City Ave. apartment is a sign of the future | Real Estate Newsletter
And the pros of pocket doors.
After Lord & Taylor closed all its physical stores a few years ago, the company left behind an increasingly bleak, fenced-off property on City Avenue.
But late last month, the Blayr apartment building opened to tenants at the site. Restaurants and shops are coming.
And with other mixed-use developments in the works along City Avenue, the opening of the Blayr is the latest step toward Lower Merion’s vision for the corridor.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Peekaboo!: Read up on how local homeowners are using pocket doors.
Launched in Philly: Learn about a new app that uses AI to help people fix their homes.
Bigger and better: Peek inside this Montgomery County farmhouse that a couple bought to upsize after retirement.
Market update: Scroll for the latest housing market stats for March.
— Michaelle Bond
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Young professionals, couples, and empty nesters have been moving into the increasingly residential area along City Avenue. They have various reasons, but location is the usual draw. They’re looking for access to Philly and the Main Line.
Around City Avenue, hundreds of apartments are now under construction.
With the opening of the Blayr, the Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center has added 217 apartments and 19,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Among the apartment building’s amenities:
🏊🏿♀️outdoor pool
🏌🏽♀️golf simulator
👩🏾💻private work-from-home suites
🐶pet spa
Keep reading for more details about residential development along City Avenue and the change to a Lower Merion land-use law that sent developers clamoring to build on the corridor.
My grandma’s house had a pocket door between the kitchen and the dining room. It was the first one I’d ever seen as a kid. And my cousins and I got yelled at for treating it like a toy.
But along with the rotary phone and the backyard hammock where we got ticks, the pocket door was one of my favorite features of the property.
My colleague Terri Akman has a piece today about how homeowners are using pocket doors to make their homes more versatile. (She doesn’t mention anything about delighting children, but I think that’s a bonus.)
Philadelphians Nicole and Taylor Gerlinger wanted to maximize space in their home and turned to pocket doors to help. They’ve got six of them, including four in the primary bedroom suite.
Keep reading to find out how pocket doors can be used and what questions to ask if you’re considering them for your home.
The latest news to pay attention to
The Philadelphia Housing Authority has spent $330 million to acquire apartments all over the city. Find out where and why.
Just launched in Philly, a new app is using AI to help people fix their homes or find someone who can.
In this week’s How I Bought This House, a young couple moved in with mom to save for their dream home.
Mount Airy Train Station is one of four buildings that just got historic protection.
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books is moving this fall but staying put in Germantown.
Fort Mifflin, long besieged by flooding and lack of money, is finally getting some help.
Two workers who died in the CHOP garage collapse were recovered and Mayor Parker outlined investigation details.
This is one of Philly’s biggest illegal dumps. Cleaning it up is a logistical nightmare.
House of the week: For $675,000 in Havertown, a four-bedroom Craftsman that has a sunroom, an attic with a bedroom, and an unfinished basement.
Jean and Carmen Branco were empty nesters who had retired from teaching. But unlike most of their peers, the Brancos wanted to upsize, not downsize.
They started looking for a farmhouse, but all the ones they saw needed a lot of work. Jean was ready to give up, but Carmen found a listing online for an 18th century farmhouse in West Norriton. He persuaded her to see it.
The Brancos bought the three-story home in 2007.
Since then, they’ve enjoyed living in a piece of history. In the front hall, the couple stenciled the names of people who have owned the property, from William Penn to them.
Previous residents added to the home and made upgrades.
Take a peek inside the Brancos’ property.
📮Are you a homeowner who’s found a way to recognize past owners of your property? I want to hear from you.
📊 The market
The spring housing market started to thaw in March. And home sellers are holding up the lighter.
The number of new home listings last month was the highest we’ve seen for March since 2022.
That’s “welcome momentum,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at the multiple listing service Bright MLS, said in a statement. But that momentum “is still fragile,” given higher mortgage interest rates and economic uncertainty.
She predicts that local housing markets across the Mid-Atlantic will stay uneven this spring.
According to Bright, in the Philadelphia metro area last month:
🔺Sellers newly listed 7,425 properties — a 4.7% increase from the same time last year.
🔺Homes sold for a median price of $385,000 — 4.6% more than last year.
🔺The supply of homes for sale was up almost 9% from a year ago. But that’s still less than half the housing inventory we had back before the pandemic.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the location this photo shows?
📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.
Hats off to Lars W. and Bill G. for correctly guessing last week’s image of BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham, a massive Hindu temple in Robbinsville, N.J.
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Philadelphians all think our own neighborhoods are special. Now it’s your chance to shout out the places you love.
The Inquirer is building a guide to neighborhood gems, and my colleague Sam Ruland is asking you to share the restaurants, parks, murals, and other spots that make your neighborhood feel like home.
What’s one of your favorite places where you live?
Enjoy the rest of your week.
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