Google Street View image of 4046-4048 Chestnut Street rowhomes.

The twin apartment buildings at 4046-4048 Chestnut Street, which date back to the late 19th century, were saved at least temporarily after a municipal court judge issued a ruling yesterday barring demolition until mid-October.

Court of Common Pleas Judge Linda Carpenter’s decision found the demolition permit issued in March to a developer that sought to knock the buildings down and build student housing was invalid. The stay of demolition is until October 15, according to Plan Philly.

The final decision on demolition hinges on two more decisions. The first will be a likely appeal of Carpenter’s ruling that the permit is invalid and second will be a hearing at the Philadelphia Historic Commission to determine whether the buildings should be added to Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, which would make demolition far more difficult.

The buildings were sold on March 1 to a new owner who planned to replace them with new apartment buildings aimed at students. A demolition permit was issued later that month, but an application to declare the building “historic” was made on May 16 in an effort to save the buildings.

The hearing to determine whether the rowhomes can be demolished according to their developers’ plans was held last month and resulted in the decision issued yesterday.

For more in-depth coverage of the case and a copy of Judge Carpenter’s ruling, check out the Plan Philly story.

The City of Philadelphia has taken the landowners of 4301 Walnut Street, where the Supreme Shop n Bag is located, to court to pay more than $158,000 in property taxes.

The city filed a “sequestration” case against Gladwynne-based EFBEE Associates, owners of the property, in municipal court on July 11. The School District of Philadelphia, which would receive much of the taxes collected, is also named as a plaintiff (see the file below). A sequestration hearing is typically the last resort on commercial properties owing back taxes on the 66,000-square-foot parcel and will likely result in the garnishing of rental income – so Supreme will pay the city its rent instead of the landowner – until the back taxes are paid.

EFBEE has 20 days to respond to the sequestration order.  Continue Reading

Firefighters at the scene of fire on the 5200 block of Larchwood Ave. (Twitter photo @a_butler)

A serious fire broke out this evening in a two-story vacant row home on the 5200 block of Larchwood Avenue. The fire began shortly before 5 p.m. and was put out after about 18 minutes, according to PhillyFireNews.com.

No people were found inside the building and no injuries were reported.

The trolley tunnel will close down tonight at 10 p.m. and reopen at 5 a.m. on Monday, SEPTA has announced. The closure is due to maintenance of overhead wires and will impact all routes.

Routes 11, 13, 34, and 36 will divert to 40th and Market Streets and Route 10 will divert to 40th and Filbert Streets.

This closure is not related to the annual “Tunnel Blitz,” which was recently postponed due to the recent problems with Septa’s Regional Rail cars.

The scene on the west side of 52nd Street near Hazel (Photo West Philly Local)

Twelve children were hospitalized after a day care van crashed into an building at 52nd and Hazel Friday morning. The incident was reported at around 9:30 a.m. Children and the driver of an unmarked van were taken to area hospitals for observation, according to reports. Police said the children were not hurt, and the driver was in stable condition.

Reportedly, the driver experienced problems with the brakes before the crash. The investigation continues. Detours are expected in the area.

Neighbors are reporting an early morning hit and run crash at 45th and Spruce that caused some heavy damage to cars parked along Spruce Street:

“I heard a huge crash at about 3:30 this am – it set off a car alarm across the street! I went to see what happened, and it looks like someone smashed up two cars with their own car/truck (possibly carrying sand or building materials, as there were lots of chunks of random sandy dirt in the intersection) and drove off.”

The photo above was taken shortly after 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning near the intersection of 45th and Spruce.