On the other side of the tracks from Fishtown, 100-110 W Oxford St. sits vacant. Most recently occupied by Pieri Creations, a lamp design company, this site was home to the Quaker City Dye Works way back when. In later years, the buildings contained different companies, with a wool mill, a hosiery mill, a glue manufacturer, and others. All the buildings at this site have been vacant for a few years.

From Front St

We’ve gotten numerous emails about 1318 South St., a double-wide building currently under construction that looks different from just about every other building in the neighborhood.

In the past

About a month ago. The foundation is curved!

And that's why.

Very unusual

Looking north, standing on Clarion St.

The developers, Michael and Mario Carosella, own C&R Building Supply, and have gotten some (virtual) ink on our site for their upcoming project at 18th and Washington and their rapidly progressing construction at 20th and Fitzwater Sts. When we spoke with Michael Carosella, we found out that the new building on South St. will house two high-end bi-level rental apartments and a large first floor commercial space. The…

View looking north from the south side of Washington Ave.

Washington Ave., a wide thoroughfare close to Center City that is underutilized to say the least, is in the early stages of a transition that could ultimately have a tremendous impact on the neighborhoods that surround it. At 11th and Washington, the former Curtis Publishing printing building has turned into the Lofts at Bella Vista. At Broad and Washington, the former Marine Corps Quartermaster Depot has become the Marine Club Condominiums. And now, at 18th and Washington, two low-rise industrial buildings will be torn down and replaced with a four-story mixed-use building.

View from Washington Ave.

Michael Carosella and his brother Mario, the folks from…

View from Wharton St., looking to the north

A reader sent us a tip about a building going up at Broad and Wharton, next door to the Lukoil gas station. When we swung by, we snapped a couple of photos.

Looking from the west from across Broad St.

According to an expired real estate listing, this property has the necessary zoning to construct a four story building with commercial space on the first floor and three residences, each occupying an entire floor, on the the floors above. With a 21′ wide and 113′ deep lot, that use sounds entirely reasonable, and if this building were going up most anywhere else, it would seem entirely sensible too.

But it’s the specific location of this building that makes its construction so questionable. On one side of the building is a gas station.…

According to whispers we’re hearing, the nearly 19K sqft. Garden of the Arts on the northeast corner of Broad and South Sts. is going to be developed by Dranoff Properties. Sources at PIDC, currently the owners of the property, tell us that Dranoff will construct a six story building with commercial space on the first floor and residential rentals above. About 2500 sqft. of green space will be maintained on the property. We’re hearing the development will be called Casa Verde. So much for the Big Green Building project.

Ohbytheway, here’s a rendering. With some details still to be worked out, this plan is not yet final. We also don’t have information on potential tenants. But figure something like this will soon be rising from the corner of Broad and South.

Rendering by JKR Partners

Here are a…

We’ve recently gotten word that a new building will soon be going up on the long-vacant corner of 17th and South Sts. This corner, made up of 5 lots and currently overgrown with vegetation, was recently purchased from Crazy World Entertainment, who had owned the lots for the past six years. The building, with a footprint that covers all 3000+ sqft. of the parcel, will have commercial space on the first floor, four one-bedroom condos on the 2nd floor, and four bi-level two-bedroom condos on the 3rd and 4th floors. The one-bedroom condos will start at $225K and the two-bedroom condos will start at $325K. The developer is Eugene Bukh, of PP Development. We don’t have any word yet on a possible tenant for the commercial space, but we’re keeping our ears open. Anyone have any outstanding suggestions for us to pass along? How bout a…