Luxury condo vs. historic brownstone | Real Estate Newsletter

A developer wants to build a 13-story luxury condo tower near Rittenhouse Square. Because of course.

But the plan would mean the demolition of most of a historical 19th-century brownstone.

Keep scrolling for that story and to find out why a developer is suing Philadelphia’s City Council president, see where Philly ranks in a list of best cities for aging at home, and peek inside an Ocean City home with a “spectacular bay view.”

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A luxury condo tower with 10 homes (including a 4,350-square-foot, two-story penthouse), 16 parking spaces, retail space on the ground floor, and amenities such as a “golf simulator/dance studio” could be coming to Center City. Or it could not.

A developer-slash-architect wants to build the tower at the site of a historically protected 19th-century brownstone at 2112 Walnut St.

According to the plan, only the face of the building that can be seen from Walnut Street would be left standing.

The brownstone is in the Rittenhouse-Fitler Historic District, so you know what that means.

The building has some protections, and it’s up to the city’s Historical Commission to say whether the developer needs to go back to the drawing board.

See why commission staffers have argued against the project.

It’s not unusual for developers and City Council members to disagree about projects. Now, a fight over an apartment building in North Philly is the subject of a lawsuit.

Philly developer Ori Feibush is suing Council President Darrell Clarke for $2 million in damages. Feibush says Clarke’s decision to appeal permits that the city gave him for an apartment building significantly delayed the project, harming him financially and preventing him from working on other projects.

The project: At the center of the case is a four-story, 166-unit apartment building that Feibush recently finished on West Girard Avenue near North Philly’s Yorktown neighborhood.

The history: Yorktown was created in the 1960s as a suburban-style community for Black middle-class Philadelphians who were intentionally prevented from buying homes in the suburbs.

The issue: Clarke and some neighborhood groups have objected to multifamily development in an area they say was meant to have low housing density.

The intrigue: Feibush alleges in his lawsuit that even though there was no legal basis for Clarke’s appeal of the zoning permits, Clarke intimidated members of the city’s zoning board into approving his appeal.

Read on for more details and see how the project was able eventually to move forward.

My grandmas would have loved to stay in their homes in New Jersey and North Carolina for the rest of their lives. But they both moved in with family when they could no longer live alone.

Do you hope to spend the rest of your life in your current home? If you’re in Philly, that might be difficult.

Not that aging at home is all that easy anywhere. Most homes need some — and sometimes many — modifications to fit residents’ changing needs as they get older.

But Philly just ranked No. 96 on a list of the 100 largest cities for aging in place, according to a study by home improvement pros at Today’s Homeowner. (I spotted an error in the data that dropped Philly down from 95th to 96th place. Sorry, Philly.)

The city’s low incomes, higher costs of living, and rowhouse tradition dragged it down. Surprisingly, Philly also ranked low in its share of home health and personal care aides and health-care establishments.

See which cities ranked highest (one in the tristate area cracked the top 5) and why local experts weren’t surprised that Philly ranked so low overall.

Cindy and Kevin Rodgers planned to tear down the Ocean City beach home they’d owned since 2008 and build a new one in its place.

Then their Realtor sent a video of another home in the city with a “spectacular bay view,” Kevin said. They jumped on it — and away from the headache of a teardown.

But they did put in work to make the 2,700-square-foot home their own.

They gutted a bathroom and the laundry room. They replaced a wood-burning brick fireplace with a gas one surrounded by handpicked beige tiles. They swapped every light for an LED fixture and refinished Brazilian cherry wood floors.

The couple enjoy their bay views from the sunroom and a wraparound back porch.

Peek into the Rodgers home, and see why the couple couldn’t imagine living in any place else.

Members of the Millennial and Gen Z generations are leading the charge when it comes to a growing spending trend. They’re making trades to be able to afford down payments on homes.

Question: What are young people giving up with homes in mind?

A) international vacations

B) new cars

C) mined diamonds

D) avocado toast

This story has the answer.

Put on your appraiser hat. How much do you think this 960-square-foot Tudor townhouse in East Falls went for? It’s a two-bedroom, one-bath home built in 1941.

📮 If you have a guess, email me back.

Shout out to Carole B., who knew that last week’s photo of an airshow practice was taken in Atlantic City.

Last weekend, I went to Atlanta for the first time, and I loved it. Parts of it reminded me of Philly.

Enjoy the rest of your week.