Category skyline

McDonald’s brings “healthy living” to North Philadelphia

 
And how…

If you’re ever in the area of Henry Ave and Roosevelt Blvd, make sure you take a slight detour over to 4200 Wissahickon Ave and check out the brand new, state of the art Salvation Army Kroc Center of Philadelphia. You will actually be amazed.

The neighborhood of Nicetown fell on hard times long ago due to the decline of Philadelphia’s manufacturing empire. Now if you tour this neighborhood, you will see ruins that are deteriorating warehouses; one right after the other.

Enter Joan Kroc, philanthropist and widow to Ray Kroc (the McDonald’s Corporation billionaire). When Joan passed away, she decided to leave $1.5 Billion (that’s right … Billion) to the Salvation Army. This money was to be used for the construction of community centers all across the country. Looks like her wishes are being met.

To learn more about Philadelphia’s 130,000 square foot community center, this article paints a good picture.

Exciting new project for Graduate Hospital

If this area was not getting enough press already, here’s some more good news for one of Philadelphia’s hottest neighborhoods for real estate. A new large, anchor project at the corner of S 17th St and Washington Ave; right on the border of Rittenhouse Square and Graduate Hospital.

Here are the highlights of the project:

  • 11 new townhomes
  • 6 new condominiums
  • 2,000 sq ft of commercial space
  • Open space
  • Off-street parking

Here’s some more information on the project, as well as on the developers. Happy MLK Day!

Outer suburban areas are losing their appeal

Back in 2005, at the height of the real estate boom, buyers were swarming to buy new McMansions almost 50 miles from the core of Philadelphia.

The real question was, why wouldn’t they? They were getting more house for the money, everything was brand new, and they could escape city life. But is that really why the demand was there? No, it wasn’t. It was because home prices were appreciating at an astonishing rate, getting competitive financing was about as easy as tying your shoes, and bigger just seemed better. All of these factors created an inflated demand for new construction housing never seen before in American history. As we can all see today, it was unsustainable.

The funny thing is that even though this happened only 7 years ago, it seems to be the complete opposite of how buyers think today. Today, buyers will sacrifice a home’s size for close proximity to public transportation, they are buying fixer-uppers to add sweat equity to their bottom line, and they are doing everything they can to live within their means. There was a great story written in the New York Times titled “The Death of the Fringe Suburb.” It’s a very well written article and it really captures why things are the way they currently are.

Please also give Inga Saffron’s latest Changing Skyline article a read. It focuses more on the Philadelphia area and how its demographics are changing.