In building the concept for his newest restaurant, Sam Li flew halfway across the world for a culinary research journey. He traveled across China, Japan, and Korea to study, and sample, the three countries’ ways of doing barbecue. It was at a Japanese yakiniku — or grilled meat — restaurant that he knew he had found his next project.
Li is the owner of OGYU Japanese BBQ & Bar, an upscale, grill-it-yourself Japanese barbecue restaurant that opened in Ardmore last month. The restaurant offers a tiered, fixed-price menu with a focus on “higher quality premium Wagyu beef.” OGYU is located in the former Iron Hill Brewery at 60 Greenfield Ave., which closed in 2024 before Iron Hill filed for bankruptcy last year.
Though OGYU has found a home in what was onceIron Hill, Li and his team have transformed the former brewery’s space into a sleek, club-like atmosphere, with black and gold detailing, marble-paneled walls, and an opulent, fully stocked bar.
OGYU Japanese BBQ restaurant is shown on Tuesday, July, 7, 2026 in Ardmore. The new restaurant by Sam Li offers a modern Japanese steakhouse experience with tabletop cooking, adding to Ardmore’s growing portfolio of restaurants.
He now sits at the helm of seven restaurants in the Philly suburbs, including sushi restaurant Osushi, with locations in Marlton, Ardmore, and Wayne; upscale Japanese restaurant Hiramasa in Newtown Square; and fast-casual chain bb.q Chicken, with two locations inSouth Jersey.
While Li has built his brand largely around sushi, he said he saw an opportunity in the market when it came to Japanese barbecue. There aren’t many yakiniku restaurants in the region, he said, and it’s a relatively new concept to many of his diners. People tend to be familiar with Korean barbecue, which leans more into marinades and flavors than its Japanese counterpart, which more often lets the meat speak for itself, Li said.
“We felt that it could be a new concept that we could bring into the U.S, and it’s something new to Ardmore,” Li said.
Restaurant owner, Sam Li is photographed at OGYU Japanese BBQ restaurant on Tuesday, July, 7, 2026 in Ardmore. His new restaurant offers a modern Japanese steakhouse experience with tabletop cooking, adding to Ardmore’s growing portfolio of restaurants.
Bringing a new concept to customers has meant lots of education, both for OGYU’s staff and its customers, who need to learn how to operate the tabletop grills and cook pieces of Wagyu to perfection. OGYU is an interactive experience, in addition to a meal, with flashy dry ice presentations and the challenge — and excitement — of grilling your own dinner in the middle of the table.
The main difference in the tiers is the quality of the meat, Li said. The introductory tier is best for diners who “just want to experience and explore what yakiniku is about.” The Diamond tier will be “the ultimate experience.”
OGYU Japanese BBQ restaurant is shown on Tuesday, July, 7, 2026 in Ardmore. The new restaurant by Sam Li offers a modern Japanese steakhouse experience with tabletop cooking, adding to Ardmore’s growing portfolio of restaurants.
Beyond what goes on the grill, OGYU offers a menu of à la carte dishes, including spicy kani salad ($9.95), wagyu truffle fried rice ($21.95), wasabi lobster tempura ($19.95), butter cheese corn ($9.95), and various hand rolls and sashimi. Li describes the à la carte menu as inspired by Japanese street food.
OGYU is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
SEPTA is trading Glenside Regional Rail riders three daytime trains for new off-peak options, more train cars, and new schedules aimed at reducing congestion between Glenside and Wayne Junction.
The Warminster Line, which runs through southeastern Montgomery County, is the only Regional Rail line losing multiple trains under systemwide changes that began on July 5 to make trains more consistent and prevent delays.
The new schedule cuts two weekday trains that left Glenside at 8:40 a.m. and 2:47 p.m. for Center City, and one weekday train that left Suburban Station at 4:53 p.m. toward Warminster.
The morning train cut leaves a 27-minute gap in service to Center City from Glenside, while the afternoon cuts each add five minutes or less to the wait for the next train.
SEPTA also added a train to the Warminster Line that leaves Suburban Station at 11:35 p.m. on weekdays, and a train on the West Trenton Line that leaves Suburban Station at 5:28 a.m.
The late-night train will serve airport workers, and the dawn departure is convenient for people who commute into the suburbs, SEPTA spokesperson Kelly Greene said.
The changes SEPTA made across the commuter rail system this week are aimed at improving consistency and reliability, the agency said.
“As SEPTA continues to increase the number of train cars available for service, trains will be longer and provide more space for riders,” officials wrote in a statement.
Between Wayne Junction and Glenside, SEPTA said, it hopes the new schedule will help “prevent trains from bunching together, which can cause delays.”
The 8:40 a.m. train from Glenside was cut to reduce congestion, Greene said, and had the lowest ridership of the trains running around that time.
Other changes affecting the Abington area include new departure times for some trains on the Lansdale/Doylestown, Warminster, and West Trenton Lines.
SEPTA put out a full list last month of what is changing on each line, along with updated train schedules.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
When Jared Adkins gets interested in something, he goes all in. That’s how he ended up learning about distilling, opening Bluebird Distilling in Phoenixville roughly a decade ago. Then, he became infatuated with pizza dough.
It’s led to an expansion of the business: Bluebird Distilling & Dough House, which will open its doors officially on Tuesday.
