Safety and walkabaility in Philly...what's your opinion as a Philadelphian? (Central City: low crime, new home)

[Oramasfella]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Yes, look at the Powelton Village one. It's near Drexel U and what will be the University Science Center massive Live-Work Innovation Hub.

Thanks! I will certainly look that up!

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Oh, dear... that's another "border" area(the neighborhood is called Francisville) right now. I would live there for the same reason I would live in Brewerytown. But, for you, as first-timer, maybe not. Francisville has a lot of gentrification and new investment going on so dunno. One interesting thing though, at Broad and Poplar ( a block away) , The Met( was an opera house) is being completely rehabbed as an entertainment venue managed by Live Nation. It's a cool project, imo, because the developer wants to re-create it to make the exterior look as it did in the 1930s.

Have you looked further south on Broad St? There're new rentals (not sure how close they are to completion) at Broad and
Callowhill. Those are adjacent to Philly's, under construction, Rail Park, which have similarities to the High Line in NYC.

Some of our replies/answers may sound discouraging but keep in mind lots of things are going in Philly with lots of transitional areas.

I think I'd agree with shying the OP away from Brewerytown but not Francisville, at least not anymore.

Penelope Giles, who runs the neighborhood CDC, the Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation, is one of the savviest up-from-the-'hood CDC heads out there. She said a few years back that her goal was "to put Francisville back on the map," and she's done a very good job of that in large part by welcoming the developers rather than fighting them, then sitting down with them to see what she could get from them to benefit her community.

Darrell Clarke was so worried about all of this that he basically froze sales of city-owned land in the neighborhood. That's why you see several gap-toothed townhouse developments around it. His stated reason was that he didn't want to see the area overrun with Temple students, but the quality of the construction for these new projects (and the prices of the condos) are clearly aimed above the student-rental market, in contrast to what's getting thrown up along and around Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I think I'd agree with shying the OP away from Brewerytown but not Francisville, at least not anymore.

Penelope Giles, who runs the neighborhood CDC, the Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation, is one of the savviest up-from-the-'hood CDC heads out there. She said a few years back that her goal was "to put Francisville back on the map," and she's done a very good job of that in large part by welcoming the developers rather than fighting them, then sitting down with them to see what she could get from them to benefit her community.

Darrell Clarke was so worried about all of this that he basically froze sales of city-owned land in the neighborhood. That's why you see several gap-toothed townhouse developments around it. His stated reason was that he didn't want to see the area overrun with Temple students, but the quality of the construction for these new projects (and the prices of the condos) are clearly aimed above the student-rental market, in contrast to what's getting thrown up along and around Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Maybe you're forgetting the fact that I live a 5 minute walk away from Francisville in Spring Garden. So that makes me more aware of how far along it is wrt being a reasonable place for the OP to live. Yes, unlike Point Breeze, there has been a better acceptance of how developers are changing the fabric of Francisville. But, I still would not recommend 15th and Poplar to a newbie single woman. If she could find something closer to Fairmount Ave then that would be a different story.

[Oramasfella]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Maybe you're forgetting the fact that I live a 5 minute walk away from Francisville in Spring Garden. So that makes me more aware of how far along it is wrt being a reasonable place for the OP to live. Yes, unlike Point Breeze, there has been a better acceptance of how developers are changing the fabric of Francisville. But, I still would not recommend 15th and Poplar to a newbie single woman. If she could find something closer to Fairmount Ave then that would be a different story.

Not that there's anything wrong with being a woman , but I am a guy.
However, I know what you mean, and thanks again to you and everybody else for being so helpful and so kind when it comes to advice and for sharing all your insights!

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Oramasfella

Not that there's anything wrong with being a woman , but I am a guy.
However, I know what you mean, and thanks again to you and everybody else for being so helpful and so kind when it comes to advice and for sharing all your insights!

What you may or may not know is that some of us are acquainted IRL.

kyb01 and I, for instance, know each other from when we were both at Penn.

I'm also a guy, and I think that may go a long way towards explaining my more sanguine takes on several neighborhoods. A woman who's unfamiliar with a territory does need to keep her wits about her more.

My general observation on living in rough neighborhoods like the area of Germantown I call home is: If you look like you know what you're doing, you won't get hassled. A lot of the rough stuff takes place among people who know one another, and if they don't know you, they're not particularly interested in drawing you into their beef.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Oramasfella

Not that there's anything wrong with being a woman , but I am a guy.
However, I know what you mean, and thanks again to you and everybody else for being so helpful and so kind when it comes to advice and for sharing all your insights!

Wow, how did I make that mistake! Lol

Look in Spring Garden or Fairmount too. Fairmount has a lot of families so it's very safe. But there are plenty of younger single people.

If you have time to visit before moving I highly recommend that.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Oramasfella

Not that there's anything wrong with being a woman , but I am a guy.
However, I know what you mean, and thanks again to you and everybody else for being so helpful and so kind when it comes to advice and for sharing all your insights!

Some of what I said was based on the belief that you were a woman AND a newbie. And I forgot you're coming from Chicago so city living is something you are used to.

[Oramasfella]

Thanks again, everybody! This may come as a shocker, but I think I am going to take the room at the place on Bainbridge (Bella Vista). Safe[r], within walking distance of my internship site and all that Central City has to offer, and for a very decent price considering what a desirable location this is. This is until I get a job and a place of my own. Surprisingly, I have seen plenty of studios and one-bedrooms in Center City that are below 1k a month, which I find incredible. So yeah, I am certainly looking forward to the future. Thanks so much for all your advice!

[2002 Subaru]

Originally Posted by Oramasfella

Thanks again, everybody! This may come as a shocker, but I think I am going to take the room at the place on Bainbridge (Bella Vista). Safe[r], within walking distance of my internship site and all that Central City has to offer, and for a very decent price considering what a desirable location this is. This is until I get a job and a place of my own. Surprisingly, I have seen plenty of studios and one-bedrooms in Center City that are below 1k a month, which I find incredible. So yeah, I am certainly looking forward to the future. Thanks so much for all your advice!

That's a solid choice, but keep your head in the game, there's low income housing about three blocks west of there accompanied by what that draws.
I'm sure you'll be fine, but it's not as 'pristine' as some here would have you believe.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by 2002 Subaru

That's a solid choice, but keep your head in the game, there's low income housing about three blocks west of there accompanied by what that draws.
I'm sure you'll be fine, but it's not as 'pristine' as some here would have you believe.

The guy's moving here from Chicago. He's probably not going to find a neighborhood here that's more dangerous than that city's worst neighborhoods.

Crime in Hawthorne plummeted after the Martin Luther King Plaza towers were detonated and replaced by the current rowhouse development, which is mixed-income, by the way. (I lived much closer to them when the towers were imploded in 1995. I was living on Waverly Street at Camac at that time.)

You wouldn't have new homes going up around this development and fetching the prices they fetch were it as bad as it used to be, or as your statement makes it out to be.