100 homes planned for Jewelers Row hole | Real Estate Newsletter
And few family-sized apartments.
If you’ve walked by Philly’s famous Jewelers Row in the last few years, you’ve seen the empty space where a chunk of the country’s oldest diamond district is missing.
Toll Brothers told the city that it planned to build a high-end condo tower there and started demolition in 2019. Then the pandemic happened, and the hole has just been sitting.
Now, after seven years of controversy, there’s a new plan for about 100 homes at the site.
Keep scrolling for that story and to learn why Philly developers aren’t building large apartments, discover how a new home buyer program pays down student loans, and peek into a (now very disappointed) Phillies fan’s New Jersey sports cave.
📮 Would you buy a house that you were told was haunted? Why or why not? For a chance to be featured in my newsletter, email me.
— Michaelle Bond
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On Tuesday night, Philly developer Pearl Properties revealed its plans to build a soaring tower of roughly 100 homes in the Jewelers Row lot that Toll Brothers left vacant.
Plans for the tower are pretty much guaranteed to change during the approval process, and the project needs exceptions to at least three zoning rules.
But according to the current proposal, the 367-foot building would have valet parking spaces, one- and two-bedroom homes, and a retail space where the developer wants to put a restaurant.
Read on for more details, how we got to this point, why some people have concerns, and what the building could look like.
I’ve heard this complaint during my time writing about real estate, and I’ve noticed it myself. Maybe you have, too. Why does it seem like all the new apartments in Philly are studios and one-bedrooms?
Because that’s mostly what is being built.
Neighborhood groups keep asking developers why they don’t have apartments that can fit families — multi-bedroom units that aren’t marketed to students and other roommate situations.
Reasons include rules about what can be built where, the types of projects that developers can get funding for, and the longstanding idea that city life is for young people who then move to suburbs when they start families. Many families also are choosing to rent or buy rowhouses instead of leasing apartments.
Most developers my colleague Jake Blumgart talked to for this story said they don’t build larger apartments and don’t plan to.
But here’s why other Philly developers say the market may be shifting.
The latest news to pay attention to
A New Jersey real estate influencer who’s known for flipping houses is accused of scamming people out of millions.
The Philadelphia Historical Commission’s architectural committee has some major concerns about a plan to build apartments across from the Kimmel Center.
Construction is starting on a big apartment project at the Navy Yard that’s meant to jump-start residential development there.
A 74-unit apartment building is proposed for a Philly neighborhood that hasn’t seen much new development.
A developer is planning to build a North Philly apartment building for seniors as an alternative to living in aging rowhouses.
Five groups that represent residents and voters in South Philly and Center City have announced that they oppose the Sixers’ plans for a downtown arena.
House of the week: For $649,000 in East Oak Lane, a Spanish Colonial-style home.
Pay down debt and build up savings. That is sound and seemingly straightforward advice for people who want to become homeowners.
But homes are getting more expensive, along with everything else.
A unique pilot program is trying to help Philadelphians become homeowners by breaking down some of the barriers keeping people from being able to buy. And the upfront costs of buying are huge barriers.
The program for first-time Philly home buyers will give grants of up to $25,000 for down payments and closing costs, forgivable loans of up to 5% of a home’s sales price, and financial education.
Other programs also help with upfront costs, so what makes this program unique?
If home buyers have grant money left over, they can put it toward their student loans.
Buyers with no credit can still be approved for mortgages.
No one has to pay mortgage insurance.
Read on to see who’s eligible for the program and how it’s part of a larger plan to close home ownership gaps.
This was supposed to be a celebratory newsletter section featuring a local fan cave. But the Phillies lost, and here we are.
I’m hoping that diehard Phillies fan Tom Kozieja is finding comfort in his sports cave at his home in Tabernacle, Burlington County.
His 1,500-square-foot basement is filled with Phillies collectibles, including:
a Mike Schmidt MVP bat
signed baseballs and photos
a bunch of bobbleheads
Read Kozieja’s personal Phillies stories and peek into his sports haven, photographed in happier times.
🧠 Trivia time
Edmondo Crimi, the owner of Best of France Antiques in Doylestown, is opening a vampire and paranormal art museum on the first floor of his home this weekend. Eight rooms are filled with Crimi’s personal collection and also a lot of stuff that people didn’t want in their homes anymore.
Question: What is the final room of the museum dedicated to?
A) creepy dolls
B) a wooden rocking chair with skeleton carvings
C) an archangel
D) instruments for killing vampires
This story has the answer.
📷 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.
Shout out to Tom M., who knew that last week’s photo was taken in South Philly’s Columbus Square.
Tom says the unusual round building in the photo was originally used as a senior center where men played cards. They’d also play bocce across from it, and Tom would play at the playground as a kid in the 1960s.
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An overhead light in my bathroom flickers sometimes. Loose bulb or ghost trying to communicate? (Or something else. Someone tell me why this only happens sometimes.)
A survey of 1,000 Americans commissioned by the real estate data company Clever found that a little more than half of Americans — 52% — would buy a haunted house. 😱
Seven in 10 people said they could be persuaded to buy one if it saved them money.
Hey, homes are expensive these days. I get it. But the only way I’m living with Casper is if he’s paying rent.
Enjoy the rest of your week.