The proposed apartment complex at 43rd and Baltimore.

After weeks of delays, the city has approved the proposal for a large residential building at the corner of 43rd and Baltimore that will include a large restaurant overlooking Clark Park.

The planned glass and brick building at 4224 Baltimore Ave., which has been two years in the making and has included a half-dozen community meetings, will include 132 units, a mix of upscale rental apartments aimed at young professionals and condo units for sale. It also includes 65 underground parking spaces and 50 indoor bike parking spaces.

The Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee, the Friends of Clark Park and the University City Historical Society all approved the plan, but the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the city governmental body that reviews zoning variances, narrowly approved the project 3-2, according to Plan Philly. Opponents argued that the proposed building, which required a zoning change to include a five-story wing, would be out of character with the rest of the block.  Continue Reading

It was standing room only last night at the Community Education Center as residents and business owners discussed the future of the 3600 block of Lancaster Avenue, one of the signature blocks in the Powelton Village neighborhood (photo by West Philly Local).

Residents and business owners met in the Powelton Village neighborhood last night and vowed to take a stand against the possible demolition of the 3600 block of Lancaster Ave., a historic commercial block that stands in the shadows of glassy high rises encroaching on the neighborhood.

Known as the Lancaster Mews and built in the 1870s, the block of ground floor commercial and upstairs apartments on the south side of Lancaster Ave. is the latest neighborhood symbol of angst over rapidly increasing development in the neighborhood. The Powelton Village Civic Association (PVCA) has tried to stave off the rumored demolition of the block by having it added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

The PVCA filed the application after it became known that AP Construction, which owns the block, reportedly began interviewing demolition firms.

“The threat of demolition was imminent,” Powelton Village Civic Association zoning chair George Poulin told the standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people gathered at the Community Education Center last night. “We feel really really threatened by what we are seeing in the neighborhood.”  Continue Reading

The University City Arts League (UCAL) is preparing for two big weekends as it will be opening two concurrent exhibitions. “Art in the Open,” a group show of eight multidisciplinary artists will open at noon this Friday at the UCAL Gallery (4226 Spruce St), and New York artist Aaron Asis will present “Ci-Lines,” a pop-up satellite installation across the street at the historic St. Andrew’s Collegiate Chapel (42nd and Spruce, entrance at 42nd and Locust) starting next Saturday, Feb. 28. This will be a rare opportunity to get inside St. Andrew’s.

“Art in the Open” is part of an annual event series. Over the course of four days in May 2014, thirty artists created art inspired by the landscape along Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. Materials used to create their works along the River Walk include sound, spray paint, string and electrical tape. The UCAL gallery will host eight of the artists participating in the program: Noemi Armstrong, Aaron Asis, Lewis Colburn, Heejin Jang, Tom Judd, Eun Hye Kang, Tyler Kline, and Mat Tomezsko. The featured artists hail from as far as South Korea and as near as Philadelphia. This event will be the second of three parts of the “Art in the Open” series. The opening reception will take place this Friday (Feb. 20) from 6-8 p.m. The exhibit will be available for public viewing from February 20 until March 20, from noon to 6 p.m.  Continue Reading

The Blockley, a popular music venue located at 38th and Ludlow, will close its doors at the end of this month, its owners revealed on Facebook last night. The venue, which has had brushes with the law over serving underage patrons, lost its liquor license “without much notice,” the post read. The license has to be moved out of the building by the end of the year.

The last performances at the venue are currently scheduled for December 27 and 28 and all 2014 performances have been canceled, according to the Facebook post. The Blockley staff also told Philadelphia Magazine that they’re working on a big farewell concert.

The venue opened in 2009 and has hosted numerous music performances since. The place was particularly popular among college students and was shut down temporarily for allegedly serving minors.

The Blockley’s location, which includes an intimate stage and dance floor, has long been a staple of live music in Philadelphia. When it was the Chestnut Cabaret, the venue was a frequent stop for up-and-coming acts in the 80s and 90s, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Pogues, Phish, Sonic Youth, The Roches, Soul Asylum, The Meat Puppets; local acts such as Schoolly D and the Dead Milkmen; and established favorites like John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, Parliament and Blue Oyster Cult.

It is still unclear what will happen to the property after The Blockley leaves.

(Photo via theblockley.com)

A new chapter began last night in the ongoing saga of 400 S. 40th Street, the contentious property on the edge of the University of Pennsylvania’s growing footprint that includes a historic mansion that community members, developers and Penn officials have been quarreling over for a decade.

Developers presented preliminary drawings last night to the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee for a graduate housing complex that keeps the original mid-19th Century Italianate mansion, strips away the hideous concrete block additions added when it was a nursing home and adds a detached five-story, L-shaped housing complex aimed at graduate students.

Residents look over a preliminary drawing of a new proposal for 40th and Pine last night at the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee meeting.

“We’re hoping to build support for this approach and avoid a couple more years of litigation,” said Jonathan Weiss of Equinox Management and Construction, the developer behind “Azalea Gardens.” “We’re trying to find a way forward.”

The developers and officials from Penn, which bought the property at 40th and Pine streets in 2008,  presented the plan as a compromise to  head off a lawsuit filed by the nearby Woodland Terrace Homeowners Association after the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment (and the Philadelphia Historical Commission and SHCA) approved a plan last November that would have demolished the mansion to make room for a five-story structure. Penn officials argued that the mansion presented a hardship for any plans to develop the property.

That five-story structure without the mansion was proposed after many residents balked at a previous plan for a seven-story structure that kept the historic mansion intact. That proposal came after a plan to build an 11-story, long-term stay hotel (which was eventually built on the 4100 block of Walnut) was abandoned.  Continue Reading

Early this year, it was revealed that a mixed-use high-rise tower would replace two historically designated brownstones on 38^th and Chestnut Streets, with construction completing in 2015. It seems that demolition of those two brownstones, formerly Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral’s parish house, is fast approaching, Hidden City Philadelphia recently reported.

According to Philadelphia License & Inspection records, a demolition permit was secured for the brownstones, located at 3723-25 Chestnut Street, on September 27 and updated on November 1 with an amendment for inclusion of a revised work plan. Once demolition completes, construction will begin this year on the $97 million project, developed and overseen by local firm Radnor Property Group (RPG) in partnership with the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. The end result will feature a 25-story residential tower offering 276 apartment units, retail on the ground floor, and a fitness center.  Continue Reading