I live further south than 18th and Pemberton and feel perfectly safe walking at night, but I'm a physically imposing (read BIG) woman.

Still, there's a good bit of foot traffic on both South 18 and South 19 Street at that hour. I imagine you could walk west on Spruce to 18th and head south and be just fine. As you observed, once you're known in the neighborhood you're likel to be a lot safer.

I can't remember the last time I saw a large dog wandering the streets here. I think it was three or four years ago. All I ever see is cats...

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There are still nuisance properties that break up the walk on S. 18th and even on Pemberton, though less so than ever before.

The truth is that in this market, there is no reason for a single one except that the city won't collect taxes and won't sell the property it owns that are scattered, unused, and not really part of any plan.

It appears that there is still room for growth and appreciation in the Graduate hospital area vs. Society hill which has been established for so many years. Rehabbing is still going on in GH and as long as that continues, the values should continue to soar. Are you familiar with the 10 year tax abatement in Phila?? I am a mortgage professional and have also been an appraiser for many years so I am intimately familiar with the neighborhoods you are speaking about. You may contact me for professional information anytime through carol@pahomesandloans.com. Good luck with your search.

Tell us more about JFK. Thats a HUUUGE building.

isn't also entirely possible that values will climb gradually, just more and mroe properties will be rehabbed? I've always felt graduate hospital was priced were people think it will be, not where it is. that said, I'd probably still choose grad hospital.

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It is a huge building... and going condo. Plans were presented to the community on Thursday night. It's slated to be 285 units. Many firms that proposed plans for the building suggested hollowing out the center of the building, but the plan that won out calls for keeping the core and using it as parking so residents would have parking on the level where their unit is located. The building is to be developed by Sam Switzenbaum and the architects are Venturi, Scott, Brown. They plan to keep the basic "skin" of the building but will enlarge the windows to be floor to ceiling. There will be storage space for each unit and there will be ammenities including a large health club and rooftop garden. The owner will grant an easement to the Schuylkill River Development Corporation to enable them to continue the park. There will be limited ground floor commercial space facing Schuylkill Ave along with street trees and other landscaping. They have a hearing before the ZBA later this week.

AHB

Wow, this is music to my ears! How much, and when do they go fs?

I believe the price was around $400 per square foot with the storage not being included in the sf. There will be a few rooftop units that will be priced higher. Mostly one and two bedroom units of varying sizes (ie small 1 BR, 1 BR, 1 BR plus den, etc.) Soft demo is slated to start within the next couple of weeks, full on construction is slated to start around February I think. If I remember correctly the sales office should open in December or January. It sounds like they are planning to move very quickly. They are cleaning up and re-doing all the sidewalks from the South Street bridge to the building in prep for the sales office opening. I think they are even planning to go ahead with the street tree planting ASAP as well. They will be reducing the number of garage openings substantially which will increase the on street parking in the area.

They are trying to acquire an adjacent parcel of land currently owned by the RDA and have agreed to provide an easement through that parcel to the SRDC if the RDA agrees to sell it to them, but they won't do anything to provide access across the railroad tracks. I'd love to see Venturi design a public access bridge at that point (How cool would that be??) but that doesn't seem to be in the cards at this point.

A.

Not too bad, assuming that they offer some smaller 1brs for us regular folk. Does that include parking? Nice finishes? Will they be loft units, or warmed over apartment style condo?

Sorry for all the questions, but there were 3 buildings that I always thought would be badass conversions
1. big ugly
2. lofts at Bella Vista
3. JFK

Huh? What's that?