Up, Up and Away ...

Philadelphia has always been known as a City of Neighborhoods. From block after block after block of rowhomes lining the streets of South Philly, known for its tourist traps of competative cheesesteak establishments and abundance of funeral parlors (Mafia territory) to the overpopulated (and cat-missing) streets of Chinatown to the lost treasures of Delancy Street (one of the most affluent addresses in the city, with some of the few remaining turn of the century 4 and 5-story mansions never converted into apartments) Philly has always been a city where people lived, worked and played with the relative ease of getting around. It is definitely a "walking city". In Center City (the downtown district), you can walk from Independence Hall to the infamous Rocky steps of the Art Museum in about 30 minutes (which may seem like a long stroll, but there's still so much to see and do between).

Back in the '70's people started moving out of the city and into the surrounding suburbs. Things were looking bleak for the City of Brotherly Love and, all things considered, it began to live up to the bad image it had been given for years. But things started to turn around again in the '90's and the younger generation, who mostly attended college in nearby University City, stuck around after graduation day and took up residence while older folk from the Main Line (Philadelphia Society, as Rose Dewitt Bukater put it) started selling their sprawling suburban estates and opting for the convenience of highrise living close to theaters and restaurants. A residential building boom was in the making as more neighborhoods started to spring up in once dilapidated areas. Fishtown & Northern Liberties, just north of Center City is quickly becoming "the loft district" and being compared to New York's Soho district. The riverfront, once abandoned warehouses and weed encrusted docks, are now being replaced with highrise condominiums. Even the Philadelphia Naval Yard, once one of the best in the country but lost in the '80's is once again alive with life, being transformed into a gated community and yacht club.

And still new neighborhoods are developing, and going skyward with some of the coolest highrises this city has seen in decades. Mandeville Place is a slender glass tower rising up from the Schuylkill River on the western edge of Center City. Groundbreaking could be as early as this fall, but will probably be delayed for one reason or another. The Symphony House is already under construction on The Avenue of the Arts right in the heart of Center City. All in all, there are probably 2 dozen or more condo highrises greater than 20 floors going up all around the city. Rumor has it also that the top 25 floors of 2 Liberty Place, the city's 2nd tallest building (3rd, when completion of Comcast tower happens in a few more years) may be converted into luxury apartments.

Maybe, as part of my rediscovering myself, I should think about investing in real estate. God knows it is and will continue to be in ample supply for some time.