In Point Breeze

Way back when, we told you about plans for an OCF Coffee House at 2001 Federal St., as part of the renovation of this long-dilapidated building. In the months since, an OCF Coffee House location has opened at 1745 South St., and the site of the next cafe has undergone

Decades ago, Point Breeze Ave. was a vibrant commercial strip, offering all types of retail and entertainment options to neighborhood residents.

In the 1960's, poverty, crime, drugs and blight began to creep in, overwhelming the entire neighborhood and decimating the commercial corridor that locals refer to as 'The Breeze,' according to

Back in June, we brought 1201 S. 21st St., a blighted building on the southeast corner of 21st and Federal Sts., to your attention. The one-story, former laundromat, has been owned by Young Lae Song since 1992, when he purchased it for $2,500.

According to the Zoning Application that we recently noticed,

Or has it already happened?
Or just mostly happened?

Last week, a variance was granted for the complete reconstruction of 1533 Manton St. on an existing foundation, with new front, side, and rear walls, and new floor and roof joists. Taking a quick glance at the building, you would think that this

Waaay back when, we told you about ReNewbold, a development project from LPMG (the SPTR and American Sardine Bar people), developing 16 single family homes, 2 condos, and a retail space at the currently bleak corner of 16th and Moore Sts. LPMG has hired LEED experts Postgreen (the 100K house people) to design the project and Hybrid Construction to

If you've walked or driven through Point Breeze lately, you've probably noticed an impressive amount of construction activity, which might lead you to believe that developers are going hog-wild in the neighborhood, bidding up vacant lots and barely meeting buyer demand. Unfortunately, this is not exactly the case.

About forty properties that

Back in September we speculated about the fate of a fixed-up commercial space at 16th and Federal Sts. that formerly contained Ray's Cleaners.

At that point, the exterior of the building had been fixed up, with the boarded-up rear of the property becoming an apartment, some new windows installed, and repairs

A couple of readers gave us the heads up about a newly dug hole at the corner of 20th and Dickinson Sts. and we, of course, went and checked it out.

We had some trouble finding out the situation with these three lots, but eventually got our information from the RDA's

15th St., between Ellsworth and Federal Sts., is not a desirable block. On the northern end of the street, a not-so-safe bar. On the southern end, a beer distributor, a bodega, and a beer and steaks shop serve up the essentials. Midblock, a number of dilapidated and/or vacant homes are

Back in June, we wrote about an eleven-unit affordable housing project from Community Ventures in cooperation with South Philadelphia H.O.M.E.S. in Point Breeze. In case you don't feel like (re)reading 800 words from six months ago, the key takeaways are: Community Ventures is building really nice looking homes for low-income