Community center vs. apartments | Real Estate Newsletter

When you were growing up, did you have a place nearby designed for hanging out with other kids besides school? One of mine was a YMCA. For many Philadelphians, it was their local rec center.

Marcus Gary’s spot in the 1960s and ‘70s was what is now called the Mantua Haverford Community Center in West Philadelphia. It’s where he graduated from kindergarten, played basketball as a teen, and voted in elections. It was his safe haven.

Today the building isn’t in great shape and sits mostly empty. The property’s owner owes almost $200,000 in taxes to the city. Our lead story is about a developer’s proposal to build nearly 200 apartments on the property.🔑

And read on to discover where Philly ranks among cities with high-earning renters, peek inside a renovated early 1900s stone house in Ardmore, and learn about a leadership change at the Center City District, one of the country’s most influential business improvement districts.

📮 Rep your community center or other special gathering place. What was your go-to spot growing up (or now)? Tell me what made that place special. E-mail me at realestatenewsletter@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.

If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

— Michaelle Bond

The Mantua Haverford Community Center used to host cookouts, summer camps, and art classes for local residents. But for years, it hasn’t lived up to its history.

The organization that owns the property lost its tax exempt status, the roof is caving in, and only one tenant — a community development corporation — remains. But neighborhood residents still come for free groceries and help filing their tax returns.

They want to see the center return to its former glory, but a plan that might have done that fell through early in the pandemic.

Now a Mantua-based developer and rental property owner has proposed building 196 apartments at the site and carving out space on the ground floor for a smaller community center.🔑

When you walk around Center City, I’m sure you see the folks in turquoise sweeping up. They work for the Center City District.

When Paul Levy became the founding CEO of the business improvement district, the Soviet Union still existed, and President George H.W. Bush had approval ratings of almost 90%.

More than 30 years later, Levy announced this week that he’s stepping down from his role as head of the organization.

Prema Katari Gupta, a Center City District executive and former leader at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, will become president and CEO. Levy will move to a role on the board.

My colleague Jake Blumgart answers your questions about what the Center City District is, what it does, and why Levy isn’t stepping down until late 2023.

Across the country, the numbers of renters making more than $150,000 a year grew by 82% from 2015 to 2020, according to a report by the apartment search website RentCafe. Nationwide, 2.6 million of these high earners lived in rentals.

In Philadelphia, more than 15,600 high-income households rented homes in 2020. That’s about 5% of the city’s renters, according to the analysis. The number more than doubled from over 7,400 households in 2015.

Philadelphia ranked 12th on the report’s list of top cities with significant increases in high-income renters since 2015.

Like most households, those with high incomes can choose to rent for the lifestyle it gives them. (Like a landlord to call for maintenance and the ability to move more easily.)

Spikes in home prices may be another reason. Prices grew more than the national average of 29% in nine out of the top 10 cities with increases in high-income renters. However, home price growth in Philadelphia — 18% — was below the national average.

Nationwide, the number of renters making more than $1 million a year tripled between 2015 and 2020, from about 1,070 to about 3,380.

Renters who make more than $1 million were more likely to live in more expensive areas of the country, such as New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, according to RentCafe’s report.

I personally think it’s too early to start spring cleaning, even if temperatures have felt a little spring-like these last couple of days. (Punxsutawney Phil would agree with me.)

But maybe we can start considering what should go on our list when the time does come to clean out our living spaces. Here’s one thing you can cross off that list: having your home’s air ducts cleaned.

Read on to find out how you can control dust in your home and why you probably don’t need — or want — to clean out your air ducts.

Lisa and David Morra almost didn’t buy their early 1900s stone Colonial Revival house in Ardmore. It was so overgrown that it could have made it onto the HGTV home makeover show Curb Appeal.

But they took a second look and fell in love with the house’s historic charms. They decided to preserve and highlight those charms while adding modern conveniences for their growing family.

A year ago, they started interior renovations, updating spaces that were stuck in the 1970s and ‘80s. They researched what an early 1900s kitchen looked like.

Lisa said they took their design cues from the house. For example, during demolition, a worker found what might have been a miniature liquor bottle in a wall. Now the bottle is framed and hanging in a hallway.

Read on to find out how the renovations helped the Morras through a health emergency and turned their house into a home for their newborn daughter.

Longwood Gardens in Chester County is one of Pennsylvania’s top tourist attractions. (And it’s in a Best Restroom Hall of Fame. I once wrote a story about that.) The destination recently made news for the large chunk of property in northern Delaware that it’s getting from the du Pont family.

Question: How many acres of land is Longwood Gardens acquiring? This story has the answer.

Do you know where this mural of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is?

📮 If you think you do, let me know by e-mailing me back.

In last week’s newsletter, I asked where you prefer to work out as home gyms have become more popular. I got a very passionate response from reader Nicole Abey.

She used to be Team Away Gym. Before her daughter was born almost 11 years ago, she taught three indoor cycling classes a week and was at the gym all the time.

Then, between postpartum anxiety and limits on her time and energy, she struggled to go. The pandemic hit just as she was ready to get back at it.

She created a gym in her basement, works out five times a week, lost over 100 pounds, and has no desire to go back to an outside gym. “I am able to push myself so much harder at home, because I don’t feel the pressure of people watching me or using the piece of equipment that I needed,” she said.

Meanwhile, the most exercise I’ll likely get over the next few days will be from dancing to Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl. Talk to you next week. Go Birds!