2442 North Marshall 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.

As expected, a recent site visit by Philly YIMBY has discovered no signs of new construction at the site of 21M, a 350-foot-tall mixed-use tower proposed at 2100 Market Street in Center City West. Developed by the Brandywine Realty Trust, the project has been in the works for several years and has seen various iterations, with the latest one designed by Edry McHenry Architects. Since we last looked at the project for our most recent December countdown, no permits have been filed nor has any progress has been made at the site, where a parking lot continues to operate.