Naval Square Is in Southwest Philly? Coulda Fooled Me

A reader just sent us a link to a late-January article by Inquirer real estate writer Al Heavens about a unit at Naval Square, the gated Toll Bros. community on Grays Ferry Avenue across from Fitzwater Street and off of 24th Street. It’s headlined “Not just any house for sale in S.W. Phila.” In my past Adventures in Journalism, I’ve learned that it’s unlikely Heavens wrote that headline himself, which makes sense for two reasons: 1. He wouldn’t want to piss off Toll Bros., who would absolutely chafe at an association with Southwest Philly, and 2. It’s a plumb stupid thing to say.

Southwest Philly includes neighborhoods like Eastwick and Kingsessing. It’s in West Philadelphia, most assuredly, and while Grays Ferry (a great route for those riding bikes from Center City to Baltimore Ave., FYI) does caress its boundaries beyond 48th Street, back downtown — because Naval Square is downtown — it is not, in any way, a Southwest byway.

Perhaps a (belated) correction is in order?

Not just any house for sale in S.W. Phila.