NW Philly Permit Watch: Week of August 20, 2026
Newly issued Licenses and Inspections permits across the eight Northwest Philadelphia ZIP codes, August 20 to 26, 2026.
The City issued 95 permits up here last week. Almost all of them are roofs, water heaters and service upgrades, which is why nobody reads permit data. But one of the ninety-five is the fire-damaged brewery on Ridge Avenue getting a permit to rebuild, and that is the kind of thing you would otherwise find out about when the lights came back on.
This is the first of these. The idea is simple: read the filings every week so you do not have to, and tell you about the handful that actually change something on your block.
Worth knowing about
Roxborough
6168 Ridge Ave. A commercial building permit was issued on August 25 for work at the address New Ridge Brewing Co. has occupied since before the fire that closed it on January 29. The approved scope reads:
Partial demolition and replacement of fire damaged floor, walls and ceiling to include new flooring, framing, insulation, and drywall. For use as previously approved.
That last sentence is the interesting one. “For use as previously approved” means the permit is to put the building back as it was rather than convert it to something else. The owner of record is Roxborough Development Co. Permit CP-2026-004860.
The honest caveat, which applies to everything below too: a permit is not a building. Permits get issued and never acted on, and this one is a long way from a taproom with the lights on. But it is the first concrete sign in seven months, and we will take it.
6177 Ridge Ave. Across the street, a zoning permit for a change of use to “Personal Services, Body Art Service.” A tattoo studio, in other words. Two commercial moves on the same block of Ridge in one week is a pattern worth noticing on a corridor that has been more working than polished for a long time.
Germantown
200-20 W Chelten Ave. Zoning permit, change of use, to a child care center. This is a large commercial address on Chelten, and the owner of record is Germantown Realty Investment.
5915-41 Germantown Ave. A fire suppression permit to install a full sprinkler system to NFPA 13 standard. Sprinklers going into a building with a street range that wide means a substantial fit-out is underway, not a cosmetic one. Nothing in the filing says what it will be.
99 E Seymour St. A “make safe” permit, which is the kind the City issues when a structure needs stabilising. Listed here because it is the sort of thing neighbors notice and wonder about, not because it is good news.
Mt. Airy
7101 Germantown Ave, the former Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church. A plumbing permit was issued on August 22 for alterations to an existing theater: exterior curb trap, main drain and water distribution, interior drainage, waste, vent and supply for new fixtures. That is the plumbing you pull when you are building out restrooms and a bar, not when you are patching a leak.
Which raises the obvious question, and on this one the record actually answers. Reading back through every filing on that address:
- March 2022. a zoning permit changed the use of the building to Assembly and Entertainment
- March 2026. interior demolition of non-load-bearing walls and ceilings
- May 2026. a building permit for Level III alterations with a change in occupancy, occupancy type given as A-1 Assembly (Theater), with the basement and first floor required to be sprinklered to NFPA 13
- June 2026. mechanical, then a new 600 amp electrical service
- August 2026. plumbing, twice
A theater is being built inside the old church. That is not a rumor and it is not reading between the lines. It is six permits over four years all saying the same thing, and the City has already assigned the building a theater occupancy classification.
What nobody has filed is who will run it or when it opens. So we are not going to guess. But if you have walked past that corner this summer and wondered what all the trucks were about, that is what.
Also on the block, at 7100, a sign permit to take down two flat wall signs and put up two non-illuminated replacements. Sign permits are the most reliable early tell that a tenant is changing.
East Germantown
821 and 823 E Chelten Ave. New construction electrical permits, issued the same day for two addresses next door to each other. A paired build.
Patterns
- Jannette Street, Roxborough, had six permits in one week. Three at 5977 and three at 5979, all plumbing for new construction. Two houses going up side by side.
- 53 E Pastorius Street, Germantown, pulled four permits in a week, mechanical and electrical, all new construction. One substantial new build rather than four small ones.
- Germantown took 28 of the 95 permits, nearly a third, and more than Chestnut Hill, Cedarbrook, Manayunk and East Falls put together.
- Manayunk and East Falls had three permits each. Quiet weeks happen.
The full list
Everything the City issued in the eight ZIP codes last week, grouped by neighborhood. Addresses and project types only. No homeowner names, ever, and that is a policy rather than an oversight: permits are public record, but this should not be a neighborhood where your kitchen renovation turns up on a website with your name attached to it. Commercial projects and developers are named, because they operate in public.
Chestnut Hill (19118), 6 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-24 | 102 E Mermaid Ln | Zoning | New construction, addition, GFA change |
| 08-24 | 102-04 Bethlehem Pike | Site / Utility Permit | Excavation |
| 08-20 | 302 W Springfield Ave | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-25 | 7814 Ardleigh St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 8221 Seminole Ave | Zoning | New construction, addition, GFA change |
| 08-26 | 8226 Germantown Ave | General Permit Minor | EZ Interior Non-Load-Bearing Wall Demo. |
Mt. Airy (19119), 17 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-24 | 232 E Durham St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 232 Pelham Rd | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-21 | 24 Good St | General Permit Minor | EZ Interior Non-Load-Bearing Wall Demo. |
| 08-20 | 31 E Upsal St | Mechanical | Addition and/or Alterations |
| 08-20 | 35 Nippon St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 407 W Durham St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 420 W Allens Ln | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 434 W Mount Pleasant Ave | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-26 | 517 E Mount Airy Ave | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-26 | 6448 Cherokee St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 6461 Milton St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-21 | 6461 Milton St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 6508 Lincoln Dr | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-25 | 6603 Lincoln Dr | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 6609 Chew Ave | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-25 | 7100 Germantown Ave | General | Sign |
| 08-22 | 7101 Germantown Ave | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
Germantown (19144), 28 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-21 | 151 W School House Ln | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-21 | 200-20 W Chelten Ave | Zoning | Change of Use |
| 08-21 | 214 Apsley St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-26 | 216 Apsley St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 218 Shedaker St | Electrical | New Construction |
| 08-25 | 226 W Haines St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-25 | 23 W Coulter St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-25 | 23 W Coulter St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-21 | 246 W Queen Ln | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-26 | 3120 W School House Ln | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-21 | 32 Harvey St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-26 | 346 E Wister St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-20 | 4715 Greene St | Residential Building | Make Safe Permit For RP |
| 08-24 | 481 W Abbottsford Ave | General Permit Minor | EZ Exterior Window and Door Replacement |
| 08-21 | 514 Brinton St | Site / Utility Permit | Excavation |
| 08-25 | 5165 Wakefield St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 53 E Pastorius St | Mechanical | New Construction |
| 08-20 | 53 E Pastorius St | Electrical | New Construction |
| 08-20 | 53 E Pastorius St | Mechanical | New Construction |
| 08-20 | 53 E Pastorius St | Electrical | New Construction |
| 08-24 | 5348 Magnolia St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-24 | 5515 Morton St | Mechanical | New Construction |
| 08-24 | 5618 Heiskell St | Mechanical | New Construction |
| 08-24 | 5642 Morton St | Mechanical | New Construction |
| 08-20 | 5837 Magnolia St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 5915-41 Germantown Ave | Fire Suppression | Rough-In |
| 08-20 | 6014 Morton St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-26 | 99 E Seymour St | Residential Building | Make Safe Permit For RP |
East Germantown and West Oak Lane (19138), 14 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-25 | 1210 E Duval St | General | Tank Install/Removal |
| 08-26 | 1616 Wynsam St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 1957 Ashley Rd | Plumbing | EZ Bathroom & Kitchen Remodel |
| 08-24 | 5661 Sprague St | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
| 08-20 | 6333 N Woodstock St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-20 | 6546 N Woodstock St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-21 | 6871 Forrest Ave | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-21 | 6934 Cedar Park Ave | Plumbing | EZ Bathroom & Kitchen Remodel |
| 08-26 | 7026 Louise St | Mechanical | Addition and/or Alterations |
| 08-26 | 7219 Ogontz Ave | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-25 | 7440 Sommers Rd | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-26 | 821 E Chelten Ave | Electrical | New Construction |
| 08-26 | 823 E Chelten Ave | Electrical | New Construction |
| 08-26 | 850 E Stafford St | Plumbing | Alterations |
Cedarbrook (19150), 5 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-24 | 1035 Dorset St | General Permit Minor | EZ Interior Non-Load-Bearing Wall Demo. |
| 08-20 | 1113 E Hortter St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-26 | 1138 E Durham St | General Permit Minor | EZ Roof Covering Replacement |
| 08-21 | 8026 Thouron Ave | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 8440 Temple Rd | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
East Falls (19129), 3 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-22 | 3414 Indian Queen Ln | Zoning | Change of Use |
| 08-20 | 3516 Vaux St | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 3724 Stanton St | Zoning | New construction, addition, GFA change |
Manayunk (19127), 3 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-21 | 213 Carson St | Mechanical | Addition and/or Alterations |
| 08-25 | 220 Dupont St | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-20 | 4255 Main St | Plumbing | Alterations |
Roxborough (19128), 19 permits
| Issued | Address | Type | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08-20 | 3814 Manayunk Ave | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 389 Lyceum Ave | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 3911 Dexter St | Zoning | New construction, addition, GFA change |
| 08-24 | 4004 Mitchell St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-20 | 485 Flamingo St | Plumbing | EZ Bathroom & Kitchen Remodel |
| 08-20 | 562 Martin St | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-25 | 5950 Houghton St | Zoning | New construction, addition, GFA change |
| 08-26 | 5977 Jannette St | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
| 08-26 | 5977 Jannette St | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
| 08-26 | 5977 Jannette St | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
| 08-26 | 5979 Jannette St | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
| 08-26 | 5979 Jannette St | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
| 08-26 | 5979 Jannette St | Plumbing | New Construction or Additions |
| 08-25 | 6168 Ridge Ave | Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-21 | 6177 Ridge Ave | Zoning | Change of Use |
| 08-26 | 621 Roxborough Ave | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-24 | 7238 Ridge Ave | Plumbing | Alterations |
| 08-25 | 8411 Chippewa Rd | Residential Building | Addition and/or Alteration |
| 08-24 | 8608 Cathedral Cir | Electrical | Addition and/or Alteration |
How to read this
Permit data is messy. Addresses get mistyped, descriptions are inconsistent, and plenty of permits are issued for work that never happens. Everything here is written as a permit was issued for, never as they are building, and that distinction is deliberate.
Source is the City of Philadelphia’s Licenses and Inspections building and zoning permit data, published on OpenDataPhilly and updated daily.
See something on your block you can tell us more about? Email hello@nwphilly.com. And if you want this in your inbox, the Thursday calendar email is where new ones get announced.