The Curbed Cup, our annual award for the neighborhood of the year, has entered the second round of the Elite 8! Eight Philly neighborhoods are still in the running to be crowned the Best Neighborhood of the Year. Let the eliminations commence!
Northern Liberties
Longtime residents of Northern Liberties will often say that their neighborhood is unrecognizable today. It’s blossomed from a place of blight into a mini-boom town, continuing to draw in new construction, retail, and restaurants to its streets day by day. But it’d be wrong to say that Northern Liberties’s 15 minutes of fame is over: WeWork has a new spot here, as does Yards Brewery, which just set up shop in a 70,000-square-foot space designed by Digsau. Another boutique Target is on its way, and if one can believe it, developers continue to break ground on new homes on every remaining lot available. And yet, the residents continue to take action to make sure their neighborhood isn’t just known for its building boom: They recently teamed up to preserve the neighborhood’s ‘last wilderness’ with the establishment of Orkney Park.
Germantown
The historic neighborhood of Germantown has come a long way in its long history. It’s one of Philly’s oldest neighborhoods, and its historically significant sites dating back to the American Revolutionary War are neighbors to Germantown’s mom and pop shops and newer retailers and restaurants. The historic neighborhood in Northwest Philly has also seen an interest in revitalization, with programs like JumpStart Germantown launching to help first-time developers work on smaller rehab projects throughout the area, while the community recently rallied to win grant money to restore its African American landmarks located along the Germantown Avenue corridor. Even bigger changes are afoot with the redevelopment of nearly a dozen properties around the Wayne Junction station.
Should red hot Northern Liberties or historic Germantown advance to the next round? Polls are open for 24 hours, so vote now!