A farm or apartments on Washington Ave.? | Real Estate Newsletter

A Philly developer wants to build 300 to 400 apartments on Washington Avenue. So why did he just tell the city he plans to put an urban farm there instead?

He admits it’s a wild proposal, but it’s part of his strategy to get what he wants.

Keep scrolling for that story and to

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On the north side of Washington Avenue, large residential developments have been replacing former commercial properties and vacant lots.

Developer Ori Feibush wants to keep that trend going by building hundreds of apartments at 1601 Washington Ave.

But plans that he just submitted to the city show a mid-rise urban agriculture facility at the site.

Feibush has paid architects to design the big greenhouse and zoning lawyers to present the plans to a city committee. But he has no intention of building an urban farm on the property.

So what’s going on?

Turns out it all has to do with city rules about what can and can’t be built on the property and the potential for those rules to change. Feibush admits that “even by my standards, this is a wonky process.”

Keep reading to learn about Feibush’s strategy and why he thinks it’s the best way to get his apartment development built.

Philly is the only county in Pennsylvania where a private attorney — called a landlord-tenant officer — is in charge of carrying out most residential evictions.

But the city’s Landlord-Tenant Office could soon stop evicting people on behalf of landlords. That’s because the office’s insurance is expiring at the end of September, and it hasn’t been able to find new coverage.

The context: City officials have scrutinized the office for more than a year because of a string of eviction-related shootings by the office’s security contractors. During one eviction at a North Philly apartment complex, a contractor shot a woman in the head.

The city’s Sheriff’s Office currently carries out a small portion of evictions and doesn’t seem to have the capacity to handle a flood of more cases.

Keep reading to find out what the potential shutdown of Philly’s private eviction system could mean and what advocates for landlords and tenants are saying.

Heat pumps were once considered a bad fit for homes dealing with cold Northeast winters. But more homeowners in our region are choosing this energy-efficient alternative to traditional fossil-fuel powered heating and cooling systems.

A few reasons why:

And the federal government just announced billions of dollars in grants for a bunch of climate-related programs, including those that encourage a switch to heat pumps.

So how exactly do heat pumps work and should you consider them? Keep reading to find out.

Speaking of heat pumps, this house on Long Beach Island is heated and cooled by geothermal ones. But that’s not the most interesting thing about it.

It could be the towering sculpture in the backyard that looks like it’s about to fall. Or a staircase that “merges the circle and the square,” in the words of the home’s architect. Or the three-dimensional tiles in the first-floor powder room. Or the screened-in dining porch that can open to the kitchen with the slide of an 8-foot glass pocket door.

Ellyn Rosenfeld and her husband, Howard Landsman, have a Center City apartment, but they spend a lot of their time at their Shore house. Rosenfeld likes modern architecture and wanted the house to have some drama.

The primary bathroom has both indoor and outdoor showers. A balcony office looks out over the living room.

The home’s second floor has semiprivate guest suites, and the third floor is basically its own apartment.

Take a peek inside a Shore house with functional design and unique touches.

The iconic History of Chinatown mural at 10th and Winter Streets is being removed. The mural, which was painted for the 125th anniversary of Chinatown in Philadelphia, would have been blocked by a housing complex that’s planned for the empty lot next door.

Question: When did artist Arturo Ho complete the mural?

A) 1969

B) 1980

C) 1996

D) 2003

This story has the answer.

Do you know the location this photo shows?

📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.

Shout out to Janet P., Matt C., Paul G., and John B., the first few people to correctly tell me that last week’s photo showed the Falls Bridge over the Schuylkill in the East Falls section of Philadelphia. I thought that one would be harder than it apparently was. A bunch of readers shared memories of walking, running, and biking over it.

And Barbara B. told me, “I’d know those weather/pigeon poop-stained girders anywhere.”

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If you live in Philly, you may have seen city crews deep-cleaning your block this summer. It’s part of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s initiative to clean every neighborhood this year.

Residents like the idea, but halfway through the program, complaint data show trash quickly returns. (I’m not surprised.)

Philadelphians have a few suggestions for longer lasting solutions to the city’s trash problem.

Let me know if you’ve noticed a difference in how your neighborhood looks. Enjoy the rest of your week.

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