Category: Hope and Change

Apartment Building Under Construction on Ridge With Great Views of Vacant Lot – OCF Realty

Bob Bruhin
View from the south

There’s a new apartment building under construction at 1111 Ridge Ave., a five-story edifice that will have 18 units and commercial space on the first floor. Construction is moving along pretty well, with the exterior fully framed and the windows already installed. We couldn’t tell you what business to expect on the first floor, but given the restaurants and the excellent concert venue around the corner on Spring Garden Street and the numerous ongoing projects in the area, we can imagine several possible tenants making it work at this location. And while we can’t quite tell what the finished product will look like, we do know that the building will have a rather unique appearance, thanks to the angled frontage on Ridge.

Read more: Apartment Building Under Construction on Ridge With Great Views of Vacant Lot – OCF Realty

Two of the 12 Most Anticipated Restaurants in Philadelphia, Fall 2019 – Eater Philly

Bob Bruhin
rendering of restaurant exterior with sidewalk tables and a sign that says gabi
A rendering of Gabi, a new French cafe from Peter Woolsey
 Courtesy of Gabi

Gabi

Location: 339 N. Broad Street, North Broad/Callowhill

Key Players: Peter Woolsey, Kenneth Bush, Brad Histand

The Situation: Bistrot La Minette’s Peter Woolsey is heading to North Broad for another French restaurant, bringing along La Minette’s executive chef Kenny Bush and La Peg’s GM Brad Histand. Gabi, going in the new Hanover North Broad building, will be an Art Deco-styled all-day cafe with sidewalk seating, a bar, and dishes like French onion soup, steak frites, duck confit, and escargot.

Projected Opening: October

rendering of italian restaurant
A rendering of Cicala at the Divine Lorraine
 Courtesy of Cicala

Cicala at the Divine Lorraine

Location: 699 N. Broad Street, North Broad/Spring Garden

Key Players: Joe Cicala, Angela Cicala

The Situation: Chefs Joe Cicala, formerly of Le Virtu and Brigantessa, and Angela Cicala are working on Cicala at the Divine Lorraine in Philly’s rapidly changing North Broad Street corridor. The upscale eatery, set inside a historic hotel turned apartment building, will serve southern Italian fare.

Projected Opening: Early October

Source: The 12 Most Anticipated Restaurants in Philadelphia, Fall 2019 – Eater Philly

Literally, There’s a Shiny New Building at 10th & Buttonwood – OCF Realty

Bob Bruhin
View from the south

If you’re traveling through or near Callowhill, there’s a new building under construction that’s quite eye catching. Sure, any construction in any part of town makes our radar bleep, but this particular project would draw the attention of even the most oblivious phone gazer due to one very specific characteristic- its sheathing. Most wood-framed new construction gets covered in either plywood or green zip system panels, but the project at 1001 Buttonwood St. is sheathed in something much shinier.

Read more: Literally, There’s a Shiny New Building at 10th & Buttonwood – OCF Realty

A major internet exchange point just expanded to Philly – Technical.ly Philly

Bob Bruhin 
Panorama 823

New York City, North Jersey and Northern Virginia are big hubs for internet, and a lot of that traffic has been passing through Philadelphia. NYIIX installed the infrastructure needed to make the exchange point in Netrality’s location on North Broad Street at the end of April. (Netrality also operates data centers in Houston, Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago.)

Source: A major internet exchange point just expanded to Philly – Technical.ly Philly

A 1217 Spring Garden Apartment Profile

Bob Bruhin
1217 Spring Garden now boasts a colorful mural on its east wall. | Photo: Steve Weinik, Mural Arts Program.

There’s still some jockeying for position among the various terms used to describe the neighborhood roughly bounded by 5th Street on the east, Broad Street on the west, Vine Street on the south and Mount Vernon Street on the north.

Callowhill is what the planners call it.

Real estate agents, or at least many of them, like the Loft District.

Other agents prefer Spring Arts, and the more creative types have dubbed it the Eraserhood.

By the time one real estate developer is done fixing it up, however, we may be calling it the “Arts & Crafts District.”

Source: A 1217 Spring Garden Apartment Profile

What’s With the Little Building Next to Union Transfer? – OCF Realty

Bob Bruhin

Union Transfer on the 1000 block of Spring Garden

We were passing by the other day and saw what looked like a demolition notice posted to the building, but we didn’t stop to take a closer look, figuring we’d take a peek at public record. We confess, we don’t know what the sign is for, but we do now see that the plans for the property extend well beyond storage uses. Back in March, the owners of the property applied for a zoning permit to convert the building into a restaurant. And this squares with a Philly.com story from several months ago, announcing that Michael Pasquarello, owner of nearby Cafe Lift and Prohibition Taproom, would be opening a restaurant inspired by cuisine from the Mexican city Mexicali, home to a sizable Chinese population. It may have taken a little while, but now it appears that restaurant is finally moving forward.

Source: What’s With the Little Building Next to Union Transfer? – OCF Realty

Stable Lofts Project a Solid “Addition” on North Broad Street – OCF Realty

Bob Bruhin

Current view from the south

The building at 631 N. Broad St. dates back to 1867, and as you might expect from a building that’s been around since the Andrew Johnson administration, it’s had a number of uses over the years. It was originally constructed as the Edwin Hart Stables, a function that’s called out on an inscription that has remained on the building’s facade after all this time. As the years passed, several car companies, a sewing machine company, a hosiery company, a couple of drug companies, and an art gallery occupied the building, though not all at once, obviously. Back in 2015, we told you that developers had purchased the building and were planning a residential conversion, with an addition that would allow for a total of 41 apartments. We were pleased that the project called for the preservation of the existing facade and had high hopes for the plan to add more apartments to the improving North Broad Street corridor.

Read more: Stable Lofts Project a Solid “Addition” on North Broad Street – OCF Realty