Apartment Building

On the 1200 block of North Orianna Street, a narrow, almost alleylike road that juts off from Girard Avenue on the edge of Northern Liberties, the walls facing a grassy plot of land have been brightly painted with colorful flowers, butterflies, and stars. The grass is mostly clear of litter, the plantings around the trees are well-maintained, and the air smells sweet and floral. The spot is oddly quiet. Girard Avenue is just a few steps away, but the sound of traffic is faint, even in daylight.

WASHINGTON - Builders have found a way to make money in a decrepit home market: apartments. Permit requests to build apartments jumped to a three-year high last month. In 12 months, they've surged 63 percent. Blame the housing bust, which left many people without the means, the credit or the stomach to buy. More people need apartments. The demand has driven up monthly rents. And apartment-home builders are rushing to cash in. That said, the overall home market remains depressed.

The Downingtown Zoning Hearing Board has approved a zoning variance which will permit additional units in the John Edge Parke House, an apartment building at 320 E. Lancaster Ave. The board voted 2-0 Thursday to allow Thomas Parke, a Florida college student who owns the property, to increase the number of units in the building from three to four. Lois and Thomas Edge Parke, parents of the owner, said that their son, who was absent from the meeting, planned to redesign the interior of the building but not add to the exterior.

An unidentified woman was found stabbed to death in the outside stairwell of a Runnemede apartment building early yesterday, authorities said. The woman had been stabbed numerous times in the front and back of her body and had suffered numerous blows to her head, according to Edward F. Borden Jr., the Camden County prosecutor. Borden said investigators believed that the woman was killed elsewhere and that her body was dumped in the stairwell perhaps an hour or more before she was found.

It's easy to find the abandoned three-story apartment building at 102 Chester Pike in Collingdale. Not only is it the tallest structure in the borough, according to local officials, it's also the biggest eyesore, with its boarded-up windows, rusty fire escape and weed-choked grounds. What isn't so easy to find is its owner, identified as Catherine Bollinger of Lansdowne. Borough Council President William E. McGowan said Monday night that the borough had made repeated efforts to contact the woman through the mail but registered letters sent to her Lansdowne address kept coming back unopened.

Joy Brooks and the tenants of the 2601 Pennsylvania Ave. apartment building say they have waited a long time for their building's heating, fire and building code violations to be corrected. Yesterday,, a Philadelphia judge made the wait worthwhile. Common Pleas Court Judge Samuel M. Lehrer issued a permanent injunction requiring 2601 Parkway Associates - Melvin Hoch and Alan M. Pullman - to provide a "continuous supply of adequate heat" to the Fairmount apartment building.

A developer who wants to build a 12-unit deluxe apartment building in a commercial district in Newtown Township is finding the going rough with the township Zoning Hearing Board. At a meeting Thursday night, the board listened to arguments for the application and then retired to a closed session. After the session, the attorneys for the board and the developer held discussions outside the hearing room. When everyone had reassembled, Vincent B. Mancini, attorney for developer Raymond Acciavatti and his wife, of Newtown Township, asked the board to grant a continuance because he had "certain things I would like to discuss with my clients.

The Bridgeport Zoning Board approved plans for an eight-unit loft-style apartment building at Fourth and Mill Streets at the site of the former Daub Hardware Warehouse. The unanimous vote was taken Tuesday night after the board had delayed the proposal a month until adequate parking for tenants of the proposed complex was guaranteed. The board decided not to ask the developers, GLT Inc., to reduce the eight apartments to six slightly larger ones. Last month the board had asked the developers to consider the change.

The owner and builder of an apartment house in Ridley Park is seeking a variance and a special exception from the setback requirements for a building that he has already constructed. The applicant, Robert D'Agostino, built a six-unit apartment building at 106 Chester Pike, Ridley Park, and needs to meet the borough's setback requirements or to be granted a variance before he is allowed occupancy of the building. D'Agostino said that his engineers measured the front-yard setback from the title line, and that the calculations showed that he had a 28.3-foot setback, which met the borough requirement that it be at least 25 feet.

