Jack O’Brien

Yep, this new design is a winner all around

A "Preserved Ruin" To See New Construction Across from Clark Park The 1910s rowhome in Spruce Hill will get a new life per a demo permit and a sexy rendering after the city deemed it unsafe

A damaged rowhome across from Clark Park that was in the spotlight a few years ago is getting a new life. A multifamily building will rise on the site, bringing a modern look to site of a 1910s rowhome - developed by the long-time owners.

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/a-preserve...

Arthaus peeking between the other newish residential towers

260-Unit Apartment Project Gets OK to Move Ahead in East Falls After a previous version stalled, a new development team gets the green light from CDR for mixed-use project on Ridge Ave.

A 260-unit project at 4401 Ridge Ave. in East Falls got the OK from CDR yesterday. It has an upcoming trip to the ZBA in late March, but this donut-shaped building with nearly 10K sqft of commercial space (and a 217-car garage) completes a major step.

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/260-unit-a...

First of Two Giant Homes Near the Art Museum Lists for $3.95 Million A 5,000 sqft home is under construction after our previous concerns around neighborhood affordability were well founded

We return to the Art Museum area to revisit the first of two massive homes. This spot will hit the market later this week for $3.95 after neighbors insisted on limiting what could be built, though they do look pretty great. Thoughts on the approach?

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/first-of-t...

First of Two Giant Homes Near the Art Museum Lists for $3.95 Million A 5,000 sqft home is under construction after our previous concerns around neighborhood affordability were well founded

We return to the Art Museum area to revisit the first of two massive homes. This spot will hit the market later this week for $3.95 after neighbors insisted on limiting what could be built, though they do look pretty great. Thoughts on the approach?

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/first-of-t...

La Locanda Del Ghiottone Slated for Demo at 3rd & Cherry in Old City Three years since plans were announced, a zoning permit for demo was issued to clear the way for four new-construction condos

La Locanda Del Ghiottone is slated for demo at 3rd & Cherry in Old City. The former restaurant will become four luxury condos over commercial space along N 3rd St.'s commercial stretch. How do you feel about the mixed-use plans?

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/la-locanda...

Per Daniel Pearson of the Inquirer, a judge reversed the historic district for Washington Square West. We’d imagine there will be some pushback on the ruling, but as of now, the designation has been reversed. The map shows the impacted area. What are your thoughts on the ruling?

Art everywhere

The corner building at 2001 E. Allegheny Ave. in Kensington is changing from a gun shop to a coffee shop per a recent zoning permit. Owned by Impact Services Corporation, a neighborhood-supporting non-profit, is this shift a sign of the times for the area?

Also: huge thanks to @mosh.bsky.social for the head's up on the progress here!

South Wetlands Park Sees Major Step Forward Along the Delaware River The South Philly aquatic park gets an influx of funding as the riverfront shows sign of a major Renaissance

The South Wetlands Park just received $325K of funding for the last stage of planning. This will help create a brand-new eco-park on the piers behind the South Philly Walmart and was a great reason to reference both Walmart Beach and Chicken Pier.

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/south-wetl...

Future intercity bus terminal near 30th Street Station proves popular at open house Creating an intermodal transit hub is “very exciting,” city planner says, but would be very expensive and require close coordination with Amtrak.

Building a bus terminal at 30th St would a “very expensive” and complicated project, but it’s technically feasible, a planner said — “it would just require an expansion and reinforcement of what’s there.”

Philadelphia 30th Street Station District Plan – SOM

More deets on the plan:

www.som.com/projects/phi...

If NYC can ask for (and possibly get) $20 billion+ to build housing over train tracks, Philly should ask for $5 billion to build a mixed-use neighborhood over train tracks in a smaller and more central location that has already had copious planning...

Franklin Mills is closed indefinitely due to a fire according to Wooder Ice - huge news for the NE Philly mall, which is currently for sale.

All good! There's a really helpful article all about it lol 😇

There will be retail included here now per the most recent plans.

25 Total Units Coming to Former Rite Aid in Bella Vista The closed drug store's parking lot has been a post-up spot for Angelo's customers, but will soon be townhomes and condos

25 units are coming to a former Bella Vista Rite Aid, and we have renderings. 9 townhouses and 16 condos, 34 parking spaces are heading to this unofficial Angelo's dining spot. This is after years of past proposals and community meetings.

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/25-total-u...

Watching this instead of the State of the Union

Lokal Fishtown Now for Sale Under the El on N. Front St. The boutique hotel opened in 2019 and is now on the market along a stretch that is still seeing plenty of change

Lokal Fishtown, the boutique hotel at 1421 N. Front St., is now for sale. The six-unit, four-story spot brings high design and "invisible service" and could be converted to multi-family use thanks to CMX-3 zoning. Thoughts on the look?

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/lokal-fish...

I love the DRT and it would be fantastic to see it extended to here. Also: I'm wildly excited to here that the Wetlands Park is still in process because that would be so cool.

Yep, it's definitely on a bit of an island, but I could see this spurring other development nearby which will hopefully mitigate this isolation.

It doesn't appear that this loan is for the parks or other infrastructure improvements, sadly - hopefully that follows ASAP because that's going to be HUGE for that area.

This project just secured a $150 million construction loan to start next year, per multiple sources. A truly transformational project for the riverfront in South Philly.

Update: this project has been removed from the upcoming Civic Design Review meeting after it had been on the agenda previously. The intrigue continues…

Church for Sale Across from Eastern State Penitentiary The early 20th-Century building crosses three lots and could have a wide range of future uses, zoning permitting

A church is for sale across from Eastern State Penitentiary at 626-30 N. 21st St. in Fairmount. The early 20th-Century structure still looks immaculate inside and out, seemingly primed for residential development. We take a moment to ruminate, too.

jackphillyre.substack.com/p/church-for...

We have a new sign to top the Roberts Children's Health building at 3501 Civic Center Blvd. on CHOP's West Philly campus. This will top a tower that will house hundreds of patients in a brand-new state-of-the-art facility.

This four-story project will head to the ZBA next month to seek approval for lot consolidation and construction. This will technically be two adjacent ten-unit buildings, so we're interested to see how the community reacts to the proposal. Design is from KJO Architecture.

Want to spend every waking moment around the pool from this Chestnut Hill home near the Morris Arboretum 😍