2220 Wilder Street

Urban development is a delicate balancing act, and sometimes we must say goodbye to cherished local destinations in order to make way for a plan that is ultimately more beneficial to the community and to the city at large. One of such trade-offs is slated to occur at 7619 Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy, Northwest Philadelphia, where the Trolley Car Diner is set to meet the wrecking ball, to be replaced by a six-story, mixed-use residential development designed by Morrissey Design. Although the charming chrome, neon, mural, and freestanding trolley of the diner will be missed, the proposal at hand makes for more effective use of the site, bringing significant residential density within a two0-block walk of the Mount Airy Station of the SEPTA Regional Rail and replacing the auto-centric restaurant with pedestrian-friendly retail.

Over the course of the past few months, an upgrade of the decorative lighting system has been in progress at One Liberty Place at 1650 Market Street in Center City, where the light strips that highlight the angled top of the tower are being reworked. Designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn and developed by Rouse and Associates, the two massive skyscrapers of Liberty Place were the first in the Philadelphia skyline to boldly break past the informal 548-foot height limit established by the tower of City Hall nearly a century earlier.