These properties along the 6200 block of Osage are for sale. They were quickly built following the MOVE bombing in 1985 and quickly fell into disrepair (Photo Google Street View).

The city has invited developers to bid on 36 controversial properties on the 6200 blocks of Osage and Pine hastily rebuilt following the MOVE bombing in 1985.

A fire began after police dropped a small bomb from a helicopter on a home at 6221 Osage Ave. following a long standoff with members of the black liberation group MOVE, who had barricaded themselves inside. Eleven people, including five children, were killed in the fire that followed the bombing. More than 50 neighboring homes were destroyed.

Only about half of the residences are occupied, and now the city is looking for a builder to buy the properties and either renovate them or demolish them and start over.  Continue Reading

University City District (UCD) President Matt Bergheiser captured the mood of the moment during the annual The State of University City Report release event last night. There has been a 24 percent increase in food and beverage establishments in University City since 2009, according to the report.

“And to get through the next four years, we might need as many [beverage establishments] as we can get,” Bergheiser said.

Officially released today, the glossy The State of University Report highlights the flurry of ongoing and soon-to-begin commercial and residential building projects, particularly along the Schuylkill River that we have reported on over the past year – like Schuylkill Yards, uCity Square as well as a heap of new academic buildings popping up.  Continue Reading

The rebuilt 41st Street Bridge, connecting Mantua Avenue and Poplar Street over train tracks, has reopened to traffic today.

The old, deteriorating bridge, which closed in 1994, was completely removed and replaced with a new, two-span structure with architectural concrete parapets and fencing. The project began in May 2015. The new bridge opened one month ahead of its December 2016 projection completion date.

The new roadway includes two travel lanes with wide shoulders and sidewalks, new street lighting, signing, line striping, ADA curb ramps, and enhanced safety features, such as the realignment of the Mantua Avenue and 41st Street intersection.

Construction cost $10.8 million and was financed with 80% federal and 20% state/Act 26 funds.

The lot at 4224 Baltimore Ave.

After years of planning and community meeting after community meeting, people are starting to wonder if the grand residential building proposed for the corner of 43rd and Baltimore will ever get built.

Residents look over plans during a community meeting on 4224 Baltimore Ave. in September 2014 (Photo by West Philly Local).

“I’ve given up going to the Farmers’ Market on Saturdays because I’m tired of people asking me what the problem is,” Barry Grossbach, the chair of Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee said at a recent meeting.

In case you had forgotten, construction on a 132-unit residential building at 4224 Baltimore Ave. complete with a full-service restaurant overlooking Clark Park was supposed to begin this summer. Delays on construction projects in the city are not that uncommon, so observers of the process waited. Soil samples were taken, more engineering studies were ordered, construction plans were submitted and re-submitted. But nothing has happened at the large, empty lot at 43rd and Baltimore.  Continue Reading

The first floor of the residential building connected to the left side of Clarkville at 43rd and Baltimore would be converted into a restaurant under a proposal considered last night by the Spruce Hill Zoning Association (Photo from Google Street View).

The Spruce Hill Community Association considered a proposal last night to convert the first floor of the row home adjacent to Clarkville at 43rd and Baltimore into a small restaurant amid concerns from some neighbors of commercial encroachment in residential areas.

Brought by the owners of the Clarkville building (not the business itself), the proposal for 4303 Baltimore includes an 1,100-square-foot restaurant on the first floor and renovated, high-end apartments on the second and third floors. In the past, the building housed three apartments, but is in rough shape, said Tom Lussenhop of Best House Partners, the building owners since May.

The proposal requires a variance for the first-floor restaurant, which has yet to be decided on (they’re open to suggestions). It will not have a liquor license.  Continue Reading

Developers pitch a proposal for an apartment building at 4045 Baltimore to the Spruce Hill Community Association Zoning Committee on Thursday evening (Photo by West Philly Local)

The owners of a parking lot on the 4000 block of Baltimore are proposing a five-story, 55-unit apartment building.

New Horizons Housing, which owns the lot at 4045 Baltimore Ave. (see Google Street View image below) and an adjacent apartment building, brought the proposal before the Spruce Hill Zoning Committee last night for feedback. A formal zoning request has not yet been made.

An apartment building once stood on the lot, but burned down in the mid 1980s. The proposed building would include mostly 450-square-foot, one-bedroom units and a few studios.

Under one version of the proposal, the plan includes a small 900-square-foot retail space. Concerns included the proposed building’s height. At 71 feet, it would be about 15 feet higher than a nearby apartment building (owned by the same developers) and would be the tallest structure in the immediate area.  Continue Reading