The plan for 1306 Frankford Ave

awesome, except for the pizzeria concept. isn't that what pizza brain is going to be?

From what I am reading, the tenant lined up is... nobody. Comm. realtor fantasyland so far.

Although given that NakedPhilly write up of another big possible foodery operation that could... possibly... use the large building at 4th and Thompson in what is clearly Kensington (and not Northern North Northern Liberties-North), it looks like since Starr has popped a foodery north of Girard, the viability of more larger-scale foody places seems in the cards.

By the way if you're scratching your heads wondering what I mean by foodie, I present you the Philly food estab. hierarchy (entree establishments only / bakers and confectionaries are obviously their own deal):

TRAX sandwiches -> 711 -> Wawa fare -> take-outs -> lunch truck -> Diners/Denny's/Applebee's/Insert national sit-down chain here -> small Mom and Pop sit-downs (that are not diners) / institutionals (Genos/Chickies) -> 4-star hotel sit-downs -> foodies [your Starr, your Le Bec's, the places that get most of the coverage on StaphMeal, the kinda places that got bars where you can hand over a credit card to run a tab, etc.]

The order is not worst to best, it's more... increasing levels of snootiness. Nobody is going to write a foody article about a TRAX sandwich or a Shorti, but tons of press is genned out monthly on foodies.

a soccer bar could be fun

that area is starting to have a real destination nightlife scene so maybe he will get some interesting stuff in there

i'm pretty amazed by how much stuff has been opening up recently.

a church-mosque-synagogue multiplex with a meditation hall would be better.

Isn't that what a soccer bar would be, essentially? We're all praying at the feet of Ronaldo.

nah, that's just fetishism (and what are the feet of ronaldo compared to the feet of st john newman at 5th and girard?)

With a Wegmans!

Um...alive?

I can only think of two things that are really missing from the area... A good Chinese Restaurant and a really good bakery (bread). I'd be happy if Metropolitan actually had a storefront. There was talk of a bread/cheese shop next to Fishtown Jewelers a while back but I doubt that's moving forward.

The owners of the jewelery store are still interested in the project (at least according to a convo I had with them recently). I think they had all the fixtures and equipment in storage, I'm not sure if the hold up was operating funds. Since an office building is going in across the street that might be an extra incentive.

And Metropolitan really needs to open a storefront.

Soccer bar is a great idea. There are rare occasions when I want to get up at 6am to watch a game, and I'd probably do so more frequently if I didn't have to travel into CC to do so.

EDIT: Red Sauce Restaurant, screw soccer, I wan't red and white checkered, plastic table cloths.

With swarthy looking waiters, who have accents, and tuxedoes.

And sing to you. And give you extra wine if you show a little leg.

I'd give them a better tip if they showed me a "little leg".

Will the waiters also offer home cleaning service recommendations?

Oh, now you're just showing off.

I want the property at 1600 Frankford -- on the corner right next door to the post office. It must be a shell; someone told me they're asking 250K.

Does that include the little two story building that it shares a fire escape with on Oxford? If so that is a lot of building. According to the BRT they have been behind on taxes since 2008 as well.

It does. How much do they owe?

According to http://www.phila.gov/revenue/RealEstateTax/Default.aspx?txtBRTNo=881068650 they owe nearly $9k in taxes + fees. I wish you could search the tax lien database by owner name (unless you can -- Kenso probably knows), as I've seen Thomas T. Moroney before -- he owes upwards of $22k on 1733-37 N Front St (see http://www.phila.gov/revenue/RealEstateTax/Default.aspx?txtBRTNo=884343360 ). What's the legalities of selling a property owing that many back taxes? I assume that's something that comes up in the title search and then someone is responsible for it?

David and I were seriously looking into the property last year, I finally talked to the owner who said he was putting it up for sale at $450K. I love the buildings but that's a really steep price. It needs a complete gut and a considerable amount of exterior work.

I am surprised it's so far behind in taxes. I don't get property owners putting themselves at risk like that. Only takes $850 to force a sale and you better have the funds to pay the taxes if that happens.