby step, the West Girard Avenue corridor is seeing improvements. In the last couple of years, the opening of a new Bottom Dollar at 31st Street probably represented the biggest addition, but there are plenty of other residential and commercial developments that have cropped up, with several

We've been surprised that an empty lot has sat at the northeast corner of 5th & Catharine for as long as it has. It's been vacant for as long as we can remember, aside from a few statues installed on the lot. But that will soon change as the Queen

At 5th & Thompson, a block north of Girard, we present to you what one might call a four-star corner.

At the southeast corner of this intersection is a huge vacant lot, across the street from the wonderful and charming Taco Riendo. The lot is actually six separate parcels, all owned