The intersection at 12th and Latona streets has begun to look decidedly un-South Philadelphian, in a good way. That old warehouse on 12th with the weird flag mural stripped across its wall has given way to a project under construction called Latona Court. It’s a development of 10 towering, modern townhouses with roof decks, balconies and parking squeezed onto little Latona Street. Pretty pricey.
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| Towering over little Latona rowhouses |
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| Seven more to go |
Across the street, the same developer just finished another modernistic apartment building with a weird, deep-set retail or office space on the first floor. There are also three covered parking spots.
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| Fancy facade across Latona with the weird setback. |
Plus, down the street, the recently closed Annunciation BVM school has gone up for sale, listed with Colliers International. That could make for one hell of an apartment building just across the street from the dog park and playground in namesake Passyunk Square. And some critical mass for the neighborhood to possibly fill that weird retail space above.
As to the fancy facades of the new buildings, we’re all for red-brick rehabs, but it doesn’t hurt to spice up the hood’s architecture every once in a while. Northern Liberties managed to mix it in just fine. Let’s get more of that into the mix, which is entirely possible as the neighborhood keeps attracting more buzz.
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| Old warehouse, photo via Naked Philly |
Yesterday, Philadelphia magazine announced that George Sabatino of Stateside was named Best Chef in their annual Best of Philly issue.
Pretty cool, but now we’ll never get a table.
