Monthly Archives: March 2015

There are plenty of opportunities in Philadelphia for interested parties to enter the real estate market. There are individuals and companies that want to expand their existing portfolios in the city, in the state or even abroad. There are also individuals and companies that want to test the waters or to dive right in to the real estate market.

North Philly could become the next Philadelphia neighborhood to see a significant real estate boom. An area associated with rundown warehouses, vacant lots, widespread graffiti and high crime rates, the neighborhood is long overdue for a facelift.

The tenth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London is approaching. In June 2005, the court handed down a decision that had the potential to change eminent domain law across the country. A group of property law attorneys got together recently to discuss and to analyze whether Kelo had the kind of impact everyone expected — or was afraid — it would have.

The Holiday Inn Fort Washington sits on seven acres of land in Montgomery County. The hotel offers guests the choice of 230 rooms and access to an in-house restaurant. The building was developed in 1975 with the best amenities of the time. Now, forty years later, the doors have closed and 61 employees were laid off.

Earlier this year, we were talking about the dispute between artist James Dupree and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. The city had identified a block in Mantua that would be perfect for a grocery store. Dupree’s building was the only habitable one, and the city attempted to evict him and raze the building. Eventually, Dupree prevailed.

We are finishing up our discussion of the city’s vacant properties and proposals regarding the Department of Licenses & Inspections’ need for more inspectors. Keeping up with Philadelphia’s enormous inventory of crumbling buildings has proved difficult for the existing 56 L&I employees, and Mayor Michael Nutter’s proposed budget includes funding for more. Even if the money is approved, though, the new hires will only be half as many as the City Controller’s Office recommended in its January report.

Run-down and unsafe properties have been the focus of our recent discussions. Several buildings have collapsed across the metro area, posing a real danger to the residents of Philadelphia. Although no people were hurt in these collapses, they could have been. The truth is that accidents happen in new buildings, especially at construction sites.

We are discussing the added emphasis Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s proposed budget will place on building inspections. The proposal includes enough money for the Department of Licenses & Inspections to hire 43 new inspectors, as well as funds to increase staffing at departments that support L&I’s work. In part, this was the mayor’s response to a troubling report from the City Controller’s office about vacant properties in Philly.

Philadelphia may be shedding its nickname to become, instead, the City of Brotherly Irony. In 2014, the city spent time and money trying to oust artist James Dupree from his property, a building he had renovated into a landmark. Critics pointed out that the city was not wanting for vacant or abandoned property — why concentrate on one building that has been brought back from the dead?

In law school, students learn persuasive writing and objective writing. A contract is a good example of the latter: The parties want a clear expression of their obligations to one another, remedies and so on. All that text that we skip over when we agree to the terms of a software end user license agreement is objective.