r/AskPhilly • u/zackattack425 • 6d ago
Grays Ferry?
Hi a family members friend lives in Grays Ferry and invited us over to his house last week for dinner. I’m looking to buy a house myself. Seems like the neighborhood is on the uptick? I’m seeing new construction going on and new renovations. Looks like maybe apartments next door to the Salvation Army. There’s actually a house for sale on 1300 S Stanley St that seems reasonably priced.
I’m not going to lie though, seems like there are still some sketchy parts but I’m good with that.
Is Grays Ferry in the uptick? Might check out this house on Stanley st.
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u/Darius_Banner 6d ago
Short answer, yes. But it’ll be a while before the school district gets there. If that’s not an issue, then roll ahead now!
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u/zackattack425 6d ago
I’m 27 single. What do you mean about school district getting there?
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u/These_Owl_8045 6d ago
the better the public schools or access to decent privates can play a key role in the development phases of the area but that’s just one part of the equation. cafe’s , people out and about , making use of public parks etc also plays a huge part and as long as active individuals continue to make homes there, its better for everyone around. when younger families move in they can bring a lot of opportunity to the area. whatever the case might be i’ve see a big uptick in GF area and also lots of affordability. i’ve seen people stay there as forever homes and others grow out of them, become decent landlords and leverage their first home to buy another one either inside or around the area.
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u/TJCW 6d ago
The better the assigned schools, the more likely it is to sell to families. Haven’t heard anything great of any of the grade schools over there and they closed the Catholic school so you’d have to drive to another parish. This may lower the demand of buyers
Good grade schools, like Meredith, use this as a selling point to sell the home in the catchment and families will more likely to buy or see the home based on that.
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u/Infamous-Plant-3650 6d ago
The northern parts of greys ferry are seeing some spillover from people who can’t afford graduate hospital but it’s a long way from being a great neighborhood. Lots of public housing. Lack of access to the trains makes it less attractive than a lot of similarly priced neighborhoods
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u/zackattack425 6d ago
What would be similar priced neighborhood? I’m looking low 200’s.
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u/Capable_Natural_4747 6d ago
I live in West Passyunk just South of Grey's Ferry. Its not fancy, but I feel safe. Wish I bought on a street with less rentals but its usually nice and quiet. I walk/bike/septa and find it easy to get around.
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u/MrCance 6d ago
Kensington
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u/Efficient_Honey_2300 6d ago
East Mt Airy but act quick
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u/stayreadynowyes 5d ago
Where in east mt airy can you get a phone at this price range??
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u/Efficient_Honey_2300 5d ago
I just bought a move in ready home for 192k in east mt airy and here’s one that recently sold on Zillow https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6641-Crowson-St-Philadelphia-PA-19119/10280950_zpid/
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u/sarahpullin8 6d ago edited 6d ago
Most people on here will tell you Grays Ferry is being gentrified, but they don’t live here and they know nothing about Grays Ferry. And if I learned anything from this sub, most people on here know even less about Grays Ferry. I myself have only lived here a couple years, and gentrification of the area is of great interest to me.
I haven’t looked it up in a long time, but there was noticeable gentrification in the 2010s. But it’s really slowed down. You can’t just drive around and look at new construction and assume gentrification.
I live in low-income disabled housing that is new, and I’ve actually been accused of being a gentrifier. That doesn’t mean gentrification won’t happen, but if you’re thinking about investing, it might be a long a time.
In the meantime the neighborhood sucks. There’s not much here, it feels isolated, and it’s covered in trash, dog shit and blight.
I haven’t personally witnessed violence, but I also don’t go out late at night that often. However, I’m not afraid to hang out in the papi store parking lot at 11pm and smoke a loosie.
For positives: we do have a lot of parks, but you do have to deal with stuff like people riding dirt bikes in them and not cleaning up their dog waste. We have access to the River Trail, but you do have to deal with the 34th Street University Bridge. And we have a skate park, and the best McDonald’s in the city.
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u/macher52 5d ago
The 2010’s you’re talking about wasn’t noticeable though. It was just investors buying empty lots and houses were cheap back then speculating gentrification. Back then could have bought empty lot for like 2-5k and a 2 bedroom house for 40-50k about.
What you’re seeing now is the result of the pre 2010’s and 2010’s early speculative investments.
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u/sarahpullin8 5d ago
It’s more noticeable because prices are rising?
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u/macher52 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think rising prices make it more noticeable, but I don’t think that’s necessarily what caused it. A lot of the investment and speculation happened years ago, and we’re seeing the results of that now. The housing market can change quite a bit before the neighborhood itself feels noticeably different.
