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

UPDATE (April 8, 2016): Parked cars were removed and a few dividers were put today on the street near the construction site, as we assume to provide a path for pedestrians:

Not sure if these are meant to protect pedestrians forced into street at abandoned constr'n site at 4128 Chester 1/2 pic.twitter.com/nVFr3BAThP

— Phila. Bikes (@philabikes) April 8, 2016

Those of you who live or pass by the area of 42nd and Chester probably have been wondering what’s happening with the new apartment building on the southeast corner. The construction of the three-story, six-unit building at 4128 Chester Ave. was supposed to have been completed last summer. All its units were leased, with move-in dates in August 2015.

But the construction stalled months ago. The site has looked abandoned for a while, looking “hideous and dispiriting,” according to Spruce Hill Community Association zoning chair Barry Grossbach.

The unfinished building is now for sale for $1.75 million, according to a listing on Realtor.com. The building sits on a 2,6140-square-foot lot and includes overall 16 bedrooms and eight full baths, according to the listing. The location makes it “desirable student housing.” The listing also states that construction of the building is currently being completed.  Continue Reading

Photos West Philly Local

Editor’s Note: After this story was printed, Spruce Hill Community Association’s zoning chair Barry Grossbach said that they “begged the owners of 243 [S. 45th St.] not to take the building down. My impression is that they are building a multi-unit structure.”

Developers continue to buy properties and land around Penn and Drexel and turn them into apartments buildings mostly aimed at students. The photo above is from a new project at 41st and Ludlow. Ludlow Brothers LLC purchased a single family home at that location in 2014 and demolished it to make room for a four-story apartment building.

Another Spruce Hill development project, luxury apartments on S. 45th Street between Spruce and Locust, has been completed. As was reported earlier, an old West Philly row home at 245 S. 45th St. was demolished to make room for the new four-story 15-unit building. However, we recently noticed that another old row home, right next door to the new apartment building was also being torn down:

It’s not clear yet what is coming in its place. The 5-bedroom home at 243 S. 45th St. was sold last summer for $399,000 to developer South Fortyfive 243 LLC, according to property records.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell was at a building site at the corner of Farragut and Sansom this morning as a modular apartment building was being dropped into place.

Another pre-fab, modular apartment building is going up along Sansom Street. This one is behind the Sunoco at Sansom and Farragut.

Even Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell was on hand when they started dropping the pieces in place on Tuesday morning.

The building’s units were dropped in one by one by a crane parked along Farragut Street.  Continue Reading

A zoning meeting for a potentially highly-valuable piece of property on the 5000 block of Hazel Avenue is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 17. Residents are invited to hear the proposal to build a three-story single-family home on a vacant lot at 5023 Hazel Avenue, between two other three-story homes. The meeting is organized by Garden Court Community Association’s Zoning Committee and will be held at Ahimsa House, 5007 Cedar Ave., starting at 7:30 p.m. Everyone who has questions or concerns about this proposal is welcome to attend the meeting.

The 2,200 square foot lot was purchased for $60,000 in July 2015 by Elkins Park based company HSSK LLC, which is planning to build a semi-detached structure with a roof deck and a pilot house for access to the roof deck, according to the information posted on the City’s Office of Licences and Inspections website. The cleaning of the lot ahead of the construction has already begun (pictured).