Let's face it, Grays Ferry Avenue is no great shakes. Once it goes south of Washington Avenue, it's pretty much a mix of industrial buildings and vacant land, with the exception of the Grays Ferry Shopping Center. This shopping center, incidentally, is a bit of a retail destination in this

It's been a shockingly long time since the southwest corner of 44th & Market was used for anything resembling its highest and best use. Currently, a Conoco gas station operates at this corner, and it was a BP gas station before that. From what we can tell, the property has

A couple weeks back, we shared the unfortunate news that the True Gospel Tabernacle Family Church would be vacating their longtime home at 1900 S. 16th St., following in the footsteps of countless South Philly congregations in recent years. That being said, this news was tempered by the encouraging caveat

Center City has had a movie theater problem for years, which is almost inconceivable considering the history of downtown Philadelphia, where movie palaces were once as common as haberdasheries. These days, it's almost as impossible to see a movie in Center City as it is to find a nice Stetson.

900 Spring Garden St. is a vacant lot that's been sitting empty since the Carter administration at least, though it was home to a quartet of billboards until just a couple years ago. There were six small buildings on this lot historically, despite its relatively small size, measuring about 3,300

There was considerable handwringing in the river wards, to say the least, when the PA Gaming Control Board granted a casino license to a group planning a gambling hall at 1001 N. Delaware Ave., at the site of the former Jack Frost Sugar Refinery back in 2006. After a few

As we were scanning the daily zoning permit report yesterday, we noticed six demolition permits on the east side of the 200 block of S. 44th Street. This was a surprise for sure, as this block contains a row of mostly intact buildings that surely date back to the late

We recently spied a zoning permit, announcing some upcoming demolition on 16th Street in Francisville. Upon closer examination, we discovered that the plan will result in the demolition of two buildings at 721 and 723 N. 16th St. which have been used as triplexes for the last few decades and

We confess, we don't make our way to Harrowgate very often, as we generally stop on our travels in that part of town once we get to Lehigh Avenue. The Harrowgate name dates back to the late 18th century, but as this story from Billy Penn details, the area is

Birchwood at Grays Ferry is a senior housing building at 2309 Carpenter St. with 55 affordable rental apartments. The building was previously known as Saint Anthony's Senior Center, as it is was originally constructed in 1897 as the Saint Anthony de Padua Parish School, and was designed in the Romanesque