Posts

We've never been to Philadelphia Traffic Court personally (due to our impeccable driving record), but we are very familiar with its large presence on the 800 block of Spring Garden Street, across from the recently demolished Spring Garden Station. However, the area just to the south of the Traffic Court building is a bit of a mystery, as it consists of a hodgepodge of low-rise buildings and short streets that disappear from block to block. [...]
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Boy oh boy, has the area surrounding the Rail Park been undergoing a serious transformation. The newest project coming down the pike will likely appear at 425 N. 11th St., a property that would definitely benefit from an upgrade. Currently a one-story brick building that serves as a warehouse for both General Restaurant Supply and Reliable Fire & Mechanical, this property sits at the southern end of the triangular block created by Ridge Avenue, 11th [...]
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As we've reported quite a bit lately, North Broad has become one of the busier areas of the city in terms of new development. And one of the spots in the area that we absolutely love - the Rail Park - happens to have its "grand" entrance immediately adjacent to this thoroughfare. However, this doorway to one of our favorite civic spots isn't exactly the most inviting. Plans to spruce up the entrance at N. [...]
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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 sqft. It made sense that there was such significant density here back in the day, as there was once a bustling train station across the [...]
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It's been a bit of a slog for 1106 Spring Garden St., a property with some interesting history and a future that's less exciting than we would have hoped. The building dates back nine decades, per Hidden City, and was initially home to a plumbing supply business. An upholstered furniture maker called Lawsonia Manufacturing Company moved into the space in 1949, operating there until 2002. Soon after, a project came down the pike to convert [...]
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Philadelphia Carriage Company operated horse-drawn carriage rides for many years, offering tours of Old City to locals and tourists alike. A few years back, the company closed down in the wake of revelations that they were not treating their horses in a humane fashion, with too-small pens, poor ventilation, and nonexistent turnout space. With the business closed and the horses relocated to an animal sanctuary, we brought the former home of this business to your attention, noting [...]
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We've mentioned the Willow Street Steam Generation Plant a few times over the years, noting its looming presence at the northeast corner of 9th & Willow, in the Callowhill neighborhood. As we've indicated previously, the building was constructed in 1927 and burned coal to generate steam (as the name suggests). Per Hidden City, Trigen operates a 33-mile-long network of underground pipes which runs throughout downtown Philadelphia, heating and cooling hundreds of buildings in the city. The [...]
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The east side of 13th Street between Hamilton Street and Buttonwood Street has changed dramatically over the last decade, and the last undeveloped property on this little block is now poised for redevelopment. Back in 2011, we shared a unique building at 449 N. 13th St., noting the unusual look of this new construction duplex and appreciating its modern take on the neighborhood's industrial history. A year later, we learned about plans for the building to [...]
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A reader reached out to us recently, wondering about 1231 Vine St., a property with terrific views of I-676. The question stemmed from the fact that construction started here back in 2017 and only wrapped up at some point in the last few months. That's a pretty reasonable construction schedule for a $50M apartment building with a few hundred units, but doesn't really square with a property that's only 18 feet wide. Looking at the building [...]
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Let's take a narrow definition of Center City, and arbitrarily draw the boundaries from South Street to Spring Garden, river to river. Sounds like the most desirable real estate in Philadelphia, does it not? One would think that every square inch of Center City would be in high demand and that anyone would want to live in any area within these boundaries. But... that's not quite accurate. There's definitely one part of Center City that's not so desirable, [...]
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