The $2.2 million renovation adds a whole new component to the cocktail bar, which will now offer a “neo-Neapolitan” — a modern, Americanized take on the classic — pizzeria and restaurant. Changes also haveexpanded the bar itself, added to the dining room, and enhanced the retail and bottle shop.
Adding food was something Adkins, Bluebird’s owner and master distiller, didn’t initially anticipate when they opened the distillery in 2015. But in 2022, he started to get the itch. He considered a full-scale restaurant, and began the early planning for one. But then there was just something about pizza dough that caught his attention.
He signed himself up for pizza school, and spent three days in Washington, D.C., learning from chefs about the art of pizza making.
“There was like a light bulb that went off,” he said. “We’re already doing so much fermenting that just seemed the natural next step to get into dough making.”
Bluebird Distilling founder and master distiller Jared Adkins. The expansion has been a year in the making, a longer consideration for Adkins.
As he threw himself into dough-making a few years ago, he connected with pizzaiolo Gregorio Fierro to learn the basics. That helped get his vision off the ground, as he began designing what the kitchen would look like.
DevonMigeot is joining as executive chef to bring the menu to fruition every night. Migeot spent roughly a decade working as sous chef at Philadelphia’s Zahav and Laser Wolf, plus Tresini in Ambler, and as chef du cuisine at Rosalie in Wayne.
Together, they’ll offer pizza made with 100% Petra stone-ground Italian flour, milled from 100% Italian wheat, with no preservatives or additives. The business will have house-baked breads, plus shareable small plates. Offerings will include ricotta gnudi with sweet corn, brown butter, and scallions; meatballs with beef, pork, gravy, and Parmesan; beets and burrata; chicory salad; a snacking plate of meats and cheeses; and more.
The decision to expand into food comes at a particularly salient time, Adkins said. The industry as a whole has been seeing a decrease in people drinking.
“It’s kind of perfect timing that it’s going to fill a niche where maybe people aren’t coming in solely just for drinks anymore as much, but now [we’re] giving another artisan aspect of having pizza, or something that we’re really putting a lot of time in, to craft the best,” he said.
A look at the expanded cocktail bar, part of the distillery’s larger renovation.
The distillery will still, of course, honor its roots with its spirits and cocktails. It’ll feature old favorites, such as Bluebird (a vodka, blueberry, lime, and mint mix) and the Phoenixville Old Fashioned.
But new additions will join too. Customers can try the Huntsman, which will feature French cigar bourbon, morel-infused vermouth, tobacco bitters, and stave smoke; or the Rum Ham, a pancetta fat-washed Bluebird dark rum along with burnt pineapple syrup, and tiki bitters; or Off the Vine, a “garden-inspired” martini composed of Juniperus Gin, basil, lemon, agave nectar, Aleppo pepper, and “clarified” tomato.
The renovation also came with some aesthetic changes. In 2015, they led with a steampunk vibe, Adkins said. They refreshed the interior, using a Japanese-style charred wood that resembles the inside of a barrel.
A transformed Bluebird Distilling will open July 7 after a $2.2 million renovation has expanded founder Jared Adkins’ vision. The space adds a new neo-Neapolitan pizzeria and restaurant, plus a reimagined cocktail bar, dining room, and retail and bottle shop.
The outside patio is now enclosed, featuring a “huge” rectangular bar, which can seat up to 30 people. Adkins described the bar area as light and airy, where it feels communal and social. It feels more “upper casual” than “too-serious speakeasy.” Surrounded by windows, it feels like you’re sitting on the street, in the middle of the action, he said.
When customers are ready for dinner, they can head back to the lounge, which curates a masculine, Western style.
And the kitchen, where customers get to enjoy watching the whole process unfold, embraces that steampunk essence with barrels hanging from the ceiling.
“I feel like as you walk through the area, you’re getting two or three different experiences all at once,” he said.
The bar was open through renovations, but operating with 50% of the facility for the last seven or so months, and maintaining about 80% of their normal crowds. It took some ingenuity, he said.
As they look at the new chapter, it feels like starting all over again, he said.
“I think it fills a gap on one side for us there, of now we have something else that we can present to our customers for an overall experience,” he said. “That’s what we’re going for the most. We’re giving our cocktail experience, our spirits experience, and now a dough side of it.”
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
We knew that a list of 76 iconic Philadelphia foods would leave something out. It did. After hearing from readers — and revisiting a few of our own debates — we had to mention six items that deserve a place in the city’s culinary canon. They don’t replace the original 76; they just expand the conversation.
The ‘combo’: Hot dog and fishcake on a roll
The hot dog-fish cake combo topped with pepper hash at Lenny’s Hot Dogs in Feasterville.
Long before Philadelphia claimed the cheesesteak as its signature sandwich, another pairing drew a following: the hot dog and fishcake combo. Culinary historians generally agree that Abe Levis (rhymes with “crevice”) created it in 1895 by pressing a fried fish cake atop a grilled frank on the same bun at his luncheonette on Sixth Street near Lombard.
Instant surf-and-turf!
Levis also created Champ Cherry, the bright-red, cider-like soda that became the combo’s traditional companion. The Old Original Levis shop changed hands several times, spawned a few short-lived offshoots, and finally closed in 1992 under owner Elliott Hirsh, who later revived Levis as a store in Abington from 2012 to 2017 while marketing Champ Cherry in cans.
