Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard
Exclusive to subscribersYou can now gift articles

Another twist in the fight over a mural | Real Estate Newsletter

And mapping Philly property tax breaks.

Courtesy of Shimi Zakin

A developer planned to knock down an iconic mural in Old City and build townhouses. Then he talked to advocates in the arts and came up with an innovative plan to preserve it.

Now artist Isaiah Zagar’s 7,000-square-foot mosaic on the Painted Bride Art Center is back on the chopping block.

Our lead story describes the change of plans after neighbors sued the developer, and it details the new proposal to knock down the center and its mural and replace them with short-term rentals.

Also in this edition, learn how the region’s spring housing market is starting off, peek into a 19th century brick Victorian home in Burlington City, and see how a Philly property tax policy reshaped the city.

📮 Did you visit the Painted Bride mosaic at 230 Vine St. before it was covered up a few years ago? E-mail me about your experience for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.

If you see this 🔑 in today's newsletter, that means we're highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

— Michaelle Bond

My colleagues and I have been writing about the twists and turns in the saga of the Painted Bride mosaic for five years, since the art center announced it wanted to sell its building. I wrote the latest chapter this week.

The current developer of the property had come up with a way to float apartments on top of the mural, preserving the artwork. In 2021, The Inquirer’s architecture critic called the design “a terrific work of architecture.”

But a small group of neighbors pushed back on the developer’s plans and sued. A judge ruled in favor of those neighbors last year. Now, against the wishes of locals who are fed up with parties at nearby short-term rentals, the developer plans to exercise his right to build a six-story building full of them.

For two decades, Philadelphia offered large property tax breaks for residential development, and the policy transformed the city.

The 10-year tax abatement allowed property owners to pay taxes based only on the value of their land and not new buildings constructed on it. The decade-long tax break was meant to spur development and grow the city. Critics argued that the policy robbed Philadelphia of short-term tax dollars.

As of last year, the value of the abatement has been dramatically reduced.

My colleagues Jake Blumgart and Kasturi Pananjady analyzed new data to map the city’s full tax abatement over its 20-year history.

See where the full property tax break was used and what parts of the city were left out.

New home listings last month fell to a near 20-year low, but spring will spring

It’s about that time. The weather has been warmer, the Super Bowl is behind us, and the typically busy spring housing market is coming up.

Usually, the number of homes on the market rises at the start of the year as homeowners expect more buyers to start their searches in the spring. But new listings in the Philadelphia region in January were at their lowest level since 2004, according to the multiple listing service Bright MLS.

About 5,800 homes were newly listed for sale last month in the region. That’s 4.5% fewer than at the same time last year. One reason more homeowners aren’t listing is that they bought when mortgage rates were at historic lows. They don’t want to pay higher rates for a new mortgage.

So potential buyers don’t have many properties to choose from, even though more of them are touring homes, making offers, and taking advantage of mortgage interest rates that are one percentage point lower than peaks this fall.

But more buyers will be in the market as spring really gets going, and continued increased demand will encourage more homeowners to list their properties, meaning more options for buyers.

The latest news to pay attention to

  1. A long-empty historic Catholic Church in Society Hill is set to be preserved and transformed into a single-family home with apartments out back.🔑

  2. On Wednesday, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy announced plans to require all new cars to have zero emissions by 2035 and to get hundreds of thousands of electric heating and cooling systems installed in homes.

  3. The Philadelphia Housing Authority opened its wait-list for housing vouchers for the first time since 2010, and almost four times as many people applied than can be randomly selected for the waiting list.

  4. As the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT gets more popular, a local real estate agent shows how he uses the technology to sell homes.

  5. Architect Robert Geddes, one of the designers of the Roundhouse — the nickname of Philly’s former Police Administration Building — died this week.

  6. Very few objects in Philly are historically protected, but the Philadelphia Historical Commission voted to preserve an iconic neon sign in South Philly.

  7. Philly singles pay $6,000+ more in rent than couples do in what is called the “singles tax.”

  8. House of the week: For $329,000, a three-story townhouse in Pennsport.

Tom and Alejandra Swan’s home was one of a dozen Victorians featured on the City of Burlington Holiday House Tour in December. The Swans showed visitors photos of what the 19th century home looked like when they bought it in 2020, so they’d appreciate the transformation.

The Swans and a group of friends had steamed and scraped wallpaper in every room, pulled up black and pink flowered carpets, and fixed up a yard choked with weeds. Professionals gave them a new kitchen and bathrooms.

I grew up around Burlington City, and I’ve wondered what modern-day homeowners have done inside its historic homes. So photos of this house were especially fun for me to see.

Take a peek yourself, and discover how Ecuador features in the Swans’ love story and — they hope — in decorations for their home.

🧠 Trivia time 🧠

Residents from New Jersey and Pennsylvania packed a virtual meeting last week to talk about illegal off-roading in a New Jersey state park. The 124,000-acre park has become a prime spot for 4x4s, pickup trucks, and Jeeps to roll through the sandy roads of the Pine Barrens, but the vehicles risk harming sensitive wetlands when they veer off designated roads.

What’s the name of the state park? This story has the answer.

📷 Photo quiz 📷

The sale of this three-bedroom, 1½-bathroom turn-of-the-century rowhouse in Fishtown is pending. How much do you think the home is selling for?

📮 Take a guess, and e-mail it to me.

Talk to you next week. Until then, I’ll be enjoying our warmer temperatures.