PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-WILMINGTON-ATLANTIC CITY-READING | Metro Development Thread

[OSJ825]

Riverfront East
Source: Delaware online (www.delawareonline.com)
More luxury apartments are coming to Wilmington's Riverfront as construction begins on a 125-unit building along the southern side of the Christina River on South Market Street. Pennsylvanian developers, Westrum Development Co., are building a sister complex next to its existing LUXOR Lifestyle Apartments, which opened in 2023. The new apartment complex at 400 S. Market St. will have studio and one-bedroom floor plans, along with one-bedroom units with a den. The developers chose to expand in Wilmington following the success of their existing LUXOR apartments. The 340 S. Market St. apartments are currently 95% occupied and have an 80% lease renewal rate.





https://www.delawareonline.com/story/mon...ments-wilmington-riverfront/90423876007/

[OSJ825]

Bancroft Parkway

Source: The Delaware Business Times (delawarebusinesstimes.com)

In other Wilmington, Delaware news more NIMBY drama for another developer planning a second apartment building in a different area of the city. Tsionas Management is seeking to build its second apartment complex in Wilmington, but the project has met with pushback with some in the neighborhood. Tsionas has filed a rezoning application to redevelop some land along Bancroft Parkway and right next door to 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue, its first project built in 2017. The project would be split height, with four stories facing Bancroft Parkway, moving up to 8 stories and eventually 12 stories at the rear of the building along the CSX railroad tracks. In all, the project called the Bancroft would be 193 units and would represent $100 million investment.



https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/insider-only/bancroft-apartment-put-test/

[Jawnadelphia]

^^ The push back has been incredible. Lots of $$$ residents along Bancroft Parkway, who have a large organized campaign. Yard signs are up all over the Parkway and surrounding neighborhoods against this. They've lawyered up, no doubt.

https://www.protectbancroftparkway.org/

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

^^ The push back has been incredible. Lots of $$$ residents along Bancroft Parkway, who have a large organized campaign. Yard signs are up all over the Parkway and surrounding neighborhoods against this. They've lawyered up, no doubt.

https://www.protectbancroftparkway.org/

Suburbanites are exhausting. In their utopia, everyone lives in a perfect 0.25 acre lawn as far as the eye can see.

[Jawnadelphia]

Downtown:

BPG continues the renovation and conversion of a former BOA office building at Rodney Square to apartments. Still waiting on the glass facade to start.





Riverfront:
BPG's new Riverfront apartment building designed by DIGSAU has topped out. New marketing website is up: https://residebpg.com/properties/rowhaus/ and https://residerowhaus.com/





The beer garden is finally reopened after a summer off, it moved across the street to accommodate the Rowhaus construction noted above.





Happy Valley:
130 apartments from Berger Development - "The Apartments At 1021" (1021 Gilpin Avenue).



https://www.bancroftconstruction.com/project/gilpin-ave/

https://www.bancroftconstruction.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Elevation-06-scaled.jpeg

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

Downtown:

BPG continues the renovation and conversion of a former BOA office building at Rodney Square to apartments. Still waiting on the glass facade to start.

I hope that the windows currently present on the historic portion of the project aren't the final product. The renderings show the restoration of the masonry between the stories, whereas the photos show glass panels up the whole inset. The masonry would add so much depth (and would be truer to the original look of the building!).

[PHLtoNYC]

Suburban Philadelphia ranked in the Top 10 most competitive housing markets. Wonder how long this can keep going?
Study: https://www.redfin.com/news/most-competitive-housing-markets-2026/

Philly suburbs see 44% of homes sell above asking, among highest in U.S.
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...-spring-market-philadelphia-suburbs.html

The area encompassing Montgomery, Bucks and Chester counties — which houses some of the region's wealthiest communities — saw 43.6% of homes sell above the original list price in May. That was the seventh highest percentage in the U.S. behind a couple of New York suburbs and Bay Area cities in California.

The Philadelphia market meanwhile, which is classified by Redfin as Philadelphia and Delaware counties, saw 29.1% of homes sell above the original list price in May. That still outpaces the national average and is 1.5 percentage points higher than May 2025.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Suburban Philadelphia ranked in the Top 10 most competitive housing markets. Wonder how long this can keep going?
Study: https://www.redfin.com/news/most-competitive-housing-markets-2026/

Philly suburbs see 44% of homes sell above asking, among highest in U.S.
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...-spring-market-philadelphia-suburbs.html

The area encompassing Montgomery, Bucks and Chester counties — which houses some of the region's wealthiest communities — saw 43.6% of homes sell above the original list price in May. That was the seventh highest percentage in the U.S. behind a couple of New York suburbs and Bay Area cities in California.

