This week, two readers have checked in, giving us the heads up about ongoing demolition at 1501 S. 20th St., on the southeast corner of 20th & Dickinson. We've visited this area previously, as three of the Northstar Point Breeze affordable housing homes were built on the southwest corner of

The City’s Phila2035 planning initiative is a comprehensive effort to collect community input from dozens of Philadelphia's neighborhoods about the vision residents have for the future of their communities. Thus far, three of the eighteen plans, Lower South, West Park, and Lower Northeast, have been adopted by the Planning Commission. The next step, according to

A reader recently shot us an email, wondering about the large surface parking lot on the northeast corner of Broad & Spring Garden, catty corner to the recently opened Tower Place. This parking lot is next door to an attractive old school building, and has a really eye-catching mural on

Built in 1970 as Five Penn Center, 1601 Market St. was designed by Emery Roth & Sons and stands 36 stories tall. According to Wikipedia, The Neat Company, KPMG and the Radian Group are among the main tenants of this structure, whose design elements hammer home the era in which it was constructed. So it's

Just about everyone agrees that South Street West has undergone an impressive transformation over the last several years. Numerous buildings have been renovated. Vacant land has been filled in with new construction. Dozens of new businesses have popped up, bringing a new vitality to this strip that separates the Rittenhouse

Last week, on the second floor of the International House at 37th & Chestnut, multi-disciplinary real estate firm U3 Ventures held a public meeting about a planned development at 4224 Baltimore Ave.,  a large vacant lot adjacent to Clark Park. You may recall, we first told you about this project a couple of months ago. About forty people

The last two summers, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has transformed two different vacant lots in Center City into pop-up gardens. In 2011, they created a lovely but temporary green space at the corner of 20th & Market where (in theory) a new building will soon (finally) rise. Last year, a garden appeared

Almost two years ago, we first told you about plans for the Olive Townhomes, four new green homes facing a private courtyard on the 800 block of Carpenter Street. For quite some time, nothing happened at this site, but two months ago we brought you the good news that construction was

A few days ago, we told you about a lovely garden on the 1700 block of Kater Street that almost forgives the monstrously ugly parking garage that sits in front of it. In response to that post, a reader shot us an email with some info about possible improvements on

Neighbors in Spruce Hill in West Philadelphia are attempting to build up their organization by offering free membership for new members that join the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) between now and next winter.

Some civic groups charge fees and some don’t. SHCA fees are $20 a year. The group’s more than 300