2026 taxable assessment $826,600 × 1.3998%. Estimate—not a bill or account balance.
OPA also publishes a 2027 assessment of $956,400; it is not the 2026 billed-year value.
Commercial property report
8507 Germantown Ave
2,774 sqft · CMX2.5 · built 1900
Store · Bowman Properties Limited · assessed $827K (2026) · 2027 OPA assessment $956K. On the 8500 block of Germantown Ave.
Property summary
Assessment$826,6002026 OPA assessment · 2027: $956,400
Last sale$465KRecorded 2013
Est. tax bill$11,571/year2026 taxable assessment × 1.3998%
Tax delinquency—Snapshot unavailable
Permits1Dated events in report
Violations0 openNo historical match in fetched records
“Open” reflects records available then historical records keep their source dates estimates are labeled
BlockReport AI · cited public records
Ask the questions this record raises.
These curated questions are free. Choose one to open its cited answer.
Question or correct this record
BlockReport can explain a discrepancy, but it cannot rewrite an official City record. Use the agency that owns the underlying fact:
Property tax
The estimate, live balance, and back-tax record are different.
BlockReport can calculate the annual tax from the City’s taxable assessment. Payments, credits, interest, and a current amount due live separately in Philadelphia Tax Center.
A Tax Center balance is net of bills, payments, credits, interest, and adjustments. A credit—or an amount due—is not automatically “back taxes.”
OPA 8820092302026 taxable assessment equals the full assessed value.
Historical delinquency sources No current conclusion
The June 2022 delinquency snapshot was not verifiably available in this cached report. No conclusion about a match—or today’s balance—can be drawn from that absence.
For a purchase, refinance, or closing, request the City’s official Property Payoff statement in Tax Center under “More options.”
What stands out
From the public recordImproved
Why it mattersBought for $465K in 2013. Owner pulled a use permit in 2012.
View supporting records →"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder
Why it mattersPhiladelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.
View supporting records →City Property History
Fetched L&I and zoning records
Every row successfully fetched for this report is counted below. Dataset availability and matching can differ from the City's interactive file; use the official link for current detail.
- Recorded owner
- Bowman Properties Limited
- Tax mailing address
- 8238 GERMANTOWN AVE, PHILADELPHIA PA, 19118
- L&I district
- —
- Building ID (BIN)
- —
- OPA account
- 882009230
Permits0Unavailable
Violation cases0Unavailable
Investigations0Unavailable
Building certifications0Unavailable
Business licenses0Unavailable
Appeals1CLOSED · Denied
PermitsPermit number, issued date, work and City status0
No permits matched this parcel in the fetched City dataset.
Violation cases0 individual violation records; resolved history remains visible0
No violation cases matched this parcel in the fetched City dataset.
InvestigationsEvery inspector visit, including CLOSED outcomes0
No investigations matched this parcel in the fetched City dataset.
Building certificationsInspection result and filed expiration date by L&I building ID0
No building certifications matched this parcel in the fetched City dataset.
Business licensesHistorical and active licenses are both retained0
No business licenses matched this parcel in the fetched City dataset.
AppealsApplication status and decision are separate City fields1
Zoning board appealAppeal 19407
Dec 19, 2012 CLOSED Denied
YOU HAVE FILED AN APPEAL AGAINST THE DEPARTMENT OF LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF ZONING PERMIT 435136 FOR THE SUBJECT PROPERTY. YOU STATE THE REASON FOR THE APPEAL IS "NOISE COMING FROM THIS BUSINESS (DRUM LESSONS, PIANO, VO
City of Philadelphia OPA, L&I and Zoning Board records, shown as filed. A CLOSED investigation is an outcome label, not a missing visit; an appeal's application status and decision may differ.
Legal due diligence
What this record proves—and what it does not.
These checks are triggered by this property’s actual City rows. They identify the controlling document to verify; they do not declare a use legal, a building safe, or title clear.
1 verify
VerifyA separate Commercial Trash account may applyOPA classifies the parcel as commercial. BlockReport does not receive a current Commercial Trash account balance.
Why it mattersPhiladelphia charges qualifying small commercial, mixed-use, and multi-unit properties that use City collection; exemptions and private collection can change applicability. A use category alone does not prove a fee is due.
Verify nextCheck the Commercial Trash account inside the date-effective Property Payoff.
