Jake Blumgart

All I can think about is Jeff Bezos saying that he slashed jobs at the Washington Post — including those of foreign correspondents in the Middle East — based on "the data," and a few weeks later a whole war breaks out in the Middle East that these laid off folks would have covered as true experts.

Washington Square West historic district has been overturned in court

The repeal of the historic district is unusual, as the city's Historical Commission usually wins such appeals.

jfc

You know regimes across the globe are watching the US do regime change in Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Libya, and now Iran, but not North Korea, and coming to conclusions.

I met a guy at a wedding last year who told me he moved to Dubai from Miami because it was “safe.”
I remember thinking there were certain easily imagined, and existential, exceptions to his theory

A political consultant kept working as fraud claims piled up against her. One of the many people who say she owes them money is a Philadelphia congressional candidate.

🔗 www.inquirer.com/politics/phi...

Philadelphia is on the short list to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention

Philadelphia is being considered, along with Boston, Atlanta, Chicago and Denver, to host the summer convention.

hope for the fund's sake that he's not in risk management
www.ft.com/content/7ece...

He will have to explain his thinking in detail if the city appeals

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) unveiled legislation that would raise $4.4 trillion in taxes from America’s billionaires.

The revenue from the annual 5 percent wealth tax would be redirected to social spending programs. https://wapo.st/3MSJBiw

Washington Square West historic district has been overturned in court The repeal of the historic district is unusual, as the city's Historical Commission usually wins such appeals.

This is a big setback for Philly's preservation movement www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Each Comcast tower individually, to be clear, not together!

A suburban office park in Chester County is getting converted to apartments. Is it a sign of things to come?

A suburban office park in Chester County is getting converted to apartments. Is it a sign of things to come?

The suburbs have been lagging Philadelphia in replacing vacant offices with housing.

‘The Worst-Case Outcome Is Complete Chaos’ Donald Trump’s plans to oust the Iranian regime, which led to the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made some of his advisers nervous, The Atlantic reports. Read about what went into the decision to at...

This is an analysis very much worth a read: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

📊 NEW Reuters poll:

* 1 in 4 Americans approve of Trump’s attack on Iran

* 55% say Trump has used too much military force in second term

🔗: www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...

Push from Saudis, Israel helped move Trump to attack Iran The president launched a wide-ranging attack on Iran after weeks-long lobbying by an unusual pair of U.S. allies in the Middle East: Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated to lawmakers that the mission’s timing and goals were shaped by the fact that Israel was going to attack with or without the United States”

www.inquirer.com/news/nation-...

The Role of Historic Preservation in the Rise of New York Mega-Mansions Ultra-rich buyers are carving out mega-mansions in historic NYC neighborhoods. Also: Oslo’s new government quarter aims for openness

The final form of historic preservation is a Gilded Age mansion where 10 apartments used to be: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

www.inquirer.com/politics/fet...

‘Clothespin building’ is slated to become a hotel and up to 500 apartments after office vacancy crisis tanked the price Centre Square was once Philadelphia's largest office complex, besting even the Comcast towers in terms of square footage.

This was very fun report and write: www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Democrats see Iraq echoes in Trump’s Iran war The party that swept to power in Congress by campaigning against Middle East wars 20 years ago sounds confident that history will repeat itself.

Interesting Andy Kim interview

www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

Analysis | Republicans are boosting Jasmine Crockett ahead of critical Senate primary The Washington Post’s essential guide to power and influence in D.C.

"Republicans in Texas, and nationwide, are looking to boost Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) in the closing days of the state’s Democratic Senate primary."

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

High-End Construction Really Does Help Everyone A new rung at the top of the housing ladder permits people lower down to climb up.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Rise of the Manhattan Mega-Mansion In the West Village and other historic neighborhoods, buyers are consolidating apartments and combining townhomes, a sign of New York’s allure to the ultra-rich.

Behind the preserved historical facades, the ultra-rich are buying up adjacent townhomes in the West Village and Upper East Side, combining them into a megamansion. It's part of a broader trend of small multifamily buildings being turned into single-family homes. www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Big Tech Is Buying Up America’s Land—and Home Builders Can’t Compete Resistance grows to more land sales in Northern Virginia. “They’d rather have homes than data,” said a former Prince William County supervisor.

"In Texas, prices for land along U.S. Route 67 near Dallas, which three years ago sold for between $20,000 to $40,000 an acre, have jumped to more than $350,000 an acre in some places" so home builders can't compete www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

A suburban office park in Chester County is getting converted to apartments. Is it a sign of things to come?

A suburban office park in Chester County is getting converted to apartments. Is it a sign of things to come?

The suburbs have been lagging Philadelphia in replacing vacant offices with housing.

Tech Has Never Caused a Job Apocalypse. Don’t Bet on It Now. Neither theory, history nor the latest data suggests a recession driven by AI job dislocation is likely.

"Today, the sums being plowed into data centers far exceed the revenue AI is currently generating. A bust that brings down the economy isn’t my baseline. But at least it has a precedent, unlike the AI apocalypse that preoccupies folks now."

www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

Mamdani and Trump Discuss Housing at ‘Productive’ Meeting in Washington

City Hall declined to provide any further detail, but the mock-up of the Daily News cover touting 12K new units of housing is possibly a reference to Sunnyside Yards, the massive rail yard in Queens over which the city has long dreamed of building 12K units of housing www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/n...

when instagram comments make news (Young says he was just kidding) www.inquirer.com/politics/phi...

A suburban office park in Chester County is getting converted to apartments. Is it a sign of things to come? The suburbs have been lagging Philadelphia in replacing vacant offices with housing.

I talked to a lot of Philadelphia developers about why its been so much harder to replace struggling offices with housing in the suburbs than the city. For all the complaints about Philly not being business friendly, its much easier to build here in many cases: www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

Centre Square office complex under agreement to sell for large-scale redevelopment - Philadelphia Business Journal Two local developers have a deal in place to buy Centre Square with plans to convert its mostly vacant office towers into as many as 500 apartments and a 300-room hotel.

Huge news! Two of the three emptiest buildings around City Hall are slated for redevelopment: www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...