But tastes have changed and the brands are moribund, as Hirsh, now 80, acknowledged: “I’ve been actively trying to find someone that wants to take it over. And not even sell it. Just take it over. I’d hate to die and take it with me, but that’s what we’re going to do.”
The hot dog-fishcake combo, at least, survives. Just after World War II, Levis rival Lenny’s Hot Dogs also sold them from a stand nearby at Fifth and Passyunk.
Lenny’s secret sauce was the pepper hash — a sweet-and-sour relish of cabbage and bell peppers that cuts through the richness of the dish— created by owner Lenny Kravitz’s mother, Ida.
Kravitz expanded Lenny’s to several locations from Mount Airy to Margate, N.J. In the 1980s, he sold his final shop, at 6620 Castor Ave. in the Northeast, to Wayne Knapp. Kravitz died in 1998.
Hawk Krall’s illustration of the “surf ’n turf” Philly combo (fishcake and frank) was originally done for SeriousEats.com.
Knapp later relocated Lenny’s to Feasterville. That shop as well as Johnny Hot’s, John Danze Jr.’s truck stop on Delaware Avenue in Fishtown, are among the few standard-bearers of this classic. Be sure to add a squirt of yellow mustard and a smattering of diced onions, as illustrator Hawk Krall suggested in his 2009 poster print of the sandwich.
Chicken salad and oysters
Fried oysters with chicken salad from Oyster House.
As for another curious combo, only in Philadelphia would someone look at cool, creamy chicken salad and crunchy fried oysters and think, “Of course those belong together.”
The unlikely pairing has been a local specialty for well over a century, dating to the city’s grand oyster houses, hotels, and taverns in the late 1800s. One popular explanation of its origin holds that tavern keepers paired cheap, plentiful oysters with more expensive chicken to stretch a serving. Food historian William Woys Weaver has noted that Philadelphia’s finest hotels elevated the dish, serving chicken salad dressed with tarragon mayonnaise and encircled by crisp fried oysters. More humble versions turned up in neighborhood brew houses and lunch counters across the city.
Similar dishes appeared in New York, Baltimore, and Boston, and some historians believe that Philadelphia’s influential Black catering families helped popularize the combination. What is certain is that chicken salad and oysters were served at an organizing meeting of Philadelphia’s Union League in 1862.
The combo’s popularity has ebbed in recent years, and its primary home is now Oyster House near Rittenhouse Square, whose family ownership dates back nearly 80 years.
Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter
Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter, founded in 1972, is still available on grocery shelves.
Life was all Skippy and Jif in the early 1970s when a Philadelphia music teacher decided to grind peanuts in his kitchen because he couldn’t find peanut butter that tasted the way he remembered.
Richard Marcus was a conductor, pianist, radio host, and founder of the Society Hill School of Music & Art. Frustrated by the sweetened, homogenized spreads that dominated grocery shelves, he bought five pounds of peanuts at Reading Terminal Market, roasted them, and blitzed them in his blender. The result was nothing more than peanuts — no sugar, salt, or oils.
Friends loved it. By 1972, they convinced him to package it. Marcus produced an initial run of about 144 jars, selling them through Philadelphia delis and health-food stores. He called it Crazy Richard’s, his wink to skeptics who thought he was nuts for marketing a peanut butter that separated naturally and required stirring.
Word of mouth did the rest. Marcus eventually gave up his music school to run the business full time, first contracting production in Conshohocken before opening plants in Pennsauken and later Bellmawr. At its peak under his ownership, Crazy Richard’s sold about 750,000 jars a year throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and by mail. Marcus insisted that there was no secret recipe: “It’s just ground peanuts.”
In 1991, Ohio’s Krema Nut Co. bought Crazy Richard’s and kept Marcus’ one-ingredient recipe intact. Today, 12 years after his death, the brand is sold nationwide. The “Crazy Richard” on the label is still the Philadelphia musician who proved that sometimes the simplest ideas stick.
Fishtown Iced Tea
Canned Fishtown Iced Tea is poured by Interstate Drafthouse co-owner Mike McCloskey into a custom-made ceramic carton.
Long Island has its iced tea. Why shouldn’t Fishtown? Created in 2013 at Interstate Drafthouse on Palmer Street, Fishtown Iced Tea spikes a 16-ounce carton of Arctic Splash iced tea with a shot of Jim Beam bourbon, turning a childhood lunchbox staple into an adult version of the sugary, dangerously smooth cocktail. Its roots are distinctly regional. Besides milk, Lehigh Valley Dairy, Wawa, Swiss Farms, and Turkey Hill also sold iced tea in pint cartons that generations of Philadelphians grew up drinking.
During the pandemic, when Pennsylvania temporarily allowed to-go cocktails, Interstate sold enough Fishtown Iced Tea to keep the bar afloat. In 2022, the popularity inspired a canned version from Rectified Spirits, made with vodka, rum, tequila, and triple sec instead of bourbon.
In a twist, the ready-to-drink cocktail debuted just as Lehigh Valley discontinued Arctic Splash cartons, ending an era for the drink that inspired it.
Edamame dumplings from Buddakan
The edamame dumplings at Buddakan.
