When we checked in on the intersection of York & Amber last month, a new home had recently been framed out on the corner, with the promise of two more homes to come. We stopped by the corner again the other day, and saw that promise fulfilled.

In January

This week

As you can see, the corner house has been sheathed with what looks like a combination of hardie-board and wood siding. As developer Mark Hutchinson told us in the comments section of our last post, this home will be a certified Passive House, meaning it will be significantly more insulated than the average home. The combination of the solar PV array on the roof and the added insulation will mean very low utility bills for the person who’s already agreed to purchase the home.

Less than five months after breaking ground, the new Brewerytown Supermarket at 31st & Girard opened its doors last week. Years in the making, this new Bottom Dollar location will provide locals with easier access to groceries than they’ve had in decades, and at reasonable prices, to boot. And since it has been built due to the collaboration of community groups, politicians, and developers, this is a particularly proud moment for many people.

The market

We don’t claim to be design experts here, but we can say without hesitation that the design of the project is terribly disappointing. And we’re not even gonna get into the orange pig curiously stationed on the roof.

Anybody like Pink Floyd?

A few years back, Interface Studio Architects, and the Community Design…

Just two blocks from the South Gateway project that we mentioned last week, developer Tejas Properties 2 LLC is proposing a much smaller residence for Temple students. On a block with several properties with similar density, these developers intend to construct a four-story, seventeen unit building at 1431 N 15th St., on a currently empty lot.

The lot

Looking down 15th St.

What we don’t know at this time is what this new building will look like. Will it take on the look of most of the (generally unexciting) new construction in the area? Will it take on a more contemporary look, like the Modules at Templetown, the ISA-designed student housing down the street? Or will it take its cues from any of the numerous older…

Last May, we told you about the first supermarket coming to Brewerytown in almost two decades. But that project was delayed due to a lack of funding.

Now, it’s back on track. Today, at noon, at 31st & Girard, state and local officials, members of local civic groups, and developers will break out the shovels, and a cast of suit-wearing folks will don construction hats for a photo-op, at the official groundbreaking for the construction of a Bottom Dollar supermarket.

Nice rendering at the bottom

“It’s gonna be a changer,” said Charles Holliday of the Greater Brewerytown CDC, a 40-year resident of the neighborhood.

The Brewerytown area needs a supermarket like the School District needs cash.

When we wrote about the project last year, the site was owned by Westrum Development, and in addition…

Back in January, we told you about the ZBA’s approval of ReNewbold, the exciting LEED Platinum project from LPMG that’s planned for the corner of 16th and Moore Sts. Tonight, at South Philly Tap Room, from 5pm until 8pm, you can get some first hand information about this new project, and reserve your new dream home. And there’s drink specials and a free buffet!

A little background in case you don’t feel like clicking back to the old post: LPMG has hired LEED experts Postgreen to design and Hybrid Construction to built 16 single family homes, 2 condo units (all with offstreet parking) and a new commercial space on the vacant lot that once housed a now demolished school building. The mix of two and three story buildings will offer a host of green features, including rain collection,…

Councilman Darrell Clarke and state representative Michelle Brownlee had a great deal of support last week as they presented their updated project plans for the supermarket at 31st and Girard Avenue. Soloff Realty is buying the site from Westrum Development and building a Bottom Dollar, similar to the one they just put up in the Oak Lane section of Philadelphia on N. Broad Street. The development site first received attention in 2009 when the Community Design Collaborative, which provides preliminary design work to nonprofits and communities, worked on a conceptual design for the site through its Infill Philadelphia design initiative. The conceptual design by Interface Studio Architects explored strategies for redeveloping a sloping, hard-to-develop site,” said Linda Dottor, program manager at CDC. The final plans for the site call for an 18K-square-foot Bottom Dollar, 5K square feet of additional retail stores, a 94-care…