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Archive for “Real Estate” news
Who Will Claim Daffy’s Old Center City Location?
By Joel Mathis 3/06/2013
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Our colleagues at PhillyMag's new Property blog say that bidding on the old Daffy's location at 17th and Walnut is down to two bidders, both apparel companies.
One of the bidders would like to use the entire building, while the other would like to use just the first four floors, including the basement. If the latter should happen, the upper four floors are up for grabs—could be a health club, apartments, whatever the mind can conjure up.
The bidders are currently considering price, of course, but also how they might use the space most effectively. The four-story bidder, for instance, is looking
How Well Do You Know Philly’s Neighborhoods? “Click That Hood” to Find Out
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/20/2013
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Philly is a city of neighborhoods. You hear that everywhere. Well if that's true, a true Philadelphian better know where to find each and every nook and cranny. From the folks at Code for America (like TFA, but for GIS mappers), comes Click that 'hood, a game that'll separate the lifers from the carpetbaggers and the serial CenterCityPhiles. You can start with 20 neighborhoods, and then work your way up to identifying all 150.
Here's to you wasting the rest of your afternoon. There are also 36 other cities to play with, from Atlanta to Manhattan to Honolulu.
Would You Move Out of Your Philly Apt. if Your Landlord Raised Your Rent by $100/Month?
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/20/2013
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"No one is going to move for $30 more a month," a local realtor told the Inquirer today. Raise rent by $100 a month, though? "They are going to have to go to a lesser neighborhood." How much would it take for you to move?
At least one landlord, University City property owner Alan Krigman, told the Inky he'd be raising rent $25 a month for a $445 studio (a bit more than a five percent increase for renters). $25 a month may not seem like much, but if you read his website, you'll find that he's planning on raising rent
Guess Whose Property Taxes Are Dropping Under AVI? Mayor Nutter’s
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/15/2013
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Oh nowwww we understand what this whole AVI thing is all about. Nutter wants his property taxes to go down! By $460-$588! "I'm a big supporter of this program," Nutter tells Newsworks. No kidding. OK, for real though, he says he'll donate the donate the savings to Philly public schools. [Newsworks]
Philly’s Cheesecake Factory Monstrosity Officially On Its Way
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/15/2013
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Center City, you're one step closer to achieving the sterility plaguing most other metropolitan downtowns. This week, the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a developer's plans to demolish the wraparound 2-story retail space on Walnut and 15th and replace it with a glass box featuring a Cheesecake Factory. And if we're lucky, a Uniqlo. It'll join an Applebee's and Max Brenner (Bald Man) Chocolates on S. 15th's 200 block. Making this little stretch of street "KOP on 15th" as City Paper's Dan Denvir quipped in a tweet. You can get your damn cheesecake in fall 2014, probably. [Philadelphia Real Estate
Photos: The Forum Porn Theater Now Demolished
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/14/2013
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The Forum--the last place to catch a good porn in Center City--is now little more than a crumbling brick shell. Though the demolition is not quite complete, the roof and iconic marquee are now gone. The wrecking ball, for the record, appears to have struck sometime today. A guy sitting at the Liberty Bar next door confirmed this detail, though he was pretty drunk and called me a "douchebag" at one point, so take what he said with a grain of salt. Lucidly, however, he added that the internet was to blame for the theater's demise and that the "neighborhood's
Note to Gentrifiers, Rich People, and Pretty Much Everyone: Your Taxes Are Going Up Under AVI
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/13/2013
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According to City Controller Alan Butkovitz, 343,191 properties will experience tax increases under the city's proposed Actual Value Initiative (AVI) overhaul, compared to 107,603 which will owe less. Here are the five ZIP codes he estimates will experience the highest average annual tax hikes, assuming (optimistically) a 1.25% tax rate. Listed are the annual amounts average properties in each ZIP would owe.
19102: $1,634 (39.8% increase)
19148: $819 (78.4% increase)
19146: $768 (44.6% increase)
19130: $815 (27.3% increase)
19103: $946 (17.5% increase)
I expect not a few of you loyal readers live in these ZIPs, which comprise Rittenhouse, Fitler, Grad Hospital, parts of South Philly and Fairmount,
Bart Blatstein Sells Control of Piazza, Explains Tax Failure
By Joel Mathis 2/07/2013
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With his Piazza at Schmidt's development, developer Bart Blatstein helped set off a wave of gentrification that has remade Northern Liberties and its surrounding neighborhoods. But as he eyes bigger fish—namely, development of a casino on North Broad Street—Blatstein seems ready to divest himself of old responsibilities. To wit: He has sold 60 percent of his Piazza holdings to a New York group headed by Donald Trump's son-in-law.
The deal comes the same week it was revealed Blatstein had failed to pay taxes on one of his many properties. In today's Daily News, the developer wrote about how that happened.
Of all
Former Eagle Jevon Kearse Loses Home to Foreclosure
By Joel Mathis 2/07/2013
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The South Florida Business Journal reports that former Eagle Jevon Kearse has lost the Florida home he bought after joining the Eagles in 2004:
Known as “the freak” for his amazing athletic ability while at the University of Florida, Kearse bought the 6,064-square-foot home along the ocean at 2301 Bay Drive for $6.05 million in 2004. Two years later, he signed a $5.25 million mortgage on it.
Kearse started his career in 1999 with theTennessee Titans. In 2004, the year he bought the house, he signed an eight-year $65 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles that included a $16 million signing bonus. He helped
University City Skyscraper to House Penn, Drexel Students
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/06/2013
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A 33-story, $159 million tower is slated to open in University City in fall of 2014. The dorm (yeah, I guess that's what it is) will house Penn and Drexel students, and is part of the area's Cira Centre South mixed-used development. The effort is a collaboration between Campus Crest Communities, Harrison Street Real Estate Captital, and Brandywine Real Estate Trust, which is spearheading the Cira Centre project. [Wall Street Journal]
