Front and Girard warehouse fire roundup | Yaron sentenced to five years

By midday Tuesday demolition crews were already wrecking the remains of the vacant warehouse at Front and Girard that had been consumed by fire early that morning. Here’s a roundup of some stories about the fire and the property’s history:

• Due to the fire’s proximity to the Market-Frankford El, SEPTA had to run shuttle buses between the Huntington and Spring Garden stops. El service was restored by Tuesday afternoon, NBC 10 reports.
• The Inquirer reports that developer Bart Blatstein (Liberty Homes/Tower Investments) has owned the warehouse since 2003, and in contrast to the Buck Hosiery building, the property has not accrued L&I violations and has remained current on property taxes.
• Hidden City Daily looks at the warehouse’s years as a vacant property- pointing out Tower’s poor record of securing its vacant properties – and it’s successive uses as a woodworking shop, kitchen and bath wholesaler, dry goods warehouse, and a whisky distillery and storehouse.
• Philadelinquency links to these ruinporn photos of the warehouse from February 2012.
• Photographer Joseph Kaczmarek captured the fire in the wee small hours.
• PhillyWeekly posted post-fire photos.
• Curbed shares some before and after photos of the warehouse.

Developer Michael Yaron was sentenced to five years by a federal court for paying kickbacks to secure asbestos-removal contracts at New York Presbyterian Hospital over an eight-year period, reports the Daily News. Yaron is best known locally for his work rehabbing and redeveloping properties in Old City since the 1980s. Yaron was previously been convicted of insurance fraud and illegal chemical dumping.

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest. Have a tip? Send it along.