800-30 Vine 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.

One of the most exciting new developments in the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area is currently underway not in the city itself, but rather in an exurban part of Mantua Township, New Jersey, 14 miles to the south of Center City Philadelphia. Designed by Ennead Architects, with KSS Architects as the architect of record and Gallagher & Associates behind exhibit design, Rowan University’s Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park and Museum rises from a scenic bluff overlooking a former marl quarry, which holds 66-million-year-old fossils dating to the age of dinosaurs. The $73 million visitor center, avant-garde in design yet naturalistic in material palette and setting, will offer 44,000 square feet of interactive exhibits, presentation space, socializing areas, and more.