We’ve passed the corner of 21st & Walnut repeatedly in the last few months, wondering when some new tenant would take over the vacant space on the northeast corner, next to Pure Fare. This space was home to Nature’s Gallery Florist for years, until their move down the street back in November.

The space

The handsome new space for the former tenant

The high-trafficked corner space has gotten considerable interest, according to Jackie Balin, the listing broker from Fameco, but nobody has signed on as of yet for this roughly 900 sqft space. No doubt, whoever ultimately takes the space will not want for foot traffic, with Rittenhouse Square just a couple of blocks away and several popular businesses like Vernick, Irish Pub, and Capogiro in the immediate…

A reader gave us the heads up that at Tuesday’s Bella Vista Town Watch meeting, there would be a presentation for a ridiculous new building at 712-14 S. 8th St., currently a rental parking lot. According to the meeting announcement, developers are planning a seventy-foot-tall six-story building for this 3,500 sqft lot with ten apartments and two parking spots.

The lot

Closer look

To try to gain an understanding of exactly how ridiculous the proposal was going to be and because we can’t get enough of community meetings, we decided to attend last night. At the meeting were several dozen neighbors, irate at the idea of what they believed to be an overuse at this location and a building that wouldn’t fit in with the surrounding neighborhood.

The strange thing about the presentation was that the representative…

Back in November of 2011, we told you about an overhaul coming to a prominent Old City corner. And now the project appears to be headed toward completion. After standing vacant for close to 30 years, the BAR arrow signage has been preserved, and the Franklin Trust Company building will be soon ready for a new establishment. Just a few steps away from the popular Franklin Fountain, Shane Confectionery, and a slowly burgeoning group of business on the 100 block of Market, the corner building’s storefront and entryway appear to be the last details in need of attention. Back in 2011, Hidden City did a detailed profile of 100 Market Street, describing the site of the London Coffee House and the property’s rich commercial history over the years.

The corner

Yesterday, Pew Charitable Trusts issued a new report on the Actual Value Initiative (AVI), concretely expressing some outcomes of this policy that were already known or at least suspected by many. The primary takeaway from this report (which you can read in full here) is that AVI is shifting a portion of the property tax burden away from commercial owners and onto residential owners.

Share of tax burden shifts

The raw numbers

AVI has been pitched by the administration as a revenue neutral policy, and this is technically an accurate portrayal. But for homeowners as a group, AVI will not be revenue neutral, with an aggregate added tax bill of $72M. The report suggests that the reason for this change is that residential properties have generally been underassessed under the current system, while commercial…

In Logan Square, there are relatively few development opportunities to be found. Having been so well-established for decades, the neighborhood has few vacant properties and even less vacant land. So it should come as no surprise that a couple of developers looking to construct multi-unit developments find themselves having to demolish a couple of older buildings in order to accomplish the task at hand.

First, we look at the northwest corner of 21st & Race, where a former School District building is nearly gone. This structure had been a part of the Please Touch Museum, which moved to Memorial Hall a few years ago, but has sat vacant since the move. Last September, we told you about plans from Matzi Builder and Developers to build eight new ultra-high-end homes here, with list prices exceeding $1M. We don’t know what the homes will look like,…

We recently wondered when more of the vacant retail spaces along the seemingly thriving North 2nd Street in Northern Liberties would find new tenants. In early March, we shared the news of a proposal for a new cafe at 708 N. 2nd St. Those plans have since been approved and now a new proposal has been submitted for a 150 seat restaurant and jazz club two blocks to the north at 914 N. 2nd St.

The building

Jason and Delphine Evenchik, owners of Time and several other local establishments, appeared before the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association (NLNA) in April. They were asked to return with more formalized plans, according to Larry Freedman, NLNA zoning chair. According to Freedman, the plans were “cool” and included a stage, “nooks and crannies” and an outdoor rear garden.…