February 13: Comcast expands | Mormon church plans residential tower | Condo King buys Old City properties | Parking debate | South Street’s Southwark Theatre

Hello snowed-in Streeters! We hope this Buzz finds you somewhere safe and warm. Now turned to a sleet/snow combo, this storm dumped more than eight inches of snow on Philadelphia overnight. Mayor Nutter has declared a state of emergency, and all Philadelphia Public Schools and City offices and courts are closed. For travel info PennDOT recommends http://www.511pa.com/

Comcast Corp. has agreed to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for $45.2 billion in stock, or $152.82 per share. The move will make Comcast, which also owns NBCUniversal a dominant force with about 30 million TV subscribers. Currently Comcast operates mainly in the northeast, and Time Warner Cable has strongholds in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Milwaukee.

The Mormon church plans to build a 32-story residential tower at 1601 Vine Street in the Logan Square neighborhood. The tower will stand next to a temple that the church is constructing at 17th and Vine and will total 400,000 square feet with 258 market-rate apartments and 13 townhouses. The project will also include street-level retail. 

Developer Allan Domb, sometimes know as the “Condo King,” purchased two historic Old City properties, but straying from his reputation, Domb does not plan to convert the buildings into condominiums. Domb paid $4 million for Shippen-Wistar House at 238 S. 4th St. and Cadwalader House at 240 S. 4th St. “I’m in the condo business and I wouldn’t do that to these properties,” Domb told the Philadelphia Business Journal. “They have tremendous history.”

Things got heated earlier this week when developer Leo Addimando presented plans to buy and develop the parking lot on 12th Street near Reed Street. Addimando wants to build a new five- or six-story building with 34 apartments. Though his plans include either 39 free parking spots or 31 free and 28 leased parking spots, neighbors argued both sides of the parking debate. 

Naked Philly takes a look at the storied past of 410 South St. The building “obscured by the retail shell that now occupies the site is a compelling history that begins in the city’s earliest days.” Originally built as The Southwark Theatre in 1766, this is by some accounts considered the first permanent theatre in the country. More recently the building has been a deli, a Payless Shoe Store and, now, vacant. 

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