How far are we from a revitalized 52nd & 60th Street? (Darby: hair salon, apartments) - Philadelphia - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

Von7philly · 08-22-2019, 09:25 AM

It seems that Cobbs Creek is starting to catch the eye of some young professionals and young hippies who don't agree with the prices east of 52nd.The housing stock is great and it has been stable for quite some time. Cobbs Creek also offers some of the best transportation in the city. How far are we from a economic revitalization of 52nd and 60th street?

kyb01 · 08-22-2019, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Von7philly

It seems that Cobbs Creek is starting to catch the eye of some young professionals and young hippies who don't agree with the prices east of 52nd.The housing stock is great and it has been stable for quite some time. Cobbs Creek also offers some of the best transportation in the city. How far are we from a economic revitalization of 52nd and 60th street?

Interesting question because right now a terrific new, and huge-ish, building is going up at 59th and Market. It's a block long. It's the kind of investment that would have been laughable not long ago.

My sister lives in the unit block of 62nd St, north of Market. It's a house we inherited from our paternal grandparents and it's been continous family property since the late 1940s. My sister has done a ton of renovations but it has many of its original features.

Anyway there have been house rehabs on that block. At least 3 that I'm aware of. One of them was featured on philly.curbed.

The housing stock is indeed pretty stable south of Market in Cobbs Creek.

Any retail revival on 52nd and 60th will, if it happens at all, take a long time, imo. The El rebuild, and various delays associated with it, really killed a lot of retail on those streets and on Market. Needless to say they were fine streets once upon a time.

Von7philly · 08-22-2019, 10:17 AM

Yes Im originally from the Kingsessing/Cobbs Creek. I have recently moved back purchasing a home on 60th street. I cant help but notice seeing whites walk up and down 60th street on my way home. The corridor itself is dominated by barbershops, pappi stores, hair salons, soul food spots and daycares. Yes the building being built at Market street is a great sign for redevelopment to come as well as the new red & blue apartment buildings that were built. Im very bullish on the future of West Philly. More so for Cobbs Creek and even into some part of SWP. Even south of spruce between 52nd and 55th there are a good number of whites moving into Cobbs Creek.

kyb01 · 08-22-2019, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Von7philly

Yes Im originally from the Kingsessing/Cobbs Creek. I have recently moved back purchasing a home on 60th street. I cant help but notice seeing whites walk up and down 60th street on my way home. The corridor itself is dominated by barbershops, pappi stores, hair salons, soul food spots and daycares. Yes the building being built at Market street is a great sign for redevelopment to come as well as the new red & blue apartment buildings that were built. Im very bullish on the future of West Philly. More so for Cobbs Creek and even into some part of SWP. Even south of spruce between 52nd and 55th there are a good number of whites moving into Cobbs Creek.

Are you aware that Kingsessing and Cobbs Creek had lots of white people before? I mean before, oh, about 1980.
Judith Rodin, former president of UPenn , grew up in Kingsessing for instance. She also went to Phila. public schools.

Von7philly · 08-22-2019, 11:12 AM

Yes I am. But growing up there I hardly ever saw any.

KoNgFooCj · 08-23-2019, 04:50 AM

I'd say up to 52nd is quite safe and livable. Not quite sure if that constitutes as revitalized. Well have to see what kind of development happens along market St. I feel like if there was more of a connection to Upper Darby (physically and culturally), there would be more revitalization along Market. Maybe annex Upper Darby?

kyb01 · 08-23-2019, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoNgFooCj

I'd say up to 52nd is quite safe and livable. Not quite sure if that constitutes as revitalized. Well have to see what kind of development happens along market St. I feel like if there was more of a connection to Upper Darby (physically and culturally), there would be more revitalization along Market. Maybe annex Upper Darby?

The OP specifically enquired about W. Philly west of 52nd St. There are are plenty of fairly safe and livable blocks all throughout Cobbs Creek. Cobbs Creek Park has a terrific hiking trail and ice skating rink. CHOP also has a clinical practice center on south 63rd/Cobbs Creek Parkway.

It took a long time for the retail in the area to decline. It was not bad on either 52nd(especially) and 60th through much of the 80s. The thing that killed it more or less was the massive delays caused by the MFL rebuild. Will it come back? Who knows? People do tend to create new shopping habits and stick with those.

No suburban annexation is going to happen yet it continues to come up. Lol It's like the posts about rail expansions. Come on. We can't complete or begin the projects that ARE supposed to happen like the NHSL spur.

Von7philly · 08-23-2019, 08:35 AM

Yes its quite livable throughout. Cobbs Creek is beautiful and people are taking notice. Not long ago 46th/47th was the cut off when i was graduating from high school at West Philly High. If you were to walk through CC, I think you would be surprised at the quality of the neighborhood. Annexing UD isn't a bad idea. I have always thought about those type of things to myself.

PhilliesPhan2013 · 08-23-2019, 10:25 AM

I don't think we're too far off from a revitalized 52nd Street, at least below Spruce. I've since moved to Francisville, but the feeling of excitement along 52nd Street was palpable while living in Cedar Park. I'm a product of West Philly of the 2000s, having grown up in Mill Creek, so I remember when 52nd Street used to look a LOT rougher than it is now.

As kyb01 mentioned, Market Street used to be pretty lively before the El rebuild. I still remember those Friday nights where my family would grab pizza from Lebel, which was near the corner of 53rd and Market at the time. After the rebuild, Market Street has lagged behind the other major thoroughfares to the south. Before we can have a revitalized 52nd Street, we need a revitalized Market Street. Not only is a critical mass of residents is needed to support a retail corridor, but new development along Market will finally encourage more developers to build into the northern neighborhoods (I'll note that I did see new apartments at 51st and Arch). With new buildings scheduled to rise between the 4000 and 4300 blocks, this will be coming sooner than later; however, Market Street will really take off once the prime lots between 46th and 52nd Streets are redeveloped. As development pushes west and onto the little side streets between Market and Walnut, I could really see 52nd Street taking off.

As for 60th Street, only time will tell. The corridor is particularly rough between Walnut and Spruce Streets (where I go to get my water ice from Sidiq's), but there has been a ton of small and large-scale development around 60th Street Station itself. The neighborhoods to the north probably won't experience revitalization in the 2020s, but Cobbs Creek is really prime right now. In fact, I saw a new luxury home rising near 56th and Spruce a while back! Again, once a critical mass of new residents builds up, 60th Street can become a strong retail corridor again.

To this day, I continue to be shocked at just how much West Philly has changed. When I tell my girlfriend, a transplant who moved to West, about the condition of the area while I was growing up, she can't believe all that she's missed. She can barely believe that there was a time when University City didn't have highrises, the phrase "never go west of 40th Street" rung true, and going north of Market was considered a death sentence, regardless of the neighborhood (with the exception of Powelton Village for the most part, and definitely Overbook and Wynnfield Heights)!

Von7philly · 08-23-2019, 11:46 AM

Great points. Market Street is critical for the further development. 46th street is still nowhere near as developed as I believe it should be. There are still large vacant lots that you think would be developed by now. This is a great opportunity for us to set the foundations for a revitalized and inclusive West Philly.52ND street is such a vital artery.