Daniel Trubman
@dmtrubman
What Do You Hear? What Do You Say? I write about what's getting built in Philadelphia, what's not getting built in Philadelphia, and why.
The great thing about getting married in a city is everyone can walk from the wedding to the reception.
Nice to see newest proposal for redeveloping the land next to the Gorgas House in Mt. Airy has upped the unit count (and will now include some affordable units) but can this project actually get built? Council upzoned this parcel, but barriers remain. ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/m…
Yikes: 9% of SEPTA's MFL trips were canceled in May Doubt we'll see much improvement in this performance metric even after they slash service next month, as it's a rolling stock problem as much as lack of operators Stopping train service at 9pm will make maintenance easier tho
With 300 units permitted in June, Philadelphia ended up with only 1,435 units permitted through first half of the year. That's the slowest start in more than a decade other than 2022 (after developers vested a huge number of units in late 2011 before tax changes took effect).
Would you believe me if I told you some historic preservationists believe a 6 story building is too big and tall for one of Philly's Center City neighborhoods? Check out my latest on the recent Old City redevelopment proposal facing a tough path ahead. ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/o…
Wow, with a tied 3-3 vote the Philadelphia zoning board DENIED the special exception required to operate this comedy club, despite the support of the local neighborhood association. Painful to watch a small business dream maybe die over a zoom meeting. ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/p…
Hearing neighbors bitch about childcare centers opening up near them week after week at the Philadelphia zoning board really has me depressed about how the land-use politics around schools and businesses catering to young families are just going to get worse as our society ages.
UPDATE: ZBA just approved the zoning for this music venue in Fishtown. I'm sure some people will see all the process required to legalize an existing small business as the system working, but maybe we could just let cool shit happen by-right? ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/f…
The church was publicly marketed for months and sold for under $5m. Everyone who wanted to save it - but wasn’t willing to bust their ass raising money to buy it, only to lose money forever - has no one to blame but themselves.
In Greenpoint, a church destroyed. All from one tacky landlord and a lot of white paint.
UPDATE: The Philadelphia Zoning Board just granted the special exception necessary for this juice bar to open up in Old City. I'm glad the drawn out approval process was relatively smooth, but why not just allow these businesses to open up by-right? ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/o…
It's pretty amazing the City of Philadelphia is managing to turn this old polluted industrial site into affordable housing. LIHTC wasn't necessarily the only way this project could've been financed, but definitely some real advantages that wouldn't have happened if Turn The Key.
"Have you considered having more money?" is the implicit premise of every line of questioning from Architectural Committee members of the Philadelphia Historical Commission when someone doesn't want to go crazy maintaining their houses like spending $13k on a custom door.
The architectural committee is recommending installation should only be approved if several panels are removed and they are reorganized in a more aesthetically pleasing pattern 😥 BIG emphasis on not allowing generation of extra energy over the needs of this specific household.
Seems a bit excessive it's going to take at least three public meetings to secure permission to install solar panels on the roof of this house? Not even an individually designated historic building, but homeowners still need permission from Philadelphia Historical Commission.
Diagonally across the intersection from the Comcast Technology Center (the tallest building in the Americas outside of Manhattan or Chicago) is a surface parking lot.
The tallest building in Arkansas is across the street from a suburban style drive thru McDonald's
This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in many American cities.
Viking-Age Dublin in AD 1000, Ireland. Illustration: via Early Ireland.
ChatGPT has really changed the game for insane rambling emails from tenants.
I know NYC is supposed to be the most pedestrian-friendly American city, but there are still so many of these arterial roads that are a couple lanes too wide which are incredibly unpleasant and unsafe to cross or stroll down. Like Atlantic Avenue here in Brooklyn: