Over the decades, few issues have drawn more controversy in the Northwest than that of development, and 2025 was no different.

It started early in the year, when the Chestnut Hill community learned that neighbors had lost their final bid to prevent a five-story development from rising at 10 Bethlehem Pike, as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal. The decision marked the end of a protracted legal battle and allowed the developer to proceed.

“We are certainly disappointed in this decision and will be watching this development project closely as it commences,” said Anne McNiff, executive director for the Chestnut Hill Community Association, which was a party in the lawsuit.

The proposal for the former Sunoco gas station site called for a 33-unit apartment building with ground-floor commercial space, sitting adjacent to the Chestnut Hill Baptist Church, which was built in 1830 and is the oldest church in Chestnut Hill

In Mt. Airy at the start of the year, new zoning was being debated. West Mount Airy Neighbors (WMAN) teamed up with Councilmember Cindy Bass to form a “zoning remapping task force” to identify neighbors’ concerns about how potential development in the neighborhood’s commercial districts could impact their quality of life.

“WMAN has heard increasing concerns from the community, actually, on both sides related to development,” Jo Winter, the executive director of WMAN, told the Local. “Whether it be there are too many buildings coming in. What will be its implications for the neighborhood? Or people saying, ‘We love all this new development,’ clearly, things are happening in the neighborhood.”

Aside from the rows of businesses dotting Germantown Avenue, West Mt. Airy is home to three other commercial areas that saw a rise in development: West Mt. Pleasant Avenue between Cresheim Road and Emlen Street; the intersection of Carpenter Lane and Greene Street; and the intersection of Greene and Hortter Streets.

In another area, despite an objection from Bass, the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) voted unanimously on Jan. 22 to approve a variance for a development at 7600 Germantown Ave. It would transform the site of a historic coal company building, which has long served as a gateway between Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy, into eight new townhouses while converting the existing historic structure into a business space.

And in Germantown, a court ruling cleared the way for a property at 26-34 Church Lane, in the Urban Village Historic District, to become a 33-unit, five-story, mixed-use building. The neighborhood’s central square was classified as a historic district last year and any development there had to be approved by the Philadelphia Historical Commission. But the developer went to court and won.

Controversy continued at the old Germantown YWCA, where development has been stalled for years. The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) allowed its commitment letter to KBK Enterprises to expire without renewal, meaning that the property was technically open to new applications from other developers. KBK had received development rights in 2016 but repeatedly failed to secure financing for the project.

But at a PRA meeting on Feb. 12, board members reported they had received no applications. Community members suggested this lack of interest was because of Bass’s continued support for KBK and the city’s tradition of councilmanic prerogative, which gives district council members effective veto power over land use decisions in their districts.

On April 4, a judge denied reconsideration for local developer Ken Weinstein’s petition to gain a conservatorship over the YWCA building. In keeping with an earlier ruling, the judge ruled that Weinstein had failed to prove the property was sufficiently blighted or abandoned.

In Chestnut Hill, the PRA announced it had approved a $2.27 million contract to restore and rehabilitate the exterior of the Water Tower Recreation Center, marking the largest investment in the historic community resource in decades. The classical revival-style building, built in an era when public buildings were designed to inspire civic pride, would be restored by R.C. Legnini Inc., updating the exterior of the building at 209 E. Hartwell Lane while maintaining its historic character.

As spring began, a development boom continued in Germantown, including a proposal for a new, 45-unit apartment and mixed-use project next to the shuttered Rite Aid on the 6200 block of Germantown Avenue. It’s along a stretch that is rapidly changing after many years of sitting desolate and blighted, with some buildings boarded up.

Another project emerged at 6225-27 Germantown Ave., joining several projects in that immediate area in various stages of completion – including the old Comer Paper building site at Germantown Avenue and Washington Lane, another mixed-use project with more than 40 residential units and ground-floor commercial space.

In May, local developer the Goldenberg Group presented its latest plans for the 4.4-acre property at 100-102 Mermaid Lane. A receptive crowd of near neighbors and locals filled the Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse’s event room to view the project and ask questions. The lot formerly housed the Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting and headquarters for the defunct Blossom Philadelphia organization. Goldenberg’s design calls for 28 owner-occupied residences featuring 12 twin houses, three single houses, and a restored former meeting house.

Weinstein had better luck with another project. After a months-long wait, federal approval arrived in the fall for his plan to renovate five vacant SEPTA Regional Rail stations. Under what SEPTA described as a “first-of-its-kind agreement,” Weinstein’s Philly Office Retail will pay SEPTA $1 per year for up to 99 years to lease the Gravers Lane, Carpenter, Mt. Airy, Upsal, and Tulpehocken stations. The plan, Weinstein said, was for a mix of commercial and residential uses.

In October, another developer presented revised plans for an 81-unit apartment building in Mt. Airy at 6903-6915 Germantown Ave. The 72,167-square-foot design would sit on the east side of Germantown Avenue between Gorgas Lane and Sedgwick Street. Along with the 81 units, the building would feature 2,734 square feet of commercial space.

“The Mt. Airy BID supports this request,” Mt. Airy Business Improvement District’s Executive Director Janis Risch told the Local. “We were satisfied with the developer’s efforts to minimize the loss of trees while being responsive to requirements from the historic preservation committee.”

The ZBA voted unanimously on Oct. 29 to grant a special exception for the removal of heritage trees for the development. With that hurdle cleared, Jenn Patrino, president of TierView Development, told the Local they hope to break ground on the project in early 2026.

But the Northwest’s views on redevelopment took a sudden and tragic turn in October when a young Mt. Airy woman, Kada Scott, 23, was found murdered, her body buried in a shallow grave behind the abandoned Ada H.H. Lewis Middle School, near Awbury Arboretum in Germantown. She had been missing for several days after abruptly leaving her job one night in Chestnut Hill. A suspect, Keon King, 21, was arrested and charged with kidnapping and murder.

In the days and weeks that followed, Scott’s death became a central issue as neighbors, developers and politicians bitterly debated the role of the abandoned school -- and turned against each other, in particular regarding what some saw as Bass’s role in stalling redevelopment at the school and the Germantown YWCA.

Bass called for the school to be demolished and penned an opinion column for the Local, saying it was “deeply disappointing that anyone would attempt to turn the tragic death of 23-year-old Kada Scott into a debate about real estate.” She added: “Let me clarify two points: Gentrification is not progress, and supporting diverse developers isn’t charity; it’s justice.”

A local developer, Anthony Fullard, was more direct in placing blame in another Local opinion column. “In the wake of the appalling tragedy involving Kada Scott, a young woman whose disappearance and death have rocked her community, the remarks offered by Ken Weinstein do more than disappoint, but they reveal a troubling gap between public-facing influence and genuine civic responsibility,” he said.

Patrick W. Jones, the ward leader of the 59th Democratic Ward criticized Bass for her comments, writing in the Local that “the tragedy did not create this conversation — it revealed it. The Ada H. H. Lewis Middle School has been vacant since 2008. Neighbors have complained for years about dumping, vandalism, and safety. Those concerns extend to other long-vacant properties across Germantown. People are not politicizing grief; they are demanding that those in charge do their jobs.”

Weinstein wrapped up the conversation, saying that he agreed with Bass “that we must tackle neglected and unsafe buildings, invest in people as well as properties, focus on equity in development, and build responsibly. People and community should always come before profit.

“But commitments without action,” he concluded, “will not improve our community.”