The Jewish Federation of South Jersey won approval last night for a six- story apartment building for senior citizens that it plans to place in a primarily residential section of Cherry Hill. The Cherry Hill Township Council approved by a vote of 5-1 a zoning change that will allow the building to reach 60 feet - 15 feet higher than the institutional zoning allows - on a 17-acre site at Springdale and Kresson Roads. Residents near the property lashed out at the plan, calling it a dramatic change for the worse that would bring more mid-rise and high-rise buildings to their community.

A road-rage incident turned into a shootout Sunday afternoon in North Philadelphia when a private security guard and another man traded fire at 13th and Wallace Streets around 2:15 p.m., police said. It was not immediately clear who fired first, or how many shots were fired. The security guard pursued the man, who was in a car with several others, police said, to the 800 block of Reno Street. The man then jumped out of the car, the security guard reported, and barricaded himself in an apartment building.

A road rage incident turned into a shootout Sunday afternoon in North Philadelphia when a private security guard and another man traded fire at 13th and Wallace Streets around 2:15 p.m., police said. The security guard pursued the man, who was in a car with several others, police said, to the 800 block of Reno Street, where the one man jumped out of the car and barricaded himself inside an apartment building. The car he exited, a silver Buick Century with Delaware tags, drove away, police said.

A large fire in Darby Borough forced the evacuation of an apartment building as the walls of a grocery store collapsed and heavy smoke filled the area. Several people were treated at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital for minor injuries and released, fire officials said. Two of the evacuees planned to stay overnight in housing provided by the American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania, officials at the relief agency said. Ten others planned to stay at Darby Borough Hall because the electricity in their apartments had been turned off, Red Cross spokesman Dave Schrader said.

Philadelphia police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide they discovered in a high-rise apartment building Sunday night. A man and woman were found shot to death around 8:30 p.m. in an apartment in the Museum Towers, a luxury building at 18th and Buttonwood streets in the city's Franklintown section. The names of the man and woman have not yet been released, police said, but the situation appears to have been domestic.   Contact Allison Steele at 610-313-8113 or asteele@phillynews.com .

Most of the lot at 335 Righters Ferry Rd. in Bala Cynwyd doesn't look like much, with its tangle of trees and weeds on hilly ground. But to Lower Merion Township officials, it is the beginning of turning the unremarkable and unwalkable area around City Avenue into a pedestrian's paradise. The township's Planning Committee on Monday night heard an initial presentation from Nolen Properties to construct an 11-story apartment building on the Righters Ferry site, bounded by Monument Road, Belmont Avenue, and St. Asaphs Road.

A damaged underground power cable led to the precautionary evacuation of residents at an 80-unit Center City apartment building Wednesday morning, officials said. Some businesses near 16th and Sansom Streets also were forced to close because Peco shut down power in the area while crews investigated. Vehicle traffic was blocked on 16th between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, and on Sansom between 15th and 17th Streets. Pedestrian traffic was allowed, and some stores and restaurants were open late Wednesday afternoon.

After a false start four years ago, the Goldenberg Group has started construction on a $100 million student apartment building next to Temple University on the site of the former John Wanamaker Middle School. The 14-story residence, in the 1100 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, will add 832 beds for Temple students. In 2008, the Goldenberg Group, of Blue Bell, outbid others to buy the former school from the Philadelphia School District for $10.75 million. The original plan was to renovate the school into student apartments, with community space and a charter school for the Bright Hope Baptist Church, which is across the street.

Firefighters responded to a unit blaze in a six-story Old City apartment building late Friday night. Shortly before 11 p.m., the fire was reported in a second-story apartment in the first block of South Letitia Street, between Front and Second Streets. The fire was declared under control about 11:35 p.m. The building was evacuated, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.    - Robert Moran

By Mari A. Schaefer A fire in an apartment building in Chester County's Spring City on Friday has been ruled an arson. Spring City Police Chief Anthony Kuklinski, who was treated for smoke inhalation rescuing residents from the building, said the motive for the arson is still under investigation. The blaze at the River Edge Apartments on Riverside Drive destroyed the four residential units on the second floor and the Rex Tax Service on the ground floor, Kuklinski said. All of the burners and the oven of a gas stove in a vacant apartment had been turned on full, igniting the unit.