The Philadelphia market meanwhile, which is classified by Redfin as Philadelphia and Delaware counties, saw 29.1% of homes sell above the original list price in May. That still outpaces the national average and is 1.5 percentage points higher than May 2025.

It's not good. I know far too many people who have grown tired of the housing situation and have left/are in the process of leaving. I love the area as many of us do but the, "Yeah I have to deal with X but it's still cheaper," tradeoffs are rapidly eroding and more people are thinking twice now about the equation. It will be interesting to see how the next 5+ years play out.

*And yes this issue does have state and federal involvement as well, it's not all solely on our region.

Related article:

Philadelphia is technically a buyer’s market, but housing economists say that’s misleading
Sellers are less serious, and buyers can’t afford anything. Economists say it will likely take years for things to improve.
https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-real-estate-market-housing-economists/

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

It's not good. I know far too many people who have grown tired of the housing situation and have left/are in the process of leaving. I love the area as many of us do but the, "Yeah I have to deal with X but it's still cheaper," tradeoffs are rapidly eroding and more people are thinking twice now about the equation. It will be interesting to see how the next 5+ years play out.

*And yes this issue does have state and federal involvement as well, it's not all solely on our region.

Related article:

Philadelphia is technically a buyer’s market, but housing economists say that’s misleading
Sellers are less serious, and buyers can’t afford anything. Economists say it will likely take years for things to improve.
https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-real-estate-market-housing-economists/

The Philadelphia area housing market is measured in different segments. Philadelphia + Delaware County, and the Pennsylvania suburbs (Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks Counties).

The article I referenced highlighted the suburban counties, while the article you cited only mentioned Philadelphia and Delaware County. That's not to say the market isn't expensive everywhere, but the 3-county suburban market has is a different ballgame these days (for better or worse). Even though Delco is lumped with Philadelphia, I suspect at least half of Delco aligns more with the trends in the other 3 suburban counties, especially areas like Media, Garnet Valley, Newtown Square, etc.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

The Philadelphia area housing market is measured in different segments. Philadelphia + Delaware County, and the Pennsylvania suburbs (Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks Counties).

The article I referenced highlighted the suburban counties, while the article you cited only mentioned Philadelphia and Delaware County. That's not to say the market isn't expensive everywhere, but the 3-county suburban market has is a different ballgame these days (for better or worse). Even though Delco is lumped with Philadelphia, I suspect at least half of Delco aligns more with the trends in the other 3 suburban counties, especially areas like Media, Garnet Valley, Newtown Square, etc.

My gut is Delaware County is actually more competitive than the other 3 counties. Nearly everything, and I mean everything, is selling above asking price. In days.

It is however, a weird take, to claim people are leaving when this data would indicate the exact opposite to be true. It seems like lots of people are coming back.

It's not good. I know far too many people who have grown tired of the housing situation and have left/are in the process of leaving. I love the area as many of us do but the, "Yeah I have to deal with X but it's still cheaper," tradeoffs are rapidly eroding and more people are thinking twice now about the equation. It will be interesting to see how the next 5+ years play out.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

It is however, a weird take, to claim people are leaving when this data would indicate the exact opposite to be true. It seems like lots of people are coming back.

Not a weird take and there is a supply issue and a rapidly increasing affordability problem, hence the data. How many people are coming back if they can't afford the market? There's clearly a problem since this topic keeps surfacing. The big issue here is this is uncharted territory for this region with zero plan currently. Sure, it can be argued that maybe the metro was undervalued prior to now and I would support that argument...to a point. But to say places like Conshy are worth the $1+ million properties is where I say nah, nope, now you've lost me and there's nothing that great about it at all and that does not scream sustainable to me because next to nothing is being done to address the quality of life issues and that is going to catch up at some point.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

My gut is Delaware County is actually more competitive than the other 3 counties. Nearly everything, and I mean everything, is selling above asking price. In days.

It is however, a weird take, to claim people are leaving when this data would indicate the exact opposite to be true. It seems like lots of people are coming back.

Agreed. I frequently view Delaware County real estate and its bonkers. I think the decent and desirable burbs in Delaware County are as competitive as the Main Line, at somewhat more approachable price points (which adds to the flurry).

I wish Delaware County was grouped with the other three suburban counties rather than with Philadelphia. I assume it has to do with its more urbanized development pattern and transit connections to the city? Delaware County is also generally omitted from any real estate news in the local papers, it's either Philly, the other 3 PA counties, or SJ... (as you know)

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Not a weird take and there is a supply issue and a rapidly increasing affordability problem, hence the data. How many people are coming back if they can't afford the market? There's clearly a problem since this topic keeps surfacing. The big issue here is this is uncharted territory for this region with zero plan currently. Sure, it can be argued that maybe the metro was undervalued prior to now and I would support that argument...to a point. But to say places like Conshy are worth the $1+ million properties is where I say nah, nope, now you've lost me and there's nothing that great about it at all and that does not scream sustainable to me because next to nothing is being done to address the quality of life issues and that is going to catch up at some point.

