Philly buildings to watch in 2026 | Real Estate Newsletter
And the mystery of doubled prices.
In Philadelphia, developers who want to build big development projects need to submit their plans for public input.
A board made up of architects, planners, and other experts give their two cents about projects that can change the look and feel of neighborhoods.
The group is advisory only. But meetings of the Civic Design Review committee give neighbors a chance to voice their opinions and require developers to publicly answer questions.
And the process offers a look at what’s coming down the pipeline.
Learn about the 18 big projects across Philadelphia that came before the committee this year.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Mysterious home sales: Meet the real estate agent arranging sales of rental properties for double their listing prices in the area around Temple University.
Goodbye, Bride: Catch up on the yearslong saga around an Old City landmark as the mosaic-covered former Painted Bride Art Center building gets demolished for apartments.
Fatal eviction attempt: A Philly landlord was sentenced to prison after a scheme to illegally evict tenants left two people dead.
Christmas cottage: Peek inside an Ocean City home decorated for the holidays and located on a street nicknamed Dollhouse Row.
— Michaelle Bond
P.S. We’re taking a break next week for Christmas. The newsletter will return on Jan. 1.
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This year, Philly’s Civic Design Review committee considered 18 projects that developers want to build across the city. Plans call for new homes, garages, a self-storage facility, and a hotel.
We looked at the projects and laid out what’s coming where and from which developers. So when someone asks you what’s being built on some corner near you, you have an answer.
Below is a taste of what’s to come.
Senior housing in Sharswood
This development of 65 apartments is one of the last pieces of the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s 10-year plan to redevelop the North Philly neighborhood.
Mount Airy apartment building
This five-story building will have 81 apartments and space for retail. The developer plans to offer all the homes for below-market-rate rents.
Largest apartment building in recent memory in Roxborough
This building will have 384 apartments and almost as many parking spots.
Keep reading to learn more about these and other projects and where they all stand.
Owners of rental properties around Temple University have been struggling. A bunch of apartments were built for students, but then enrollment dropped. Vacancies are up, and rents are down.
In spite of this rough real estate environment, some properties in the area have sold for about double their original listing price.
And these sales are tied to one local real estate agent.
In one example, an eight-bedroom rowhouse that was listed for $475,000 — $40,000 less than the owner paid for it two years before — sat on the market for a year.
After Patrick C. Fay got involved as the buyer’s agent, the rowhouse was re-listed for $875,000 this April and went under contract the same day.
My colleagues Ryan W. Briggs and William Bender looked at almost three dozen other sales that Fay handled over the last year and found a similar pattern.
A small group of repeat buyers are involved in transactions. And some of them have been linked to a mortgage fraud scheme from the 2000s.
Keep reading to learn more about these mysterious sales and see how they could affect the broader North Philly area around Temple.
The latest news to pay attention to
A developer plans to convert this South Philly church into apartments.
Demolition has started at the former Painted Bride Art Center building, a mosaic-covered landmark in Old City for more than 25 years. This is how we got here.
A Philly landlord’s scheme to terrorize his tenants into moving out left two people dead. He was just sentenced to prison.
City Council voted against Mayor Parker’s vision for her signature housing plan, instead prioritizing lower-income Philadelphians.
The FIFA World Cup could bring 17,000 Airbnb guests to the Philly region.
Searching within a four-block radius in Brewerytown, this first-time homebuyer paid less than the asking price for her house.
This is how Pennsylvanians really feel about the construction of AI data centers, according to a new survey.
This Gilded Age estate and wedding venue in Montgomery County is adding a boutique event space and distillery.
House of the week: For $519,995 in Queen Village, a house with a walk-out deck on the third floor.
Ginny Chappell owns a century-old house on an Ocean City road known as Dollhouse Row.
She’d been dreaming of owning a home on the road for years, but her real estate agent gave her a reality check: the properties stay within families and almost never sell.
But five years after Chappell settled for another home in Ocean City, she got the call that a Dollhouse Row house was going on the market.
Her home is now one of the stops on a holiday tour of houses in the city. Earlier this month, folks came through to see her blue and white decorations.
Chappell has a white, pre-lit artificial tree in her front window and two mini versions on her front porch. She’s got a coffee and hot chocolate station with Christmas-themed mugs. Ornaments and little Christmas trees of blue, white, silver, and gray fill shelves above her fireplace.
Peek inside Chappell’s home and find out why her street is nicknamed Dollhouse Row.
📮Did you set your sights on a home or neighborhood that you thought you couldn’t have but ended up being able to live in? Give your fellow newsletter readers some hope by emailing me.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the location this photo shows?
📮 If you think you do, email me back.
Last week’s quiz featured a photo taken at FDR Park in South Philly.
Shout-out to Ron P. and Ralph Z. for getting that right.
This September, I had two firsts at FDR Park: I took a kayak out onto the lake, and I stuffed my face at the Southeast Asian Market.
I love kayaking and eating, so that was one of my favorite days of 2025.
Enjoy the rest of your week. And see you in your inbox next year.
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