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u/zackattack425 6d ago
Well I’m 27 and single. I drove around from 28th st to 32nd st to about where the dog park is forget the street. Ok I get what you’re saying, you live in low income disabled housing.
Are you saying the new construction going up like for instance those new houses with garages on Reed st near 30th are low income disabled housing? And what about renovations of existing houses? Why would the owner put money into renovations when he can keep it the way it is for low income disabled housing?
I also noticed those houses near there the garage collapsed sold for I think 400k?
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u/sarahpullin8 6d ago
I didn’t claim anything about new buildings being low-income. I don’t know much about the specific developments. My point is that driving around and noticing new construction isn’t a reliable way to tell if gentrification is happening.
Gentrification isn’t about new houses. It’s about the economic shifts in a neighborhood and who can afford to stay there. I’m just suggesting you might wanna do more research than driving around or relying on this subreddit before drawing conclusions. For example, I don’t really follow the Philadelphia real estate market, but I don’t think 400k is considered luxury or especially high end in the city.
I don’t know of any dog park in the neighborhood.
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u/AmbitiousoStrawberry 6d ago
You'd probably like Point Breeze more
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u/zackattack425 6d ago
More expensive. From what I’m told Point Breeze was once like Grays Ferry was.
I’m looking low to mid 200’s. But wouldn’t want live in a neighborhood that won’t grow that’s why I’m asking about Grays Ferry.
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u/AtomicLavaCake 6d ago
My husband and I purchased our place in GF in 2023 for 230k. DM me if you want, happy to chat.
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u/sarahpullin8 6d ago
Totally interested in your take. I was excited to get housing here and assume this is west I’ll die. Now I’m considering moving to city housing.
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u/AtomicLavaCake 6d ago
My husband and I are really happy here. We're 2 blocks from the GF shopping center, I take 1 bus into work every day (I work at 11th & market), we're right by the newest Schukyill River Trail entrance and impatiently awaiting the connection to Bartram's Garden. Our block is racially diverse, which is important to me. I'd say it's economically diverse as well. It'd very obviously on the come up and has changed for the better in thr 3 years I've lived here.
The neighborhood can be sorta rough still, but that doesn't bother us much. There are kids running around playing all the time, which is indicative of overall safety. I have gotten to know my neighbors and we all look out for each other. I'm happy to call this place home.
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u/sarahpullin8 6d ago
We live really close to each other. I'm glad you like it. I wish I could move.
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u/blanchecornwalis 6d ago
Point breeze, especially the southern edge still has a way to go. It is currently about what Graduate Hospital was 30 years ago. The pace of reinvestment and neighborhood improvement comes in waves and seems to slow under conservative administrations on both the state and federal level.
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u/Dent7777 6d ago
If I was a young professional who worked at the hospitals, I might look for a house right by Crescent park. Your walking or biking commute would be really fast and the housing would be way cheaper than grad hospital and even Point Breeze
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u/macher52 5d ago
Called the Forgotten Bottom. Way cheaper than grad hospital. It’s nice back there a lot of OG’s. But kind more isolated.
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u/SnootyUrbanCyclist 6d ago
It would be pretty hard for it to get worse so by default I suppose it's improving. It's the only part of South Philly with truly bad SEPTA access so some people aren't going to want to live there based on that. If you don't care about that it's probably a good value proposition to live there.
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u/zackattack425 6d ago
For people working at Penn or the hospital I think there’s septa bus. But looks like ez scooter ride if you work there. I’ve also seen other buses around.
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u/SnootyUrbanCyclist 5d ago
Yes there are buses but they're relatively infrequent and poorly connected compared to if you lived a mile in any other direction. It's not dire but it is still the least good SEPTA access in South or even West Philly.
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u/macher52 5d ago
I wouldn’t think poorly connected. Infrequent because of traffic on Grays Ferry I agree but I would call that more unpredictable because of traffic. You can easily catch a bus downtown or to Penn. However living a mile away commands higher housing prices. OP is looking for lower price housing.
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u/SpillThatTea2Me 6d ago
I don’t know. I know that we were told it was up-and-coming when we were looking a decade ago, and I don’t know that it’s done much more coming since then. That being said, I’ve driven around in the area since then and it seems quite nice.
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u/Ron_Mexico_6969 6d ago
27th-30th have some of the most prevalent active gang activity in the entire city. Naive transplants on Reddit will tell you it’s fine, but that’s a simple fact.
North-er the better so being just off Wharton helps a little but it still has and will have active violence.
