Art Commission Gives Conceptual OK To Glass Tower At 5th And Walnut

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Architect Cecil Baker and developer Tom Scannapieco went before the Philadelphia Art Commission Wednesday with their concepts for creating a 26-story residential tower at 5th and Walnut streets. They were granted conceptual approval with a few caveats, including asking the applicants to bring corrected project renderings, more detailed streetscape plans, and examples of exterior construction materials when they return to the Art Commission for final approval later this year.

The “ultra-high-end” glass tower will include 40 residential units, with two units each of about 4,000 square feet on floors five through 13, and one 8,000- to 9,000-square-foot unit on floors 14 through 26. The developers are “going after a very small, very rich segment of the population,” said Cecil Baker. There will also be a yet-to-be determined ground-floor retail component at the corner of 5th and Walnut. The building will not include a restaurant but will have a fully automated parking garage.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/Art_Commission_gives_conditional_OK_to_glass_tower_at_5th_and_Walnut.html#deMHlxaFHox30Q3Z.99

Philadelphia’s Queen Village, A Neighborhood Of Reinvention

English: Map of Philadelphia County highlighting planning districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Way back when, Queen Village was the place to buy a house if you couldn’t afford Society Hill.

Joseph P. Fanelli Jr., who moved from the suburbs in 1985, readily acknowledges that Queen Village was his second choice.

“But looking at it today,” says Fanelli, president and CEO of Quaker City Manufacturing Co., the new townhouse in the 100 block of Catharine Street he bought 28 years ago for $175,000 “was a great buy.”

It was a lot of money in 1985, especially when you could buy what veteran real estate agent and Queen Village native Kathy Conway calls “a grandmom house” for $50,000.

Twenty years later, Fanelli sold the townhouse and its two secure parking spaces for $575,000. (He moved to a house on Bainbridge Street that his new wife, Katie, an IBM executive, bought when she transferred to Philadelphia.)

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/town-by-town/20130421_Town_By_Town___Queen_Village__By_the_Numbers.html

The 10 Richest Zip Codes In Philadelphia

English: Sam Austin House in Chestnut Hill Historic District on the NRHP, in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At 5 East Chestnut Hill Ave. (equivalent to 8801 Germantown Avenue – the cross street) Coords40.078285,-75.210675 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We’re continuing to go through Pew Charitable Trust‘s 2013 state of the city report for Philadelphia (see our previous lists of the 8 most diverse neighborhoods and 15 largest private employers).  Today, we’re looking at the richest areas.

According to Pew, these are the 10 zip codes with highest median household incomes:

1. 19106 (Center City-Society Hill): $93,222
2. 19118 (Chestnut Hill): $80,950

To see the rest, click here:  http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillylists/The-10-richest-zip-codes-in-Philadelphia.html