Although Gunner’s Run has quietly been open for a few weeks now (mmm chicken-fried chicken) its official public opening event is tonight at 8pm at 1001 N. Second Street, #3. Gunner’s will be serving up $1 beer and shots, $3 pints of Sixpoint and Philadelphia Brewing Company beers and music by Black Landlord and guest DJs. We’ve been to Gunner’s on Sunday for the Make Your Own Bloody Mary bar and chef Shawn Sollberger’s chocolate zucchini bread, and we plan on seeing you all there tonight.

The 33,746-square-foot lot at 1919 Market (aka the failed Opus Condominium Tower) was very popular at the bankruptcy auction Brandywine Realty Trust attended. After some back and forth, 1919 finally ended in the victorious hands of Brandywine with a $9.3M bid. The agreement of sale between Brandywine, Bank of America and the trustee came about only after Brandywine was able to propose the best offer. Jerry Sweeney, CEO and president of Brandywine, told us that “the goal of these auctions are speed of execution, certainty to close the deal and ensuring adequate ‘coverage,’ or ability to pay debt service if the transaction doesn’t go to closing.” Brandywine had offered an increase in their deposit to satisfy two of those goals and included, according to Sweeney, “forfeiting the deposit if the deal failed.” We are excited for Brandywine’s new purchase and plans for a mixed-use development at the…

Congratulations to Interface Studio Architects and Postgreen Homes for their 100k House, one of the 18 projects selected by The American Institute of Architects to receive the prestigious 2011 Housing Award. The AIA’s Housing Award Program honors the best in housing design and the 100k House, the first-ever LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certified single-family home in Pennsylvania. Chad and Courtney Ludeman did a great job redefining sustainable living by creating this affordable 1,150-square-foot house at 2100 E. Susquehanna Avenue.

As part of the Temple 20/20 plan, the university will open its brand new South Gateway living quarters this Fall. The new state-of-the-art $147.4M residence hall will offer more than 1,000 beds and a dining hall with outdoor seating serving staple Philly items such as cheese steaks and soft pretzels. Each “suite” offers two bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a kitchenette (ah, what happened to the days of communal bathrooms and cooking Ramen in an old microwave under the bed?). The multi-million-dollar new residence hall complex, slated to be finished for Fall 2012, will be the tallest building in North Philadelphia and will have ground-floor food vendors similar to those at Reading Terminal Market.

In addition to building up the Broad Street corridor, adding shopping spaces and updating living quarters, Temple 20/20 will create lots of green spaces that are connected via an engaging pedestrian circulation system. Temple…

Philadelphia City Planning Commission's design concept

Gary P. Steuer, Philadelphia’s chief cultural officer and director of the city’s Office of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy would like to see the parcels at the northeast (owned by New York-based Hudson River Capital) and northwest (marketed by Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation) corners of Broad and Washington developed. “Given the Avenue of the Arts location, it would be great to have a cultural component in that area,” Steuer told us. There has been some talk about culturally related development and the PIDC recently opened the northwest corner of Broad and Washington, an Avenue Of The Arts anchor-point corner, to Request For Qualifications (RFQ) in order to find out the potential to develop this site in the current market. So what is the potential?

In terms of cultural sites, there is development that…

Photo courtesy of the City of Philadelphia and SRDC

The Walnut Street Bridge is going to be more easily accessible to all of its users (i.e. drivers, bikers and pedestrians), rather than it being predominantly for motor-vehicle traffic. Currently, the bridge possesses four traffic lanes, a bike lane and two eight-foot sidewalks. Pedestrian and bike traffic has increased considerably and the bridge currently isn’t set up to accommodate all that traffic.

To make the Walnut Street Bridge more conducive to current traffic, design team Michael Baker Engineers will reduce the number of lanes from four to three which will allow for the sidewalks to be expanded to 12’. According to the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, reducing the number of lanes will also help to calm the traffic, creating a symbiotic relationship between bikers, pedestrians and vehicles. In…