Category investment

New music venue proposed for the Waterfront

Not just a music venue.

Michael Samschick, who has been buying up property along the Delaware River Waterfront for the last 4 years, is planning a multi-use building while reusing a historic structure.

Here’s the plan so far:

  • 3,000 Seat Music Hall
  • Bowling Alley
  • Distillery
  • New Restaurants
  • Country/Western Live Music Establishment

The first 4 items above would all be located in the former Ajax building on the corner of Frankford Ave and Delaware Ave. One of the buildings next door (44 Richmond St) will host the Country/Western idea.

This kind of development is great for Philadelphia. It builds on the waterfront master plan, reuses an old/historic building, brings more entertainment venues to our city (which in turn brings more restaurants, stores, and people), and capitalizes on the multi-use concept.

Thumbs up from me.

“Foodie Paradise” is coming to Chestnut Hill

New look for the Chestnut Hill Farmers’ Market

Well, not exactly.

It will actually be a major overhaul of the existing Chestnut Hill Farmers’ Market.

The 7,000 square foot space is going to get a sleek, modern look and go from a system of alleyways to a more modern grid (think Reading Terminal Market).

I have always been of the opinion that Philadelphia has enough demand to support a few more RTM-esque locations throughout the city, so it looks like Chestnut Hill will be the first to go that same, successful route.

More details and pictures here.

Philadelphia finally gets a 21st century zoning code

Center City, Philadelphia

Woo hoo!

There are many things to celebrate about the new zoning code, like Philadelphia finally updating their development process to make things simpler, but I think the biggest accomplishment is that our local politicians are finally starting to see the potential in our great city. Hence, spending some bucks to make life easier for those who want to invest in Philadelphia.

Without going into full detail (which you can do here), here are a few things the new zoning code will accomplish:

  • Reduced number of zoning classifications
  • Robust civic design review process
  • Role of Philadelphians in the zoning approval process

In other words, the new code will take us out of our stale, archaic process we’ve relied on since the 1960s and give us a more fair, sensible way of decision making.

Here are some other links to help you out: