In Brewerytown

A reader tipped us off recently about some ongoing demolition at 1262 N. 29th St., at the southwest corner of 29th & Thompson. This handsome building was home to an active corner store until somewhat recently, so it was perhaps a little surprising to hear that it was coming down.

We've wondered about the vacant southeast corner of 31st & Thompson for a long time.In the pastOur hopes for this property grew last year when plans emerged for 31 Brewerytown, the 64-unit rental project from Westrum on the southwest corner of this intersection. In fact, Westrum used the southeast corner

Our last visit to 31 Brewerytown at 31st & Thompson came last fall, when we recommended you dash over there to watch chunks of a new building get delivered and stacked together like legos. With the months that have passed, it should come as no surprise that the scene has

If Crime and Punishment—the brew pub opening next month at 2711 Girard Ave. after nearly two years of planning, renovation, brewing, crowdfunding, and a stalled opening because of the need for a zoning variance—brews beer as well as its namesake illustrates human relations, Brewerytown is in for quite a treat.The storefrontOn

In November of 2012, the opening of the Bottom Dollar Foods near 31st & Girard was chock full of excitement, pomp, circumstance, optimism, and plenty of other good feelings, even though the look of the project was about a hundred steps short of the original conceptual drawings. So yeah, the building

Last fall, we heard about possible renovation plans for a vacant warehouse on the northeast corner of 26th & Poplar, though our information was far from complete. The owners had pulled permits to build roof decks which suggested an upcoming residential use, but we didn't see any other permits out

Yesterday, we came upon an excavator in a hole at a construction site at Taney & Brown in the Fairmount neighborhood. Today, we stroll a couple of blocks to the north, to where Taney Street hits Girard Avenue. Last summer, the last time we visited this intersection, developers MM Partners

A little over three years ago, the Philadelphia Housing Authority held a press conference on the 3000 block of Cambridge Street, announcing plans to auction off 400 scattered site properties. Included in that list were five vacant and blighted properties on the block. The press conference set up shop in

For quite some time, we've been banging the drum aggressively on the redevelopment of West Girard Avenue. About two years ago, Bottom Dollar Foods replaced a large vacant lot, bringing a new grocery store to what was for many years a food desert. This was a very big deal. Smaller businesses

It's always interesting for us to take the long view of development and observe how projects wind their way from concept to reality (or not reality for projects that fall through). Having done this for a few years now, we have the benefit of digital hindsight to help us remember