PHILADELPHIA—A national apartment search website with nearly 2,000 listings in the Philadelphia market is offering a remarkable series of before-after images of commercial development in the City of Brotherly Love, thanks to Google Street View and a timelapse slider tool.

RENTCafé writer Amalia Otet tells GlobeSt.com exclusively that the website wanted to get a sense of how Philadelphia is doing in terms of real estate development and which areas are drawing the largest investments.

"We've scoured the city for the biggest and boldest new constructions that were finalized sometime in the last 8 years," she says. "Aside from their architectural impact, these buildings are also generally acting as catalysts for more development in their corner of the city. More than simply revealing how far we've come, these projects can also help give a better picture of what the future will look like for these neighborhoods."

Otet's blog post compares street-level views of 10 locations in Center City Philadelphia taken in 2007 with more recent views from 2014.

Here are two examples of the views RENTCafé created:

Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, Dilworth Park – Center City

This image set shows the addition of the Ritz-Carlton tower at 1414 S. Penn Square near City Hall's Dilworth Park.

Chestnut Square Student Housing, Constantine N. Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building – University City

The Papadakis Building at left houses life sciences departments at Drexel University.

2116 Chestnut Street

This 34 story tower has 321 apartment units of various sizes.

"Our research data reveals that the number of renters is on the upswing in Philadelphia, with all signs pointing to further growth," says Otet. "The city has a lot of potential as rising employment and high apartment demand will keep the market competitive while prices are still relatively affordable. It's one of the cheapest cities to rent in the Mid-Atlantic, with NYC, Jersey City, and Washington D.C. all posting much higher average asking rents."

Instant Insights /

Commercial Development in Philadelphia Dramatically Illustrated

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