Cherry Hill homes finally finished | Real Estate Newsletter
And the hottest local zip code.
The Plaza Grande in Cherry Hill has been two decades in the making.
Development of the 55+ housing complex has been marked by the Great Recession, lawsuits, and bankruptcies. Several different owners tried and failed to finish the community.
Meanwhile, condo owners and renters at the former home of the Garden State Park Race Track lived in a construction site.
But this summer, the New York-based investor and developer who’s credited with resurrecting North Philly’s Divine Lorraine building finally finished the last piece of the Cherry Hill site’s development of homes, shops, and restaurants.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
A hot zip: Find out why this South Jersey zip code was named the second-hottest in the country by Realtor.com.
Shaving off the top: See how the percentage of local home sellers who cut their prices compares to the share of price cuts in other markets across the country.
A winning bid: Peek inside this North Wildwood condo building where units were auctioned off in 2008.
Market update: Keep scrolling to learn what local real estate markets were up to last month.
— Michaelle Bond
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Investor and developer William “Billy” Procida is taking a victory lap now that he’s finished construction at the Plaza Grande two years after he bought it.
“I did a miracle. I built almost 300 units in two years … it took the other groups 17 years to build the same number of units,” Procida told my colleague while puffing on a cigar during a Zoom interview.
The homeowner’s association at the development was disappointed that Procida’s units were apartments instead of more condos, which was the pre-Great Recession plan. But at least construction is finally over.
Keep reading to learn why it took so long to finish Plaza Grande, the amenities it offers residents, and why Procida says this project can’t be replicated in South Jersey.
The second-hottest zip code of 2025 is in South Jersey — Marlton’s 08053.
That’s according to Realtor.com’s list of the 50 hottest zip codes in the country.
The annual ranking measures buyer demand and how competitive the market is by looking at the number of unique viewers per listing and how quickly homes sell.
In Marlton, in the first half of this year:
🏡 Roughly four times more unique viewers looked at each listing on Realtor.com than the national average.
🏡 Homes spent a median of 17 days on the market. The national median was 58 days.
I talked to a homeowner who grew up in Bucks County but can’t imagine living anywhere other than Marlton.
Keep reading to learn why residents and real estate agents say Marlton deserves its ranking as one of the country’s hottest markets.
📮Do you think your community is a place that more homebuyers should consider? Pitch it to your fellow readers by emailing me.
The latest news to pay attention to
Moorestown wants to save a Revolutionary War-era house. Its owner, Virtua, wants it demolished.
Nearly 1 in 4 Zillow home listings in the Philly area had a price cut in June.
The vacant apartment tower across from Monk’s Cafe has been sold to a New York developer.
An explosion in Nicetown blew out her rowhouse’s front windows. Then her landlord ghosted her.
A federal judge ruled in favor of the Philadelphia Housing Authority in a civil rights lawsuit over a Fairmount fire that killed 12.
Middletown Township voted to deny a major warehouse project in a meeting mired by accusations of “bad faith.”
House of the week: For $375,000 in East Falls, a renovated three-bedroom rowhouse.
Luxe listing: For $2.4 million in Haddon Heights, a former church was converted into a four-bedroom home with a lazy river.
In 2008, Deborah and Jim Fullam heard about an auction for condos in a building in North Wildwood. So they drove down to the Shore from Doylestown to see whether they could get a unit in the new building, which was close to the beach and in a walkable area.
They were successful in bidding on a unit and stayed there for a while before moving to a different condo in the same building that had better ocean views.
Their two-story condo has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, plenty of space for when their children and grandchildren come to visit.
The Fullams can look out at the ocean through a wall of sliding glass doors in the main living area and from their dining room table, which faces glass doors to a balcony. They also enjoy gazing at the beach from their front deck.
They renovated their kitchen in 2020 and did more work on their condo last year and this year.
Peek inside the Fullams’ renovated condo.
📊 The market
In July, home prices were up, and the number of closed sales was down in the Philly region.
Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at the multiple listing service Bright MLS, points to economic uncertainty as one reason for “lackluster” market activity across the Mid-Atlantic last month. First-time homebuyers and buyers with moderate incomes are sitting on the sidelines.
“It is not just about mortgage rates anymore. Many people are feeling anxious about their own personal financial situations, and that uncertainty is keeping them from making the decision to buy a home,” Sturtevant said in a statement. “Higher-income buyers, those who are still feeling more economically secure, are accounting for a bigger share of housing market activity this summer.”
Higher-end buyers drove up the median sales price in the Philly region last month.
In the Philadelphia metro area, according to Bright MLS:
🔺The median sales price in July hit $420,000. That’s up 6.3% from the same time last year, and it’s a new record high for the region.
🔺In the counties in and around Philadelphia, home prices rose the fastest compared to last July in Gloucester County (up 12.1%) and Montgomery County (up 10.6%).
🔻 The number of closed sales in July was down 2.8% compared to last July.
🔺The number of new pending sales in July was up 1.7% from last July. But pending sales so far this year are down slightly from the same period last year.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the name of this bridge?
📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.
Shout-out to Lars W. for knowing that last week’s photo showed the central hall of Independence Hall.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
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