A few weeks back, we took the back way out of West Philly on 48th Street towards Girard Avenue to catch a photo of the recently completed work at the zoo. On that route, we were surprised to chance upon the in-process West Village Apartments project at the northwest corner of 48th & Brown, across the street from the busy Mill Creek Playground.

Under construction

The playground

The project from City Wide Realty, located at 800 N. 48th St., is being advertised on YouTube as a gated community with private parking. According to this Facebook page, the developers are aggressively seeking tenants for the new properties before they’re even finished. This padlister ad advertises a four-bedroom unit in the complex for $2,200. An application for 43 duplexes was first issued for that property in January, 2010. Permits for the construction of the four-story homes were issued this March to a B&T Home Builders, located in Abington. This Yelp ad places the company in the Mill Creek neighborhood where this project is being constructed.

More construction

Coming soon?

Even as we’re writing about this project and researching the applicable permits we’re still rather surprised. Does a developer know something we don’t know about this part of West Philadelphia? We rarely cover this area because there tends to be little development here. Nevertheless, here it is. The project is real. With its proximity to the Mill Creek playground, it affords potential renters somewhere to relax or play outdoors, but we’re wondering, who’s going this far west at these prices?

–Lou Mancinelli