Hundreds of apartments are coming | Morning Newsletter
And Philly’s next top political leaders
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The Morning Newsletter
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Sorry, there won’t be much sun today. Expect patchy fog on the way to work and cloudy skies. There’s some chance of rain and temps will reach the low 50s.
Our lead story puts a spotlight on the hundreds of new apartments popping up in Fishtown and Kensington along the Market-Frankford elevated train line.
Let’s dive into the building boom.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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The total number of apartments on Front Street between SEPTA’s Girard and York-Dauphin stations is set to almost double in the next year.
According to the CoStar Group, a commercial real estate analytics firm, 441 apartment units are actively under construction along this 1.1-mile stretch of the Market-Frankford Line, another 174 are proposed, and 231 have been completed since 2019. And that’s probably an undercount because it only includes projects with five units or more.
Keep in mind: All of this is happening as SEPTA ridership remains dramatically lower than it was before the pandemic. Back in November, ridership on the Market-Frankford Line was only 58% of February 2020 levels. Ridership in this section of Fishtown is particularly low with York-Dauphin station only seeing 46% of 2019 ridership levels in 2023, the Berks station 52%, and the Girard station 48%.
Regardless, the transit infrastructure is attracting a level of investment that hasn’t been seen in modern memory.
Continue reading to learn what’s driving the demand.
Philly’s top political leaders will change next week.
Cherelle Parker will become Philadelphia’s mayor and City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson will be the next Council president.
Both are longtime politicians who are well aware that their relationship as leaders of the executive and legislative branches is one of the most important in municipal government.
The relationship: They will often need each other. A mayor without the support of the Council president — who controls the flow of legislation — can be thwarted at every turn. Council members typically want the mayor on their side to support their spending priorities or help provide quality services in their districts.
Read on to get a sense how the two will likely work together.
What you should know today
Philadelphia police say the man they believe is the so-called Fairmount Park rapist was charged Wednesday with three other previously unsolved attacks. It’s the latest development in the notorious crime spree that police have been working to solve for two decades.
Nurses at Lower Bucks and Suburban Community hospitals returned to work Wednesday without a new contract after a five-day strike.
President Joe Biden’s first visit in Philly in 2024 is slated for Jan. 6, the anniversary of the Capitol riot that sought to overturn his 2020 election victory.
Philadelphia Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker announced that she will appoint Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams to head a new Office of Clean and Green Initiatives.
The owner of the Met is threatening Live Nation with eviction amid lawsuits.
Remo Saraceni, a Philly-area creator of the iconic piano in the movie Big, has been in a yearslong trademark battle with FAO Schwarz.
Meet the two brothers who were elected mayors of neighboring New Jersey towns.
🧠 Trivia time
How many followers does the Flyers mascot, Gritty, have on TikTok?
A) 500,000
B) 1.5 million
C) 1.1 million
D) 5 million
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re...
👀 Watching: Michigan’s Supreme Court will keep Donald Trump on the state’s primary election ballot.
🎧 Listening to: Scarface’s Tiny Desk Concert.
🐕 Reading: This delightful story of the Philly dogs that keep passengers safe at Philadelphia International Airport. Also, the pictures will be a highlight of your day.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Ring in the new year with fireworks
NED’S PLANNING
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Jim Cohen, who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: Bradley Cooper.
Photo of the day
We’re inching closer to the new year. I’m starting my day thinking about potential New Year’s resolutions. Thanks for starting yours with The Inquirer. I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow.