Those on and around Penn’s campus may be happy to hear this news: Giant Food has set its sights on a location near 34th and Chestnut for its second small-format food market in Philadelphia, aka Heirloom Market. The city’s first Heirloom Market is opening this week in Graduate Hospital.

The new grocery store will reportedly open at 3401 Chestnut Street, the location previously occupied by Eastern Mountain Sports.  Continue Reading

Walnut Hill residents got a chance on Thursday to ask the proposed developers of the Provident Insurance Co. building at 4601 Market Street what benefits the neighborhood would get from the healthcare campus planned for the site.

Iron Stone Real Estate Partners execs presented their plans for the building at a Walnut Hill Community Association meeting aimed at finalizing a “community benefits agreement,” a contract that would reflect community requests on everything from hiring practices to parking to the use of green space in development projects that get public subsidies.  Continue Reading

Two armed robberies have been reported in the University City area in the past few days, according to a crime alert issued by University City District’s Division of Public Safety. One robbery took place around 7:40 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 4 on the 4600 block of Ludlow, and the second occurred on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 9:30 p.m. on Farragut near Walnut Street. In both cases, iPhones were taken from pedestrians walking at night.

Both UCD Public Safety Ambassadors and Philadelphia Police will have an increased presence in the area, according to the report.  Continue Reading

UPDATE (1/9/2019): Xavier has been found safe, according to police.

(1/8/2019): Police are asking for the public’s assistance to locate a missing endangered person. Xavier Brower, 14, was last seen on Friday, Jan. 4 at 3 p.m. on the 5000 block of Ludlow Street.

He is six foot one, 185 pounds, has brown eyes and black hair. He was wearing black sweatpants, a black t-shirt, and a coat.

Anyone with any information on Xavier’s whereabouts is asked to contact Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183 or 911.

The Millcreek Tavern at 42nd and Chester Ave. will soon be gone and a five-story, 42-unit residential building aimed at students could soon take its place.

Developers pitched a preliminary plan to the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee on Monday night for the building, which would require variances for height and number of units. Representatives of Core Development told the committee that they purchased the building about 10 days ago, are in the “very early conceptual stages” and have yet to apply for the variances.  Continue Reading

The non-profit owners of the Arvilla, an affordable housing building on the 4500 block of Osage Avenue, insisted on Monday that they will go through with the sale of the building despite pleas from some residents and neighbors.

Representatives of Mission First Housing Group, one of the largest providers of affordable housing in the city, said during a Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) zoning meeting that it can’t afford the necessary renovations required to maintain the 14-unit building and will go through with a sale that will likely convert the building to market-rate apartments.

“The costs of modernizing the building are much higher than we can cover,” Mission First’s Director of Business Development Mark Deitcher said. “We have to pull the plug on the building because of the capital needs of the building.”  Continue Reading