One of Buddakan’s signature dishes is the edamame dumpling, filled with mashed soybeans and served in a truffled Sauternes-shallot broth. Michael Schulson, then chef de cuisine at Stephen Starr’s Old City destination, came up with the idea in 2000 while developing the menu for Starr’s next project, Pod, whose opening in University City was six months away. “Every dish I made, Stephen would say, ‘We’re putting this on the menu at Buddakan,’” Schulson said. “I’d say, ‘What about Pod?’”
The original version was an edamame ravioli, featuring a yellow pasta wrapper in a caramelized Sauternes-shallot broth, transforming what was then an unfamiliar ingredient to many American diners — young Japanese soybeans — into one of Buddakan’s signature dishes. (It made it onto Pod’s menu, too.) When Buddakan New York opened in 2006 with Schulson leading the kitchen, the ravioli evolved into the translucent har gow-style dumpling that has since become its best-known form, before it later arrived on the menu in Philadelphia. It’s still a bestseller.
After leaving Starr, Schulson adapted the concept at his restaurant Sampan, serving edamame dumplings in a caramelized shallot and sake broth, and later at Double Knot with truffles.
Cheesesteak egg rolls
The cheesesteak egg roll from Continental Mid-town.
Stuff steak and cheese into an egg-roll wrapper, deep-fry it, and you’ve got one of Philadelphia’s signature mashups: the cheesesteak egg roll.
They’re everywhere now, from neighborhood pubs to white-tablecloth steakhouses, and go by “spring rolls” at some places, but their rise can be traced to two nearly simultaneous Philadelphia stories in the mid-1990s.
One unfolded at the old Four Seasons Hotel on the Parkway. Former chef David Jansen said that after preparing a banquet for the New York Rangers in 1994 or 1995, prep cook Mui Lim put leftover cheesesteak filling into spring roll wrappers and fried them as a snack for the kitchen crew. They went on the menu soon after at the hotel’s Swann Lounge. Today’s Four Seasons Philadelphia, now at the Comcast Technology Center, serves wagyu cheesesteak spring rolls with sweet-and-spicy pepper relish.
The other story played out in Old City, where the novelty became a menu staple at the Starr-owned Continental. In 1996, Starr hired Sam “Chef Sammy D” DeMarco to develop dishes for the year-old restaurant. DeMarco already served a Philly cheesesteak dumpling at First, his New York restaurant, but Starr wanted something original.
DeMarco turned the dumpling into a cheesesteak spring roll. “It was taking a classic, nostalgic American snack and presenting it in a fresh way,” said DeMarco, now executive chef at Bungalows Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Like the old Buzz Aldrin cocktail, the roll became a classic. Starr said Continental Mid-town, near Rittenhouse Square, now sells 500 a week.
From the Continental, the idea spread rapidly. Davio’s owner Steve DiFillippo was joining staff for a preshift meal at his former Center City Philadelphia location shortly after it opened in 1999 when chef David Boyle served cheesesteak egg rolls that his wife had made at home. DiFillippo insisted that they be added to the bar menu, overruling managers who felt that they were too déclassé for a posh steakhouse. The Boston-based Davio’s turned the line into a frozen-food item, selling millions through supermarkets and QVC until rising beef prices during the pandemic made them impractical, DiFillippo said. They’re still on the restaurant menus in King of Prussia and elsewhere.
Though DiFillippo copyrighted the name “Philly Cheese Steak Spring Rolls” in 2002, “I’m not going to claim I invented anything,” he said. “But I was the first one to take them into stores and really commercialize them.”
This Fourth of July will be unlike any in recent memory. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Philadelphia and the surrounding region are packed with celebrations — and fireworks displays. From the city and suburbs to South Jersey and the Shore, there are dozens of opportunities to catch a show.
Whether you’re staying in Philadelphia, heading to the suburbs, or spending the holiday down the Shore, here’s where to find Fourth of July fireworks across the region.
Wawa Welcome America: 🕙 July 4, 5 p.m. 📍Christina Aguilera and Philadelphia native Jill Scott headline a concert followed by fireworks, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pa., 19130, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
Conshohocken Fireworks Display: 🕙 July 3, 9:15 p.m., 📍The fireworks will take place at Sutcliffe Park, but the borough is closing the park and surrounding areas to the public due to the size of the display. (They advise you to watch the show from another vantage point in town.), 🌐 conshohockenpa.gov
Grocery Outlet bargain market is closing dozens of stores nationwide, including eight in the Philadelphia area.
The closures were first referenced earlier this week in the company’s earnings report. The California-based grocer recorded an operating loss of $221.7 million last year, much of which it attributed to “certain underperforming stores” that will now close.
These include five Grocery Outlets in South Jersey, two in Philadelphia, and one in Kennett Square, according to real estate marketing released Thursday.
A company spokesperson did not return a request for comment about when the stores would close.
The impacted Philly-area stores are located at:
4004 U.S. Route 130, Delran
401 Harmony Rd., Gibbstown
345 Scarlet Rd., Kennett Square
190 Hamilton Commons Dr., Mays Landing
2017 W. Oregon Ave., Philadelphia
2524 Welsh Rd., Philadelphia
3174 U.S. Route 9 S., Suite 5, Rio Grande
677 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd., Sicklerville
People shop at a Grocery Outlet in Philadelphia in 2022.
