In West Philly

A few months ago, we told you about Mighty Writers moving into the beautiful building on the corner of 39th & Lancaster as part of the continuing efforts from People’s Emergency Center to renovate that property. Directly across the street from that revitalized storefront, we wonder about a collection of

A decade from now, the face of University City will be one lined with new features and high-rise development. Most recently, Drexel celebrated the completion of its new $92M 12-story LeBow Hall at 32nd & Market. The school has a green roof, a Green Globe certificate and includes LeBow College's

Last summer, we told you about big plans from the People's Emergency Center for the 4200 block of Powelton Avenue. On the south side of this block, across the street from Drexel's Vidas Athletic Complex, a row of blighted buildings sat for years. Owned by City agencies, these properties were

In West Philly, development is in swing across the board, from residential to commercial, one-off to large-scale. Much of the recent growth in University City has been inspired by rampant institutional growth over the last several years. New buildings at universities and hospitals often means new jobs and considerable benefit

Last year, Drexel President John Fry announced plans for the school and Amtrak to together develop a multi-million dollar feasibility study that looked into the possibility of developing the railyards around 30th Street Station.

This year, they're moving ahead and recently issued an RFP for a master plan to redevelop the

One of the biggest changes in University City the past year has been the spike in private investment, according to Seth Budick, University City District's head of planning and economic development.

“Specifically in the form of new residential construction,” said Budick.

Last month, UCD released its annual report, State of University City

In September, the $97.6M Chestnut Square welcomed its first school year, if a building can do such a thing, on Chestnut Street between 32nd and 33rd. The 19-story mixed-use residential tower developed by Drexel started bringing new retail to the area, like international company, Yogorino, this fall, and was envisioned

Readers often ask us where we get all our scoops for Naked Philly. There's no single answer- we closely follow the zoning calendar, we attend various neighborhood meetings, we're on dozens of listservs, we drive around town and look for construction, we have sources in the real estate industry, we

Penn is up and building again, this time in the form of a six-story office building with a green roof at 39th & Walnut. This will mark the second new structure on the block in the last few years, joining the Radian, a 14-story residential tower with various commercial offerings,

Now that all of University City's biggest institutions, including Drexel, the Science Center, and Penn are building new towers, pockets in nearby neighborhoods where development has been quiet for years are now seeing improvement, like rapid development near 40th & Baring (though if you look at the architecture over there, improvement