Rendering image of the new USciences Student Residence Hall currently under construction at 46th and Woodland.

University of the Sciences and city officials will participate in a groundbreaking ceremony today for the new student residence hall at 46th and Woodland, on the site of the demolished Alexander Wilson elementary school.

USciences purchased the school building in 2014, a year after the School District of Philadelphia closed it down and decided to sell it. The university revealed plans for its new student residence hall in that location in the spring of 2016. The new dorm will house over 400 students and will also include ground-floor retail and an open courtyard along Woodland Ave (see rendering above). It will replace housing the university currently owns.

The new Student Residence Hall and Mixed-Use Facility is set to open in the winter of 2018-19. For more information and images, go here.

The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

Former Alexander Wilson School building at 46th and Woodland.

It’s been a while since local community members received any updates on the University of the Sciences’ (USciences) plans regarding the re-development of the former Alexander Wilson School building at 46th and Woodland. This Wednesday (March 30), residents are invited to get the latest scoop about this project at a community meeting on the university’s campus.

The meeting will feature an update on the Campus Master Plan, including the Alexander Wilson School site, remarks from University leadership, an open forum for questions, and a chance to interact with University representatives and partners. Light refreshments will be served.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m., and here’s the agenda:

7:00-7:45 p.m. – Introductions and Remarks
7:45-8:00 p.m. – Open Forum for Community Questions
8:00-8:30 p.m. – Refreshments and Meet & Greet  Continue Reading

University of the Sciences officials have some plans they want to share with the community and they are holding a community meeting on Thursday, Aug. 20. University leadership will provide updates on the Campus Master Plan and reveal their plans regarding a celebration of the long history of the Alexander Wilson School.

The meeting will be at the McNeil Science and Technology Center at 45th and Woodland from 7 – 8 p.m.

As a reminder, Alexander Wilson Elementary School was permanently closed in 2013, and USciences purchased the 1.03-acre parcel at 46th and Woodland last fall with the plans to convert it into student housing and student-focused retail.

Former Alexander Wilson School building at 46th and Woodland (Google Street View image).

The University of the Sciences (USP) has acquired the former Alexander Wilson School at 46th and Woodland and plans to turn it into student housing.

USP paid a reported $2 million for the 1.03-acre parcel that borders its campus and includes the three story school building, which the School District of Philadelphia closed along with nearly two dozen other public schools in 2013. The purchase, which was approved at the October 16 School Reform Commission meeting, follows a long bid process that included interest from West Philly based developers Orens Brothers.

The university will turn the site into student housing and student-focused retail, according to Helen Giles-Gee, USP’s president.

“The location of the Wilson School adjacent to the [USP] campus is a strategic one for our university and one that we hope will provide both student housing and retail that makes sense for the community and for us,” Giles-Gee said in a statement. “Though we understand that no community wants to lose its neighborhood school, we hope to work closely with area residents as we develop our plans for the site.”

Early last spring Orens Brothers seemed to have locked up the purchase of the Wilson building for $4.6 million, but the District later asked for clarification of the bids and USP emerged as the front runner.

The Wilson sale follows the sale of the old West Philadelphia High School (47th and Walnut), which will be converted to residential units.

In September, the SRC lowered the sale price of the old West Philly High by $900,000 to $5.1 million to compensate for “design inefficiencies” in the building, which was constructed in 1912. The developer, WPHS Venture Partners, told the SRC that it had to lower the number of units it could build from 300 to about 250, prompting a request to the SRC for a price reduction.

We will keep you updated on the development of these two buildings as they go through the zoning and public comment phases.

A mural at the Alexander Wilson School.

The Alexander Wilson School (46th and Woodland), which is one of two dozen public schools slated to close in a couple of weeks, is being eyed as a possible location for a charter school.

A public meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, June  13 beginning at 6 p.m. to discuss that possibility. Speakers will include Marc Mannella, CEO of KIPP: Philadelphia Schools and Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell. The meeting will be held at the 46th Street Baptist Church, right across the street from Wilson at 46th and Woodland. All parents, students and members of the community are invited to attend.

While the fate of most of the closing schools is unclear, it is likely that some of them will become independently run charter schools. Some 57,000 of Philadelphia’s public school students were enrolled in charter schools this year, about 37 percent of all students.

Begun in 2003, KIPP: Philadelphia Schools currently operates one elementary school, KIPP Philadelphia Elementary Academy, two middle schools, KIPP Philadelphia Charter School and KIPP West Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School, and one high school, KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy. The company hopes to operate 10 schools in West and North Philadelphia by 2016, according to its website. Those plans include adding one elementary school per year between 2013 and 2015.

– Mike Lyons

School district officials, including superintendent William Hite, will be at the Alexander Wilson School (1300 S. 46th St., near the southern tip of Clark Park) on Wednesday to hear public input on the school’s proposed closure ahead of a vote scheduled for March 7 that would shutter three dozen schools across the city. The public hearing will be held from 4-5:30 p.m.

The district’s facilities master plan released in December calls for the closure of Wilson, a neighborhood K-6 school, and the relocation some of its students to Lea Elementary School (47th and Locust). Wilson is one of 23 elementary schools that would be closed under the plan.

The District expects the closings and subsequent sales of the schools to save the district some $30 million per year.

But district officials have said those plans could be changed before the School Reform Commission’s vote on March 7. A key factor in the district’s recommendations to the School Reform Commission will be the public backing of a school, so everyone in the neighborhood is encouraged to attend the meeting.

As enrollment at the Penn Alexander School tightens every year, nearby schools are going to continue to feel some enrollment pressures, at least in the lower grades. The closure of Wilson will ratchet up that pressure.

Also, the City Council is holding hearings on school closings on Tuesday beginning at 11 a.m. in room 400 of City Hall.  Hite and SRC members are expected to attend and testify. Council members are expected to negotiate a reduction in the number of school closures. For more on those meetings, go to The Notebook story here.