Are there many large metros where this isn't a problem these days? The US has a full-scale affordability crisis nearly everywhere.
Perhaps Houston and Dallas, since those regions produce tens of thousands of homes each year. But that comes with its own set of QOL challenges. Endless sprawl may help with housing supply, but it's not necessarily a sustainable long-term growth model (i.e., LA).
Unless you are referring to other issues specific to this region?

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Are there many large metros where this isn't a problem these days? The US has a full-scale affordability crisis nearly everywhere.
Perhaps Houston and Dallas, since those regions produce tens of thousands of homes each year. But that comes with its own set of QOL challenges. Endless sprawl may help with housing supply, but it's not necessarily a sustainable long-term growth model (i.e., LA).
Unless you are referring to other issues specific to this region?

Similar to other areas right now but also issues that are unique but again, the blame is not solely on our region and the state/feds need to get their act together too. RE: state, some examples would be funding, infrastructure, schools, emergency services, gov't structure... It's one of those situations where lagging behind was bad but didn't have a huge impact because there was just a trickle. Now that the faucet is running more steadily the cracks are showing and it's only going to get worse.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Not a weird take and there is a supply issue and a rapidly increasing affordability problem, hence the data. How many people are coming back if they can't afford the market? There's clearly a problem since this topic keeps surfacing. The big issue here is this is uncharted territory for this region with zero plan currently. Sure, it can be argued that maybe the metro was undervalued prior to now and I would support that argument...to a point. But to say places like Conshy are worth the $1+ million properties is where I say nah, nope, now you've lost me and there's nothing that great about it at all and that does not scream sustainable to me because next to nothing is being done to address the quality of life issues and that is going to catch up at some point.

Where are they moving that's more affordable?

Tell me Atlanta or Charlotte or Nashville I'll tell you they're being disingenuous because those places aren't more affordable and if they are, they're moving to suburbs an hour plus outside their respective cities and if that's the case, they're being extra disingenuous because how are you going to compare a desireable suburb that literally abutts the city on public transit with an amazing location to a suburb in the middle of nowhere not on transit that requires an hour plus car ride in bumper to bumper traffic to get to "the city".

We have that here too. They can move to Oxford, Chester County or Glassboro, New Jersey or Middletown, Delaware.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Where are they moving that's more affordable?

Tell me Atlanta or Charlotte or Nashville I'll tell you they're being disingenuous because those places aren't more affordable and if they are, they're moving to suburbs an hour plus outside their respective cities and if that's the case, they're being extra disingenuous because how are you going to compare a desireable suburb that literally abutts the city on public transit with an amazing location to a suburb in the middle of nowhere not on transit that requires an hour plus car ride in bumper to bumper traffic to get to "the city".

We have that here too. They can move to Oxford, Chester County or Glassboro, New Jersey or Middletown, Delaware.

Public transit is useless if you are going where it doesn't and/or the hours of operation don't work for you. I am not discrediting the asset we have but it's not a big selling point to a lot of people.

The three you mentioned are a few, yes (and they are not moving an hour out of town either), along with other parts of PA, etc.

Clearly we are in a hot market and I am not disputing that but what I am saying is we are approaching the tipping point because the things that usually come w/ a higher cost of living place we still lag behind in, it's an important part of the formula that is going to be needed.

[domodeez]

BPG posted this update on their social media yesterday regarding their renovation of the old Delaware College of Art & Design building at 6th & Market Streets in Downtown Wilmington.

Absolutely love that they keep working with DIGSAU. It's already a gorgeous building on the outside. Can't wait to see the finished product.

https://www.bpgroup.net/properties/dcad-residential/

Buccini Pollin Group is proud to announce Aurora Place, an upcoming residential project located at 600 N. Market Street in Downtown Wilmington.

Designed by Philadelphia-based architecture firm DIGSAU, Aurora Place will transform the former Delaware College of Art and Design building into a 44-unit multifamily community featuring studio and one-bedroom apartments. Originally constructed in 1932 for the Delaware Power and Light Company, the project will celebrate and preserve the building’s distinctive Art Deco architectural character while reimagining its use for generations to come.

Aurora Place marks another historic renovation project for BPG and its partners, continuing our commitment to revitalizing Downtown Wilmington through thoughtful redevelopment and preservation.

The community will feature a curated collection of amenities, including a lounges, bike storage, fitness center, and garden-level entry.

