Developer plans 40-unit apartment complex in West Philadelphia

A real estate developer is planning to convert a 14,000 square-foot garage in West Poplar into 40 residential units. It calls for partial demolition of the building and the construction of second- and third-story additions. The building will also have 20 parking spaces, 10 bike parking spaces, recessed 1st floor entrances and a 6 foot fence.  To learn more…

Tioga section in Philadelphia sees a turnaround

Tioga 40 years ago was a gorgeous neighborhood. Overtime the neighborhood fell down. Dozens of factories in Tioga, Nicetown, and Allegheny West began closing and putting thousands of people out of work. Verna Tyner started a community organization that she is president, uniting Tioga, and groups such as the Allegheny West Foundation and Mercy Neighborhood Ministries began to work on strategies to combat the blight.

The organization sees a turnaround for a number of businesses and institutions have moved into, or will soon occupy renovated factories or once vacant industrial sites. The most recent development project is the $5.6 million NewCourtland LIFE Center, under construction at 19th Street and Allegheny Avenue. With it on target to be finished by the end of the year, it will be an Independent living for Elders. to read more…

Philadelphia exempts itself from lead paint law

Worthwhile read   about the Lead base paint rule that only effects landlords that rent to non-subsidized tenants.

Community Input on Rezoning of the old Coke Site in Bridesburg

When you are driving on interstate 95 from the Navy Yard into Bucks County, most all residential neighborhoods are to your left except one. Bridesburg is unique, servered from the delaware river not by highway, but by industry, and the ruins that remain there.

The industrial site, home of the former Philadelphia Coke Company, was changed from industrial zoning to an experimental Waterfront redevelopment zoning district in 2007. A development company planned to build a 720-unit housing development on a portion of the 67-arce site, but then later fell though. Now, the bulk of the site sits empty, zoned RMX-2, a residential mixed use category.

To read more of this story, click the link.

Navy Yard in Philadelphia unveils updated master plan

If all goes according to an updated master plan, in ten to fifteen years the number of people working at the Philadelphia Navy Yard will double to 20,000 and could reach 30,000. The employees will work in a mix of manufacturing, energy, technology, and research jobs, among other types. There will be companies located within neighborhood-like districts, which will include a mix of re-purposed historical buildings and environmentally conscious new ones. They will all be linked to each other and the river with a series of parks, trails, and bodies of water.  Great for Philadelphia real estate.

To read more..

Philly Homeowners: Will Your Real Estate Taxes be Increasing or Decreasing

Philly Homeowners:  Will Your Real Estate Taxes be Increasing or Decreasing

• More than 36,000 property owners will see their tax bills increase by at least $1,000 a year under a shift to a new property-tax system.
• But more than 180,000 property owners will see their tax bill drop, including a few hundred by more than $5,000.
• The data showed that a total of 281,163 property-owners will see their tax bills increase and the change would affect 2014 tax bills.

To read more visit…

A New Residential Development in University City Phildelphia

Another real estate development in University City section of Philadelphia, PA. The University City Science Center announced earlier in January that it will begin construction of a new 27-story apartment building at 3601 Market Street.  Construction is to be complete in 2015.

The new 400,000 square-foot building will include 364 apartments (one-bedroom & two-bedroom apartments). The building will also include parking, retail space, a fitness center, a resident lounge and a rooftop pool.  These apartments will be luxury apartments that will appeal to young professional and graduate students. To read more….

 

The 2012 Review of Zoning in Philadelphia

This blog post is a review of the most popular stories of the zoning, policy and development of 2012 in Philadelphia real estate. Since the new zoning code took effect in august after a four year reform effort, it didn’t prohibit the City Council from changing its rules, which what policy actually could. As the zoning reform was coming to a close last year around this time the City Council asked for a clause to be added to the code for various city agencies to issue a report on the one year anniversary of the enactment. This would let the city assess how its various provisions are working. With the Council making changes to the zoning code, we will never know if some of the new codes provisions would have worked.  To read more…

Challenging the New Zoning Code in Philadelphia, PA

In Philadelphia, PA, years of intense effort, debate and deep thought were rewarded when the first new zoning code in decades officially became the law of the land. Three months later, some members of Philadelphia City Council are attempting to change certain aspects of this new code before giving it the time.

On Tuesday December 4^th, 2012, Philadelphia City Council’s Committee held an exhausting meeting that resulted in poorly conceived and ill-advised reduction in the threshold for registered community organizations to influence the zoning process.  The effort by Councilman O’Neill to make it more onerous for developers to execute certain uses in the certain commercial districts is disturbing.  For more on this story,

I think Philadelphia council members need to focus on getting more businesses to come to Philly and not drive them away with unnecessary laws.  I am not against zoning laws, I just think we needed to give the new code more than three months time and focus efforts elsewhere.

Philadelphia has Six Casino Possibilities

Last week six applicants submitted proposals to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board with plans to build a second gambling palace in the City of Philadelphia.  Two of the projects are already known, the Provence from Tower Investments, to be located at the former inquirer Building and Live! Hotel and Casino which would be were the Holiday Inn is right near Citizens Bank Park. The other four casino proposals would be for 7^th & Packer, Front & Pattison, 8th & Market, and on Delaware Ave, just north of Sugarhouse. Each casino has a different developer and casino operator, but the biggest concern is the impact at the six different locations.

For now, I think that we have enough casinos in the area already (Parx, Valley Forge, Chester Harrahs, and SugerHouse) and should wait a few more years to see if the demand is still there.

Looking at the locations, the casino proposal for Front and Pattison would be located among an area full of industrial buildings and highways. Would they even get any customers? And the proposal for the two casinos near the stadiums, they would probably get a boast of traffic from crowds attending events at the stadiums but may also contribute to a traffic nightmare, especially on football Sundays.  To read more….