Last summer, we brought 1101-03 Frankford Ave. to your attention, noting that the blighted building represented a stalled residential conversion project that was unfortunately tied up with litigation and delinquent taxes. This building was quite a bit of history, having been home to a hosiery mill and an elevator factory at different points over the years.

Last summer

A few weeks ago, a reader checked in and told us that dumpsters had appeared outside this property, and it was apparently being gutted. An interior demolition permit from last month would seem to confirm this diagnosis.

Last week

Apparently, the building got some new owners right before we wrote our post last August, only this wasn’t reflected in public record until several months later. Real Estate 1101 Frankford LLC got a serious deal, purchasing the building at sheriff’s sale…

At 21st & Market, it’s like an architectural plastic surgeon showed up and performed an operation on 2040 Market St., the former AAA Mid-Atlantic Headquarters building. What was a standard don’t look twice five-story building is nearing completion of being transformed into a 13-story 281-unit mixed-use building with a glass-faced façade that looks as modern chic as Ray Bans, if buildings were like sunglasses.

In the past

Big changes

The building, still under construction, is now for sale, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. According to PBJ, the building is expected to sell for a record price that could reach $140M, which breaks down to about $500K per unit. The site was purchased by PMC Property Group in early 2011. By last summer, the exterior had been subjected to the surgeon, if you will, and transformed into its current outfit. The PBJ cites this news as an…

About a month ago, roughly 1,300 GlaxoSmithKline workers vacated the building at 16th & Vine that was specifically built for their company fourteen years ago. With their move to a new (and really nice) facility at The Navy Yard, they left behind 225K sqft of office space on the edge of Philadelphia’s central business district that owners Liberty Property Trust had to somehow find a way to lease. Instead of attempting to find new tenants in a lousy market for office space, it seems they’re opting to sell the building.

Glaxo building

According to the Inquirer, Liberty has an agreement in place to sell the building to non-profit DeMedici II for a measly $29M. After the sale is completed, DeMedici II will perform a $10-12M renovation to the building, and lease…

In the fall, we told you about 1221 Mount Vernon St., a large parcel on the western side of the “Spring Arts” neighborhood that was on the market for a mere $1.8M. At the time, we wondered whether a developer would step forward and possibly look toward an adaptive reuse for this property which has contained an auto body shop for the last three decades, noting all the development that’s taken place in the neighborhood in recent years.

The building. Looks rough.

According to Hidden City, the property in question is over a hundred years old and was constructed as a power substation for mass transit. The building immediately next door, in fact, still fills that purpose for Septa. Standing in front of the building it’s not immediately clear where the property lines lie, but realtor Lawrence…

Philadelphia used to be a home to a thriving industrial economy. Many factories that once buzzed with the work of daily life in Kensington, Old City, or the loft district are now apartments, transformed by developers with an eye toward the city’s history.

A building that has yet to be transformed by developers is located at 1422-30 N. 8th St., with a footprint that covers half a city block. Once home to the Feitelson M & Sons company, the building is across the street from the Wakisha Charter School, a fact that was quickly brought to our attention by shouting kids leaving school when we were in the area. The building is also next to elevated regional rail tracks, just a few blocks south of the Temple University station.

View under the tracks

From 8th

…

Upon first glance, District Health Center No. 1 is an unassuming building just south of Broad and Lombard Streets. A closer look reveals a glazed façade of stylized blue and gray brick that runs across the building like a tile mosaic in between the second and third stories, measured by ribbon windows that stretch around the sleek curves of the building. It’s where modern architects in the middle of the twentieth century envisioned the style of urban architecture was headed.

Health Center Number 1

The Health Center, located at 500 S. Broad St., appeared on this year’s Endangered Properties list compiled by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. The City is proposing to vacate this center, like it’s proposing to leave the Roundhouse, when its new West Philly location opens.

At that time, the site is likely to be marketed for redevelopment. Designed by