Open the controlling City guidance ↗Closing file: checks no public-record summary can replace3 documents/searches to assign before settlement
Property Sales Certification
The seller must obtain Philadelphia’s certificate showing the base zoning, last use in the zoning record, and open violations. The City warns that it does not prove Building Code occupancy or show zoning overlays.
Next: Obtain the fresh certificate and compare it with the CO, permits, and Atlas overlays.
Official guidance ↗Date-effective City Property Payoff
The Tax Center Property Payoff covers Real Estate Tax, Commercial Trash, and L&I abatement-work invoices. Philadelphia says it does not include business-tax debts or liens, water and sewer charges, or fines for code violations.
Next: Request the City statement effective through settlement; read every period and invoice.
Official guidance ↗Professional title and water-lien searches
OPA ownership, deed summaries, and a zero tax balance are not clear title. Mortgages, judgments, municipal claims, water liens, easements, heirs, and other encumbrances require separate searches.
Next: Use a Pennsylvania lawyer/title company and obtain owner’s title insurance; order the separate water search/payoff.
Official guidance ↗Separate water-lien guidance ↗Informational only—not a legal opinion, title report, code inspection, tax payoff, or substitute for a Pennsylvania lawyer, title company, inspector, or tax professional.
Records to verify together
Rule-based groupings across this property's dated public records. Each flag shows the records that belong in the same verification step and where the inference stops.
Assessment/permit mismatch
The assessment jumped 75% in 2025, but no matching permit appears in the property timeline.
Evidence: assessment moved from $472,900 to $826,600 · no permit shown in 2024-2026
Limit: Not proof of unpermitted work; reassessment, corrected data, or a permit under another parcel can also explain it.
Transparent record rules, not a score or forecast. Each flag is a prompt to verify the cited records, not a prediction or allegation.
Commercial propertyProperty report
This is a store, recorded under the city's commercial category. The homeowner tools (rent estimate, homestead playbook) don't apply, so they're hidden. The full record and owner trail are below.
What it is
Store
Store 2 Sty Masonry
Owner
Bowman Properties Limited
OPA tax treatment
Assessed $827K
Taxable assessment on the roll
$ / sq ft
$345
above the $130 median for 12,035 commercial parcels citywide
Corridor
Chestnut Hill
city commercial corridor
Assessed value
$826,600
2026 OPA · 2027: $956,400
Interior area
2,774 sqft
Lot size
2,153 sqft
Built
1900
Zoning
CMX2.5
Who's behind it
Bowman Properties Limited · corporate / LLC owner
• Owns 36 properties across Philadelphia under this name, assessed at $28M combined
• Tax bills mail to 8238 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia PA, 19118
Where the record looks off
Places where the city's own paperwork disagrees with itself. These are flags on the data — not problems with the property.
"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder
Philadelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.
Block context
8507 Germantown Ave sits on the 8500 block of Germantown Ave. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 8511 Germantown Ave · 8501-05 Germantown Ave
Where this comes from
- Assessment, spec sheet & owner — OPA Property Assessments, Office of Property Assessment
- Sales & deed history — Realty Transfer Tax records, Recorder of Deeds
- Permits, violations & inspections — L&I Property History · Atlas
- Tax delinquency snapshot · June 2022 — Real Estate Tax Delinquencies, Dept. of Revenue
- Historical tax ledger & liens · through 2016 — Real Estate Tax Balances, Dept. of Revenue
- Current property-tax balance — Verify with Philadelphia Revenue
- Zoning appeals — L&I & Zoning Board appeals
- Neighborhood income & rents — US Census ACS 5-year estimates
- Historical mortgage rates — Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, annual averages
- Imagery — Street photo © Google · Aerial © Esri, Maxar
Methodology & freshness
This report was assembled Jul 9, 2026, 7:18 PM ET. Available City datasets are queried from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and the cited City ArcGIS feeds; record queries paginate rather than silently taking a first page. “Unavailable” means the source query failed or was not supplied, not “no record.” Reports re-pull on view after seven days and on an overnight rolling schedule; citywide benchmarks recompute weekly. Source dates still govern: the parcel-level tax-delinquency snapshot is June 2022 and the separate detailed tax ledger ends in 2016, so neither establishes today’s balance. The live balance and date-effective payoff must be verified in Tax Center. AI-written passages are grounded in the assembled record and rejected if they state a number the record does not hold.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)