After the closures, the chain will still have several locations in the city, collar counties, and South Jersey.
Grocery Outlet calls itself an “extreme value retailer.” It was founded in 1946, and has expanded from 128 stores to 570 stores over the past two decades. Many locations are operated by entrepreneurs who live nearby.
“Consumer pressure intensified, federally funded benefits were delayed, and competition grew more promotional in the fourth quarter,” Potter said in a statement. “In response, we have begun to sharpen our focus on what matters most: delivering clearer value and a better in-store experience.”
Customers and employees inside a Grocery Outlet in Philadelphia in 2023.
A Wakefern spokesperson said the company planned to refocus on its flagship stores in South Philadelphia and Rittenhouse, as well as its growing online business. The move, spokesperson Maureen Gillespie said, would be “a positive reset that allows us to preserve and elevate the in‑store tradition while growing the brand’s reach in meaningful new ways.”
An employee of Radnor Middle School was arrested Thursday morning and charged with sexually assaulting a child in Texas, authorities say.
Michael Robinson, 43, was taken into custody by U.S. marshals and Radnor police a block from the Wayne middle school around 7:30 a.m., according to a spokesperson for the marshals service.
Robinson is a paraprofessional at Radnor Middle School, law enforcement officials said. He was wanted by Texas authorities in connection with the assault, which officials said occurred in 2024 after Robinson met the victim online.
A spokesperson for the Radnor Township School District said that it is cooperating with law enforcement and that it has not received information indicating that Robinson behaved inappropriately with Radnor students.
“Parents of the limited number of children to whom the employee was assigned were contacted by the administration immediately,” the spokesperson said, adding that Robinson has been placed on leave amid the investigation into his behavior.
Law enforcement officials said Robinson traveled to Tyler, Texas, to meet the victim, whom he assaulted over the course of a weekend.
He was indicted by prosecutors in Smith County, Texas, in December and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child under 15 years old.
Robinson is being held at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County, awaiting extradition to Texas.
But six years later, some sprawling campuses in suburbs like Horsham, Plymouth Meeting, and Wayne have soaring vacancies — andthere are only a couple suburban conversions underway.
Developers agree that the primary challenge is the buildings themselves, which have more difficult floor plans for residential development than their urban counterparts, making demolition easier than conversion in many cases.
“Transforming an office building tucked inside a suburban office park is a completely different equation than converting a building on Walnut Street steps from Rittenhouse Square,” said Sarah Maginnis, executive director of the Philadelphia chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. “Location, context, and building design all matter a lot.”
The lack of suburban office redevelopment is partly due to the fact that many of the highest-vacancy buildings are in remote, less desirable corners of the region. The patchwork quilt of hyperlocal zoning regulations across dozens of municipalities is a challenge, too, as builders have to negotiate with officials on almost every project.
“A lot of townships are fighting residential development because it comes with burdens on the school systems. Office buildings don’t do that,” said Glenn Blumenfeld, principal with Tactix Real Estate Advisors. “Zoning is more liberal in the cities [which is why residential conversion] has not come to the suburbs.”
Architectural challenges of conversion
Most suburban office buildings date to an era when office and residential structures began to look very different from each other.
When office work began to move into undeveloped land surrounding cities in the mid-20th century, developers generally built out instead of up, taking advantage of the abundant space. Almost everyone commuted by car, so vast parking lots were required.
Suburban office buildings often have a lot of dark interior space. The windows that do exist mostly cannot be opened because of ubiquitous air-conditioning. The parking lots that wreath the buildings make for unsightly and dull vistas.
In large rectangular glass buildings, residential conversion would entail what longtime suburban developer Eli Kahn calls “bowling-alley-shaped apartments … that just don’t work.”
“In the city, a 30-story office tower doesn’t look a whole lot different from an apartment building,” said Kahn, president of E. Kahn Development Corp.
One of the eight two-story buildings at 435 Devon Park Dr. that have been used as offices and are being turned into apartments.
An exceptional suburban conversion
The redevelopment of an eight-building office complex at 435 Devon Park Dr. in Chester County’s Tredyffrin Township is one of the only suburban office-to-residential conversions underway right now.
Notably, none of its former office structures are big glass rectangles.
“This just happened to be perfect for conversion,” said Mark Thomson, founder of Love Communities, which is developing the project in partnership with E. Kahn Development Corp. and Triple Crown Corp.
“It’s going to be the largest garden-style suburban conversion in the whole Northeast, maybe even a bigger area than that,” Thomson said.
Kahn also is part of the team behind the conversion of 435 Devon Dr., and he developed the complex when it was built in the 1980s.
This office park broke from the standard big glass box model of suburban offices and instead offered two-story, L-shaped buildings with brick facades and windowsthat open.
That makes conversion cheaper, too. To make those big box buildings livable, the glass facade would need to be torn off and windows installed that actually open.
“The most expensive part of construction is the windows,” Thomson said. “If we had to do that, it would probably make this not economically feasible.”
The project is also able to move forward because it accords with the goals of local political leadership, who are wary of family-size apartments.
The 162-unit office-to-residential project will be largely composed of studio and one-bedroom apartments in an attempt to appease concerns about strains on the school district and to produce unsubsidized affordable housing in this wealthy township.
