Ed has announced on the hallwatch site that it will cease operations on February 26th. No reason is given. Ed has provided the residents of the city with an invaluabe source of information that should have been available from City Hall but was not. We will miss him. Read the story here.
Category: Business
Real estate values continue to decline
Philadelphia continues to perform other housing markets, probably because we were less overvalued over the past few years.
From Hallwatch.com:
According to the latest analysis by Wharton and Econsult economist Kevin Gillen, the typical Philadelphia home fell in value by an average of 3.3% on a quality- and seasonally- adjusted basis. When added to previous price declines, Philadelphia house prices are cumulatively down 10.1% from their market’s peak of just over eighteen months ago.
Price changes across the city’s neighborhoods were almost all negative, and no areas showed any meaningful increases. From lowest to highest, the price changes by neighborhood are: South Philadelphia (-8.6%), West Philadelphia (-7.2%), Center City/Fairmount (-6.0%), Lower Northeast Philadelphia (-3.3%), Northwest Philadelphia (-3.0%), Kensington/Frankford (-2.0%), Upper Northeast Philadelphia (-0.6%), University City (+0.5%) and North Philadelphia (+0.7%).
Read the entire story here at Hallwatch.com.
Frankford Hospitals lays off 100
From Phillyburbs.com:
Citing the troubled economy, Frankford Hospitals Thursday announced it has eliminated 100 full-time employees including a small number of “clinical” nursing positions.
The staff layoffs were part of an “operational analysis” that also involved staffing adjustments including eliminating opening positions and shifting employees into “alternative roles.”
A statement released by Frankford did not include many details including if the layoffs and job eliminations are across all three campuses; Frankford operates hospitals in the Torresdale and Frankford sections of Philadelphia and a third in Falls. Hospital officials were not available for comment after the announcement.
As the press release says, no information on which of the three Frankford hospitals are affected. Read the story here.
Real estate transactions
This is a list of the real estate transactions in Frankford from October of 2008. Thanks to the folks at ReMax Cityspace:
| 1428 E Cheltenham Ave $73,500 |
| 4237 Castor Ave $63,000 |
| 4635 Milnor St $260,000 |
| 5001-11 Oxford Ave. $715,000.00 |
| 5411 Charles St $82,900 |
| 5417 Oakland St $80,000 |
| 4643 Penn St $99,127 4U |
| 4701 Hawthorne St $30,000.00 |
| 1837 Foulkrod St $40,000 |
| 1916 Buckius St $57,000 |
| 4637 Milnor St $130,000 |
| 5105 Oxford Ave $137,800 |
| 1711 Plum St $154,500 |
| 1740 Margaret St $62,900 |
| 4438 E Wingohocking St $114,900 |
| 4512 Bermuda St $103,000 |
| 4569 Melrose St $82,500 |
| 1371 Dyre St $66,000 |
| 4277 Orchard St $37,000 |
| 5252 Oakland St $113,000 |
| 5314 James St $125,000 |
| 1629 Wakeling St $89,000 |
| 2032 Buckius St. $22,000 |
| 2032 Plum St $80,000 |
| 4431 Oakland St $110,000 |
| 1880 Pratt St $64,900 |
| 2054 E Cheltenham Ave $105,000 |
| 4235 Salem St $21,500 |
| 5153 Saul St $99,900 |
| 1145 Herbert St $77,500 |
| 5151 Oakland St $115,000 |
Cancer Treatment Center Needs to Grow
As a result of the need to expand, the Cancer Treatment Center on Wyoming Avenue proposes to acquire land from Greenwood Cemetery. That will necessitate the relocation of as many as 3000 burials to an unused location on the cemetery property. Use of that area would also make land available for an additional 7000 future burials.
As part of the transaction, the cemetery would also receive funds for restoration of the Benjamin Rush house and improvements to the entrance on Adams Avenue.
The re interment process will be done by a company expert in the field. All burials will be re interred individually. Next of kin will be notified when possible.
As a result of the expansion, the Cancer Treatment Center employment will increase from the present 550 to 1000 employees.
Somebody better do something soon. This Rush house is falling apart. From the street it looks like there are windows on the built out porch, but it’s just cleverly spray painted board. The house has open/broken windows too. Pics follow.
