A few months back, we reported on a 19-unit development on the 800 block of Christian St. From the looks of it, this project should be moving forward in short order. Cars haven’t been regularly parking on the lot for a couple of months now, and the old chain-link fence was recently replaced with a plywood fence.

See the fence?

Across the street is a lot that’s been vacant for as long as we can remember, with a sign advertising new townhomes on the way. The sign has also been there for quite awhile. The townhomes, not so much.

The lot and sign

On the east side of Darien St., there are currently five houses and a parking lot with three condo units. From what we can piece together, the southernmost homes were built in…

The University Club building at 1316 Walnut St. was built in 1887 and designed by Wilson Eyre, who we wrote about back in August. Most recently containing a camera shop on the first floor, the historic property was on the market for awhile and was purchased by Jason Real Estate Investments Inc about a month ago for $1.45M.

In the middle

The bottom

The awesome top

Michael Klein reports that Sumo Sushi, currently located at Broad and Pine Sts., will be opening up a location at this spot. According to the recent zoning application, the new tenants intend to demo part of the interior of the second floor to create higher ceilings on the first floor, possibly doing dining on the second floor as…

Over the weekend, we spotted an unusual looking rehab ongoing at 1523 Ellsworth St.

In the past

According to the zoning application, developers Urban Real Estate Investments, who purchased the property about a year ago for $70K, are adding a one-story addition to a two story portion, a two story addition to a one story portion, and a three story addition to the rear of the property. Looking at the progress at this time, we can see the three story addition very clearly, but don’t really understand exactly what else is going on.

Hmmm

Different

From what we can gather, the developer has (somewhat sloppily) demoed the second and third stories of the existing building and will be rebuilding them in short order. Unusually, the framing work for the addition to the…

In July, 2006 hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze for hours at 1222 Locust St. By the time the fire was doused at the Lincoln Apartments Building, designed in 1892 by George H. Fettus, a contemporary of Frank Furness, five floors of apartments had collapsed like a V in the middle of the building to the ground floor. Since then, the handsome six-story building has existed in a state of disrepair.

But a shell of Philly history will be preserved when architects from Cecil Baker and Associates renovate the building in a project, slated to begin next spring. Plans designate the creation of 44 units, making for a total of 50 beds in the form of six studio apartments, 32 one bedroom apartments and six two bedroomers, according to David Fante, vice-chair of the Washington Square West (WSW) Civic Association Zoning Committee.…

This past week, we showed you renderings of a new thirty unit residential development at 1424 Fairmount Ave. What we didn’t mention is the nuisance bar immediately next door, Prince’s Fairmount 1500 Lounge, located on the corner of 15th and Fairmount Ave.

Prince’s, aside from being located in an amazing, old-timey looking tavern building, was definitely a throwback to the neighborhood’s rougher past. On the building is a yellow sign indicating that the building is for sale, but we learned that the developers of 1424 Fairmount Ave. purchased the bar building back in August for $287.5K.

We don’t know what’s going to happen to this place, but we’re willing to bet that it’ll be getting a makeover in the not-too-distant future. We just hope that they don’t do anything to the building itself- the place just looks too cool.

As an aside, does anyone…

A few months ago, we wrote about the anticipated reopening of the Trestle Inn, a former go-go bar at the southeast corner 11th and Callowhill Sts. The bar opened a couple of weeks ago, keeping the old name and the go-go dancers, too. The new place, owned by Ian Cross and Josette Bonafino, plays homage to bars of the 1960′s and 1970′s, with retro music and dancers on most nights. Vintage projections and classic cocktails add to the mix, making this place a truly unique addition to the nightlife scene in Philadelphia.

Interior shot

Tonight, Trestle Inn celebrates its grand reopening in style, with its Halloween party, Psycho A Go Go. This free event will feature DJ’s, drink specials, and prizes for spooky costumes.

Whether you can make it over there tonight or…