Zoning rules everything
In many suburbs, building apartments, townhouses, and other more modestly scaled housing is often not allowed by zoning laws. Office parks are usually zoned to exclude residential development.
That’s a sharp contrast with Philadelphia, which has few barriers to office-to-residential conversion in Center City, and a citywide10-year property tax abatement is available for building renovations. Wilmington also offers a variety of incentives.
In Tredyffrin, officials were opposed to the idea of either very high density apartments — at almost 10 acres, the site could support hundreds of units — or new single-family homes.
So to make 435 Devon Park Dr. work, the developers knew they couldn’t demolish the buildings and construct new homes.
The entrance to 435 Devon Park Dr. with the brick office buildings, which are planned to be converted to residential in the background.
Instead, the developers pitched the conversion not as luxury apartments, but as affordable homes for nurses, teachers, and other middle-income workers in Tredyffrin. They also plan to convert some parking lots into green space for residents.
The units can be priced more affordably because of the relatively small scope of the conversion and because the developers essentially purchased the campus for its land value.
Working in partnership with Triple Crown Corp. also helps because the company has in-house contractors and architects.
The paucity of multi-bedroom units lowers rental costs, too, and assuages fears about overburdening schools.
“None of these communities have made it easy like Philadelphia, because they’re all their own fiefdoms,” Kahn said. “But if you make the right argument and you show them how it’ll benefit them financially, they generally come around.”
The East Whiteland office building at 52 Swedesford Rd., which is slated by TriPoint Properties for demolition and replacement with apartments.
The future of (some) suburban offices
There are few other conversion projectsunderway in Philadelphia’s suburbs.
Keystone Property Group has a more traditional office-to-apartment tower in the works at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. The Parkview Tower next to the Valley Forge casino was consideredfor conversion last year. The Buccini Pollin Group is weighing a conversion project at BNY Mellon’s old headquarters in Bellevue State Park, north of Wilmington, and is looking at opportunities in the Pennsylvania suburbs.
But it is more common for developers to consider demolishing old office buildings to make way for something new.
In Chester County’s East Whiteland Township, which contains the Great Valley Corporate Center, office-to-residential conversion proposals have met a chilly reception.
“The proposals to rezone large vacant office buildings for direct conversion to apartments were really viewed negatively,” said Scott Lambert, chairman of the East Whiteland Township Board of Supervisors. The plans were seen as “short-term fixes that created long-term challenges.”
An overhead rendering of the 250-unit apartment project that will replace an old office building at 52 Swedesford Rd.
East Whiteland’s government looked more kindly on Tripoint Properties’ proposal to demolish a standalone office building at 52 Swedesford Rd. — outside the corporate center — and replace it with 250 apartments.
The vacant office building is surrounded by four-lane roadways, which eased congestion concern. Developers also proposed mostly small apartments, with 30 rented for below market rate, which helped earn support from the township.
“On the school side, they were OK with limiting the units to either one- or two-bedroom apartments,” Lambert said. “We would like to be in a position to limit the number of three-bedroom apartments in the township because of the impact it has on schools.”
But some real estate experts say eventually, municipalities will need to replace the tax revenue lost from dead office buildings.
“The centerpiece of tax bases in commercial areas has been office space,” Kahn said. “If the tax base goes down, and they can’t pay for the schools, who gets the burden? A couple years of 30% property tax increases on your constituents, you’re going to get voted out of office real quick.”
This week in Philly music features gospel-soul great Mavis Staples in Phoenixville, Philly favorites Florry and Sheer Mag returning to town, Culture Club in Atlantic City, and the Everyone Orchestra and zydeco scion C.J. Chenier on the Main Line.
Wednesday, Feb. 25
Homegrown Live
This is the South Jersey edition of the free Homegrown Live concert series presented by WXPN-FM (88.5). The three-act bill is topped by Linwood quartet Fat Mezz, who blends classic rock influences with a touch of jazz. The band’s name was inspired by late clarinet player and civil rights advocate Milton Mezzrow. Nicoletta Giuliani fronts Ocean City’s Polaroid Fade, whose beguiling full-length debut, Chaos Into Poetry, displays an affection for jangly 1990s bands like the Smiths and Sundays. The band’s sound meshes nicely with Atlantic County quartet Te Vista, whose dreamy power pop recalls melodic guitar bands Nada Surf and Gin Blossoms. 7:30 p.m., The Lounge at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., xpn.org
Thursday, Feb. 26
Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples’ place in music history has long been secure. Her family band, the Staple Singers, marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Ling Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and her powerful vocals anchored counterculture-era hits like “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.”
But the 86-year-old national treasure’s creative output has continued and even increased in recent years with the Chicagoan recording a series of albums with Jeff Tweedy and Ben Harper. Her newest is the soulful and deeply moving collection Sad and Beautiful World, which was produced by Brad Cook and includes covers of Frank Ocean, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Curtis Mayfield.
The title cut is by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. Another new song, “Human Mind,” is written by Allison Russell and Hozier. Massachusetts singer-guitarist Kimaya Diggs opens. 8 p.m., Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville, ColonialTheatre.com
Blackwater Holylight play Johnny Brenda’s on Thursday. The California band’s new album is “Not Here Not Gone.”