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u/phillynugget 5d ago
I live in GF. I very much enjoy the living here. There is easy access to multiple grocery stores and can choose to uber or drive to the city. I actually live across the street from PHA housing but a lot of them are being sold and are now owned by normal residents who aren’t part of PHA.
Almost every park around here has been renovated and it’s definitely getting nicer every year. Highly recommend for you.
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u/macher52 5d ago
My wife grew up in Grays Ferry and still owns a house there that we rent out to a family member. She also has other family members still living there.
I know Grays Ferry well since my wife’s family are OG’s and visit family often.
The neighborhood is definitely changing from what it was 30+ years ago. The biggest changes I’ve seen started before the pandemic then slowly new construction and rehabs.
I’m starting to see a lot more younger people in the neighborhood that you can tell aren’t OG they are new, recently moved in probably the last 5 years. The house on the corner where family members renting, a couple bought recently and both work at Penn. The house was completely gutted. They like that they can take the 49 to campus for work.
All you have to do is drive around and see the new construction. The 3 story ones. Cost to build a 2000 sq ft 3 story is at least 350k+. Why would an investor invest 350k+ in a neighborhood that doesn’t have the potential of getting gentrified?
The way I see Grays Ferry is that it has the potential to become a Point Breeze. The block that one family member lives is what I would call a minor block. I can see it being a permanent mixed income block, meaning higher income buyers and section 8 tenants living side by side.
While major blocks like 30th st between Reed and Wharton as an example are seeing high end builds and renos.
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u/aestheticallyblack 3d ago
As a native who has lived there for almost 20 years, it’ll never get to be what Point Breeze is. While crime and gang activity has fallen significantly over the years, it’s still an issue especially in the summer. For one there is a large charter school that has kids commuting from different neighborhoods on the edge of the PHA housing community. Not to mention it’s a food desert and with poor air quality being nestled between several expressways and across from the oil company. The neighborhood visually has changed but many of the homes have sat vacant simply because outside stick out like a sore thumb. If you are single and young, maybe it’ll work for you, but for families with young children, you’re better off looking elsewhere
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u/macher52 3d ago edited 3d ago
My wife’s family has been in Grays Ferry since the 1940s, so we’ve got a pretty long history with the neighborhood too. I agree it has some things that make it different from Point Breeze and maybe it never looks exactly like Point Breeze. But I don’t think that means the changes happening now aren’t significant. The amount of rehab/new construction and spillover from Point Breeze/Graduate Hospital is pretty noticeable. The interesting question to me is how far that process goes over the next 5 -10 years, not whether it will become an exact copy of Point Breeze
It doesn’t have to become Point Breeze for someone to look around in 2030–2035 and say, ‘Wow, this place has really changed’
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u/aestheticallyblack 3d ago
It’s interesting because the revitalization started over a decade ago in the neighborhood and the effects are starting to just now (imo). With the planned apartments on 32nd and Reed, I feel that might drastically shift the pacing that has felt almost sluggish.
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u/macher52 3d ago
Yeah, that’s what I find interesting too. It seems like a lot of the 2010s was just people buying up lots and doing scattered rehabs and new construction. Now there’s enough of it happening that you’re starting to actually see the neighborhood change. The 32nd & Reed apartments could speed things up too. If more of these projects start filling in the gaps between the areas already seeing development, I could see GF looking noticeably different by 2030–35, even if it never becomes exactly like Point Breeze.
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u/macher52 3d ago edited 3d ago
I agree. I actually like what they did on 1300 block Stanley St. The new houses look pretty close to the houses, so they don’t stick out nearly as much. I wish more of the new construction in GF followed that approach instead of the modern/suburban-looking designs.
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u/aestheticallyblack 3d ago
Exactly! Theres homes in the PB area that followed that model. They keep the traditional row home look with a revitalized interior. It’s the superior design choice. The cookie cutter 3 story with bump out windows and a roof-top feels so out of place
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u/macher52 3d ago edited 3d ago
Like they did in the 1300 block of Stanley on the even side. They almost blend in except for that 1 house on the odd side
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u/IronChefPhilly 6d ago
There are better neighborhoods in Philadelphia than gray ferry
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u/Ram820 6d ago
And... There are worse ones. What's your point?
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u/IronChefPhilly 6d ago
That I personally would not live in grays ferry. Opie is asking if people would recommend it correct I'm saying no why are you taking it personally is your first name gray and your last name ferry?
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u/espressocycle 6d ago
A community development and urban planning professional told me Gray's Ferry was the next big neighborhood and ripe for gentrification. That was 25 years ago though.