My husband I were taking a walk one night, and the guy "gaurding" the building let us look inside. He wasn't really sure what was going on, but I know they are getting down to buisness.
It's right across the streeet from my house.
My husband paid 30,000 for our house back in '95. I am fairly sure the value will go a slightly once this is done

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The Sweetest of ALL Peaks...

I like this blog. I am originally from the burbs, and starting living in the city like 10 years ago (moved to Manayunk if you wannna consider that city-it was for me).

I starting going to Temple and started a love for North Philly and it's Devine architecture. It does have some fantastic buildings.

The Devine Lorraine for example, on Broad. Just imagine the granduer of that puppy back in the day? It's so beautiful...

I am totally stoked on the 5th and Master bulding for more than just the property value...I am just glad to see the beautification of it...

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The Sweetest of ALL Peaks...

In case you're wondering about that building, it's the old Stetson Hat Factory. Most of the cowboy hats worn out west and in the old Western movies were manufactured in that building. A few years ago, they started renovating it for senior housing, but that apparently stalled.

I've noticed the work they're doing there now on a few recent walks through the neighborhood. When they started renovating it the first time, the idea of private development there was unheard of, but now it could be condos or some upscale rentals or something. We'll see.

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Check out my blog about Philadelphia development and neighborhood revitalization at philadelphiathrives.blogspot.com

Where did you find that info? I spent countless hours trying to determine what that thing used to be. That enormous factory was for hats? Yowsa, thats a lot of hats...

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The Sweetest of ALL Peaks...

It is not. Stetson had a complex of buildings at 4th & Montgomery. They all burned down and/or were torn down around 1979. The old Stetson clocktower used to be a neighborhood landmark.

It used to be an umbrella factory. I found some historical information on it before that I will post if I can find it again. Otherwise, some more recent news.

Here is PW's story on it from 2006: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=12324

And here is Silica's plans for it now:
http://www.silicabuilders.com/home/u...a_factory.html

Drove by today and it looks like the ceilings are all gutted and cleaned up. Apparently they're making progress however slowly.

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"Power does what it wants." - George Carlin