Blackwater Holylight
Portland, Ore.-born and now Los Angeles-based doom metal-meets-shoegaze heavy rock band Blackwater Holylight is touring behind its bruising fourth album Not Here Not Gone. The Sunny Faris-fronted band will be joined by like-minded Austin, Texas, trio Glassing and Philly’s Cigarettes for Breakfast. 8 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com
Friday, Feb. 27
The Record Company & Jontavious Willis
Los Angeles blues rock trio the Record Company is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its 2016 breakthrough album, Give It Back to You. Make sure to arrive on time for Jontavious Willis, the country blues singer and guitarist whose sound is shaped by regional predecessors like Blind Willie McTell. 8 p.m., Union Transfer, 1016 Spring Garden St., utphilly.com
Marshall Allen + John Morgan Kimock
The hardest-working centenarian in showbiz, Sun Ra Arkestra leader Marshall Allen, makes his way to Bucks County for this noteworthy show in Henry Chapman Mercer’s Moravian Pottery and TileWorks building in Doylestown. Drummer John Morgan Kimock will also perform. The show is part of the Tileworks’ monthly “A Night of Song” series. 6:30 p.m., Tileworks of Bucks County, 130 E. Swamp Road, Doylestown, thetileworks.org
Everyone Orchestra
Matt Butler conducts two nights of improvised music from a cast of leading musicians from the jam band world, including Dave Matthews’ associate Tim Reynolds, Aron Magner of Disco Biscuits, Rob Mercurio of Galactic, and Camden trumpeter Arnetta Johnson, who has toured with Beyoncé. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Ardmore Ave., ardmoremusichall.com
Boy George and Culture Club
Boy George and original Culture Club members Roy Hay and Mikey Craig are back together for a 2026 tour. The British New Wave-era band, which scored hits with “Karma Chameleon” and “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya,” is playing two nights in the region. 8 p.m. Friday, Borgata Event Center, One Borgata Way, Atlantic City, borgata.mgmresorts.com, and 8 p.m. Saturday, Wind Creek Event Center, 77 Wind Creek Blvd., Bethlehem, windcreekeventcenter.com
Philadelphia band Sheer Mag plays Johnny Brenda’s on Sunday. Left to right: Tina Halladay, Kyle Seely, Matt Palmer, and Hart Seely.
Sunday, March 1
Sheer Mag
Mighty Philly foursome Sheer Mag — most recently heard from on its 2024 album Playing Favorites, released on Jack White’s Third Man Records label — tops a four-band bill. The similarly hard-hitting acts opening are Dirty Fences, Nancy, and the Smarthearts. 8 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com.
C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band
Zydeco accordionist C.J. Chenier has spent his life carrying on the legacy of his father, Creole musician Clifton Chenier. That legacy got a welcome boost with 2025’s A Tribute to the King of Zydeco, featuring Chenier, Geno Delafose, the Rolling Stones, and Taj Mahal, winning a Grammy earlier this month. Rev Chris and Les Garçons Crasseux open. 7 p.m., 118 North, 118 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne, 118NorthWayne.com.
C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band at 118 North in 2024. The zydeco accordion player and band leader returns to the Wayne venue on Sunday.
Monday, March 2
The Ike Reilly Assassination
Pugnacious rock and roll troubadour and Sirius/XM satellite radio host Ike Reilly has released 12 albums since his 2001 debut, Salesmen and Racists. He’s also the star of the documentary Don’t Turn Your Back on Friday Night, which was produced by Tom Morello, whom he shared a bill with last month at the anti-ICE benefit show in Minneapolis. It’s the same where Morello brought onstage Bruce Springsteen, who has added Morello to the E Street Band for his upcoming tour. Another cool booking at Nikki Lopez. 7 p.m., Nikki Lopez, 304 South St., @nikkilopezphilly on Instagram.
Chicago indie band Ratboys play the First Unitarian Church on Tuesday with Florry.
Tuesday, March 3
Ratboys & Florry
A double bill headlined by Ratboys, the Chicago quartet fronted by Julia Steiner and founded in 2010. The band hit its stride with 2023’s The Window. It keeps up its winning streak on the new twangy, Neil Young-ish Singin’ to an Empty Chair, produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla. It is well-matched with Florry, the Philly-bred loose-limbed collective led by Francie Medosch, whose 2025 Sounds Like… landed on this publication’s best albums of the year list.8 p.m., First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., r5productions.com.
Fred Mann, 75, formerly of Wayne, retired vice president of communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, former vice president of national programming at Knight Ridder Digital and assistant managing editor at The Inquirer, freelance reporter, mentor to many, onetime baker, and longtime pickup baseball player, died Friday, Feb. 13, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at Woodridge Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Berlin, Vt.
Mr. Mann was many things to many people all the time. He advocated for hundreds of healthcare-related philanthropic projects for the Princeton-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and, as vice president of communications, served as its liaison with the media and public from 2006 to his retirement in 2019. “Health is more than just going to the doctor or staying out of the hospital,” he told The Inquirer in 2016. “Health is reflected in everything we do.”
At The Inquirer from 1983 to 2006, Mr. Mann was features editor, editor of the Sunday magazine, assistant managing editor, and the first general manager of Philly.com, now Inquirer.com. He championed women’s ascension in the newsroom and established online standards and practices in the 1990s that remain relevant in today’s digital landscape.