[Justin7]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

we are approaching the tipping point because the things that usually come w/ a higher cost of living place we still lag behind in

What cities do we lag behind? In what areas do we lag behind? Real Estate here is still much less expensive than places like NYC/Boston.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Public transit is useless if you are going where it doesn't and/or the hours of operation don't work for you. I am not discrediting the asset we have but it's not a big selling point to a lot of people.

The three you mentioned are a few, yes (and they are not moving an hour out of town either), along with other parts of PA, etc.

Clearly we are in a hot market and I am not disputing that but what I am saying is we are approaching the tipping point because the things that usually come w/ a higher cost of living place we still lag behind in, it's an important part of the formula that is going to be needed.

I agree Public Transit is useless if you don't need it but to say you're moving to Dallas and then you settle in Celina or Prosper, you're 42 miles from downtown Dallas and yes, while you might not use transportation here, it's still gonna take you an hour or hour and 30 minutes to get to anything significant within Dallas metro (airport, sporting events, museums, etc).

So I call bullshit on the entire thing. If you're willing to sit in traffic for an hour plus (hour and half during rush hour) in Dallas or Atlanta, but you're not willing to do it here, then just say that.

And two things can be true at the same time. I agree things here are reaching a tipping point. And I also believe a lot of these folks say they're leaving because other places are cheaper and guess what, that's not true either. All in, costs have pretty much equalized across the country in most major metros. Taxes might be lower in Texas, but insurance and utlities are higher. And you'll be running that AC full blast 9 months out of the year. In the end, I guarantee you net net they don't save any money. But they'll never admit it.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by Justin7

What cities do we lag behind? In what areas do we lag behind? Real Estate here is still much less expensive than places like NYC/Boston.

Specific areas aka categories we lag behind in. Think about it this way: the cost of living has shot way up here but is Philly a hot nightlife spot? Became a 24/7 town? Are we seeing a major reinvention? A building boom? How are the schools? Trash situation any better? Infrastructure? Outside of the cost I stand firm that the area is basically still the same ol' same ol' and you aren't getting some of the byproducts you do and should when an area becomes the hot/it market. Maybe the people with deep roots like this (minus the costs) but for the new movers and shakers, this won't be suitable for too long.

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I agree Public Transit is useless if you don't need it but to say you're moving to Dallas and then you settle in Celina or Prosper, you're 42 miles from downtown Dallas and yes, while you might not use transportation here, it's still gonna take you an hour or hour and 30 minutes to get to anything significant within Dallas metro (airport, sporting events, museums, etc).

As opposed to taking 1.5 hours driving maybe an even less distance here? How long does it take to get to sporting events here if you are driving? The traffic here is abysmal and you can't say we are better in this category and we consistently rank at the top of the bad lists (but again, some of this blame is on the state). So if one is going to sit in traffic in place A and have a mediocre house for $500K or place B and have a much better house for that money, which will the average person choose? Annnd back to my point that we need to plan and work on this NOW.

So I call bullshit on the entire thing.

Well it is settled, 3rd&Brown has called BS so end of discussion

And two things can be true at the same time. I agree things here are reaching a tipping point.

So all of this just to agree with my main point?

[mja]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Specific areas aka categories we lag behind in. Think about it this way: the cost of living has shot way up here but is Philly a hot nightlife spot? Became a 24/7 town? Are we seeing a major reinvention? A building boom? How are the schools? Trash situation any better? Infrastructure? Outside of the cost I stand firm that the area is basically still the same ol' same ol' and you aren't getting some of the byproducts you do and should when an area becomes the hot/it market. Maybe the people with deep roots like this (minus the costs) but for the new movers and shakers, this won't be suitable for too long.


As opposed to taking 1.5 hours driving maybe an even less distance here? How long does it take to get to sporting events here if you are driving? The traffic here is abysmal and you can't say we are better in this category and we consistently rank at the top of the bad lists (but again, some of this blame is on the state). So if one is going to sit in traffic in place A and have a mediocre house for $500K or place B and have a much better house for that money, which will the average person choose? Annnd back to my point that we need to plan and work on this NOW.


Well it is settled, 3rd&Brown has called BS so end of discussion


So all of this just to agree with my main point?

I've mainly just lurked here since forever, but for pretty much as long as I've done so you've seemed to express some nebulous complaint with regards to housing in the city / region. I'm not sure I've ever really understood what your point actually is, beyond that housing has gotten more expensive and that's bad.

Looking at your posts on the thread, I'm reminded of the Yogi Berra quip: "No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded." Are you arguing that average Joe is being priced out and that the new clientele is going to peace out once they see how shitty services actually are here, and then leave the city / region in the lurch? Or are you arguing that the new clientele is going to irrevocably change the character of the city / region, and that it will all be sterile and inauthentic?

What specifically do you think needs to be done?