897 North 40th 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.

A pair of tower cranes have been assembled at the site of Broad and Washington, a massive 15-story, 1,111-unit development under construction at 1001 South Broad Street in Hawthorne, South Philadelphia. Designed by the BKV Group, the complex will span an entire city block at the northeast corner of the intersection of Broad Street and Washington Avenue. The 1,516,218-square-foot complex will cost nearly $306 million to construct.