“Fred was the best boss I ever had,” said Avery Rome, who succeeded him as editor of the Sunday magazine. “Working for him was a team effort and a pleasure. He readily gave credit to other people and appreciated their input.”
Mr. Mann (right) and Inquirer colleague Art Carey both wore bow ties on this day.
Other former colleagues called Mr. Mann a “talent magnet” and “one of a kind” on Facebook. His son Ted said: “He was good at taking leaps. He was bold, always looking for something different.”
In a 2006 letter of recommendation for a former colleague, Mr. Mann said: “I have learned that hiring the right people is probably the single most important accomplishment an executive can make. Find great talent, nurture it, let it bloom, and then try to keep it. That was my strategy. And I must say, it was a recipe that worked and brought a great deal of reflected glory and success to me personally.”
As editor of The Inquirer’s Sunday magazine from 1986 to 1992, Mr. Mann penned a weekly message to readers on Page 2. In November 1986, he wrote about the differences in celebrating Thanksgiving in California as a boy and in Philadelphia as an adult. “Thanksgiving was made for crispness,” he said, “for changing seasons, for wood stoves. … It’s the day that makes the hassles of life back East all worthwhile.”
He wrote his farewell Sunday magazine column on Jan. 19, 1992, and praised his staff for “offering important, in-depth stories that teach and inform our readers, and mixing in others that entertain and delight. … I think we’ve taught. I hope we’ve delighted a few times.”
Mr. Mann spent a lot of time on baseball fields.
He worked on several Pulitzer Prize-winning projects at The Inquirer and edited its annual fall fashion supplement as features editor. In 1995, he started managing what was then Philly.com and Knight Ridder’s national innovations in online publishing.
Former Inquirer colleagues noted his “smile and easy manner,” “integrity and good judgment,” and “easy grace, puckish humor, and boundless devotion to family and friends” in Facebook tributes. Longtime friend and colleague Dick Polman said: “He had great story instincts and could sell the stories to reporters. He was good at managing up and down.”
Former Inquirer writer Joe Logan called him “a prime example of everything that was right and good and rewarding about working at The Inquirer during those years.”
Before The Inquirer, Mr. Mann spent three years as national editor and opinion editor at the Hartford Courant. In the mid-1970s, he worked for the Day in New London, Conn., cofounded the California News Bureau, and sold stories from Los Angeles, San Diego, and elsewhere to The Inquirer, the Courant, and other newspapers around the country.
Mr. Mann and his daughter, Cassie, watched the Phillies in World Series games together.
He also wrote freelance articles for Time magazine and was press secretary for Connecticut Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. for three years. Later, he was a founding board member of the Online News Association, onetime president of the Sunday Magazine Editors Association, and on boards of the Communications Network, the Internet Business Alliance, and other groups.
He bounced around the world for a few years after graduating from Stanford University in 1972 and even opened a bakery with friends in Connecticut. He played third base in dozens of Sunday morning slow-pitch baseball games over the years and won a league championship with the Pen and Pencil Club softball team in the early 1980s.
“I don’t know why he loved baseball so much,” said his son Jason. “But I know I love it because of him.”
Frederick Gillespie Mann was born Nov. 28, 1950, in Yonkers, N.Y. His father was Delbert Mann, an Oscar-winning TV and film director, and the family moved to Los Angeles when Mr. Mann was young.
Mr. Mann (rear, second from left) won a softball championship with the Pen and Pencil Club team in the early 1980s.
He delivered newspapers, graduated from Beverly Hills High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree at Stanford. He married Robin Layton, and they had sons Ted, Jason, and Lindsay and a daughter, Cassie.
After a divorce, he married Nicole O’Neill in 1994, and welcomed her children, Andy, Hilary, and Brette, and their children into his family. He and his wife lived in Wayne before moving to Greensboro, Vt., in 2019.
Mr. Mann enjoyed hikes in the woods with his dogs, card games and board games with family and friends, reading about history, and touch football games on Thanksgiving. He listened to the Beatles and knew every word to the soundtrack of My Fair Lady.
He reveled in his “long days of glorious raking” in Rosemont and Wayne, and said in a 1989 column: “When all you’ve known is palm trees, piling up tons of autumn foliage is more blessing than burden.”
He coached Little League baseball players, followed the Boston Red Sox closely, and attended memorable Phillies games with his children. On many Monday afternoons, he impressed teammates and opponents alike with his corner jump shots in basketball games at the Philadelphia Athletic Club.
Mr. Mann and his son Lindsay enjoyed time in the countryside.
“He was fun and funny,” his daughter said, “loved and loving.”
Former Inquirer managing editor Butch Ward said on Facebook: “Fred Mann brightened every room he entered.” Former Inquirer columnist Steve Lopez said: “The very thought of Fred puts a smile on my face.”
In addition to his wife, children, and former wife, Mr. Mann is survived by grandchildren, two brothers, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.
A memorial service is to be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, April 4, at Haverford Friends Meeting, 855 Buck Lane, Haverford, Pa. 19041. A reception is to follow from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Pullman Restaurant, 39 Morris Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010.
Donations in his name may be made to the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, 100 S. Independence Mall West, Suite 600, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106.
Even in sad times, said longtime friend Dick Polman, Mr. Mann shared his “irrepressible wit.”
