Which formerly forlorn sections of the city will see the most transformative changes in the 2020s?

[skintreesnail]

Originally Posted by DXBtoFL

I'll throw this suggestion out as it doesn't seem to have been mentioned so far.

Powelton Village?

I think Powelton Village is already pretty expensive since students are fine paying for what they currently get. I agree though that the housing there is very attractive, similar to Spruce Hill around Penn. Mantua is probably the better bet. From what I've seen, there seems to be some development happening there. I also thought the Lancaster corridor past Powelton has a lot of potential (especially with that uCity development happening). I think I remember hearing that used to be the one of the main ways into the city prior to the Schuylkill expressway. Then after that opened, the businesses began to fail. I might be wrong though.

[banjozac]

Powelton Village proper really isn’t in need of much development. It’s a healthy neighborhood. West Powelton (west of 38th, south of spring garden) is more of the “student ghetto” that you’re speaking to. Developers have been throwing up boxes left and right over there. I think it can balance itself out as Lancaster and Powelton Aves are better developed. The retail and commercial components need to be emphasized in this development, however.

[Nitro2985]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

Very very very few people move to Philadelphia and pay wage tax, enroll their kids in private schools out of necessity and live an hour+ outside the city just because there is a park nearby. That’s kind of a ridiculous statement.

And you’re correct, not everyone can afford to live near or in the city. That’s who lives in Germantown, which is why it will retain high levels of poverty and crime for the discernible future. Just is what it is. Not sure why we’re arguing about this. I’m not bashing G-Town. Just stating the situation.

I know this is from a few pages back, but I did literally this (minus enrolling a kid in private school.) I even work remote so I could have lived outside the city and avoided the wage tax (but would have had to suffer higher property tax rates).

I'd 100% rather pay a wage tax than a higher property tax. A wage tax aligns with my ability to pay, unlike a property tax. I'd rather even pay a HIGHER overall tax with a wage tax since I get the reliability in having my costs drop if I loose my job.

I moved to within a 5 minute walk of Queen Lane station because I wanted to be within walking distance of the Wissahickon, and still be able to get to center city in ~20 minutes on the train, and be within biking/bus range of Manayunk.

I do wish Germantown had more stuff to do natively, and Chelten Ave is kind of run down. But the city seems interested in investing in the area, with the renovations going on in Maplewood mall, and a few interesting places like Ultimo and Uncle Bobbie's. I'm hopeful that with a few investments by the city in the infrastructure along Chelten and Germantown ave, along with some vacant buildings seeing re-use (like the Germantown Highschool the area could really kick off in a great way.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Nitro2985

I know this is from a few pages back, but I did literally this (minus enrolling a kid in private school.) I even work remote so I could have lived outside the city and avoided the wage tax (but would have had to suffer higher property tax rates).

I'd 100% rather pay a wage tax than a higher property tax. A wage tax aligns with my ability to pay, unlike a property tax. I'd rather even pay a HIGHER overall tax with a wage tax since I get the reliability in having my costs drop if I loose my job.

I moved to within a 5 minute walk of Queen Lane station because I wanted to be within walking distance of the Wissahickon, and still be able to get to center city in ~20 minutes on the train, and be within biking/bus range of Manayunk.

I do wish Germantown had more stuff to do natively, and Chelten Ave is kind of run down. But the city seems interested in investing in the area, with the renovations going on in Maplewood mall, and a few interesting places like Ultimo and Uncle Bobbie's. I'm hopeful that with a few investments by the city in the infrastructure along Chelten and Germantown ave, along with some vacant buildings seeing re-use (like the Germantown Highschool the area could really kick off in a great way.

Welcome, neighbor!

My take is that Germantown is undergoing a slow-motion revitalization. It's more evident in rehabilitation of old houses undertaken by Jumpstart Germantown graduates than it is anywhere else, though.

And there are some things holding back commercial revitalization or a faster pace (which I'm not certain is a good thing; doing it slowly gives us time to figure out how to protect or best accommodate the people who change will displace). One of them is the rather fractured and fractious nature of Germantown's civic leadership. Another, or so I understand, is that most of the Chelten Avenue commercial corridor is owned by one landlord who charges rents too high to encourage smaller entrepreneurs to open stores. This landlord doesn't own property on Maplewood Mall, which is why you find an interesting mix of small businesses there.

The buyer of Germantown High School is making noises like he wants to do the kind of redevelopment the near neighbors are pushing for, but I don't quite trust that this will happen.

Drop by the offices of The Local Germantown at 245 W. Chelten Ave. between 6 and 8 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month. That's "Meet the Editors" night. I'm one of them. I'd be happy to talk further about this neighborhood with strong bones and unrealized promise.