The Post Brothers, a real estate development firm that has been gobbling up residential properties in West Philly, is shopping around plans for a newly renovated Hamilton Court, the historic apartment building complex at 39th and Chestnut.

The plans include a glassy new two-story structure in the courtyard (see rendering above) that would include ground-floor retail and a second-floor gym for residents. Built in 1901, Hamilton Court was one of West Philadelphia’s grand apartment buildings. Most of its grandeur has worn away as it’s now mostly filled with Penn undergraduates and its once elegant courtyard that once included a large fountain is now fenced off.  Continue Reading

Just a week before Philadelphia public schools reopen for the 2016-2017 school year, a number of local businesses and organizations are holding school supply drives.

• PB & Jams PHL and Sofistifunk are hosting The Back to School Jawn on Wednesday, Aug 31, from 6 – 9 p.m. The event will take place in Cedar Park at the Taco Angeleno location (5019 Baltimore Ave.). Please bring some new school supplies for neighborhood kids heading back to school, and enjoy tacos and nachos from Taco Angeleno, sweet treats and shakes prepared by PB&Jams, and music by Sofistifunk. This is a low-cost event, and there’s no cover charge. For more details, check out the event’s Facebook page.

• Philadelphia Forman Mills stores, including the 48th and Market location, will be collecting school supplies for the 6ABC “Stuff a Backpack” Drive through Wednesday, Aug. 31. There will be a collection bin at each participating Forman Mills location. Suggested donation items include: number 2 pencils, colored pencils, pencil sharpeners, glue and glue sticks, markers (thin and thick), pen/pencil pouches, folders, child scissors. Items must be new and unused. Please don’t bring lunch boxes, food, or money. The store hours are: Mon-Sat 9 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., Sun 10 a.m. – 7 p.m..  Continue Reading

Many local PNC Bank customers will be disappointed to learn that the bank’s 52nd Street branch is set to close this fall. The branch, which is located at 19 S. 52nd St, will close on October 21 at 3 p.m.:

The bank has two more branches west of the Schuylkill – at 200 S. 40th St. and 3535 Market St. – and numerous ATMs east of 40th St (most of them on Penn’s campus). There is also a PNC bank ATM at 6212 Walnut St. (Photo by Twitter user @ohbadiah)

Photo courtesy of University City District.

UCD’s annual outdoor movie program, Movies in Clark Park, will kick off Friday, Aug. 26 with a Disney Pixar classic, Finding Nemo. The screening will begin at 8 p.m. in the Clark Park “Bowl” near 43rd and Chester.

The program, which is in partnership with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and Friends of Clark Park, will bring three weeks of free outdoor movies to the park as well as vendors offering food and dessert (come earlier to get them!). And don’t forget to bring your blanket or chairs.

Next Friday, Sept. 2, Creed will be screened. The program will conclude on Friday, Sept. 9 with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Police are looking for a man in his 40s who they say robbed J & P Seafood at 48th and Spruce on Thursday night. The robbery happened at 10:30 p.m., according to police when the suspect walked into the shop and asked for an order of shrimp. While talking to the cashier he pulled a shotgun from his jacket, pointed it at her and told her to open the register. He then leaned across the counter and took $363 from the register, according to police. After that he exited the store and fled on foot westbound on Spruce.

Police provided the following description of the suspect: black male, 40’s, light facial hair, wearing dark sunglasses, blue baseball cap, a multicolored windbreaker, blue jean capris, and armed with a shotgun.

Anyone with information about this robbery or suspect can contact Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183/3184 or call 911 immediately if you see this person.

Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local

A panel of city preservation experts offered a standing-room-only crowd some strategies last night on helping to preserve historic neighborhood buildings as waves of development continue to roll across the city.

Several groups have been fighting to save historically important buildings from demolition proposed by developers looking to build housing for the young professionals and students who are largely responsible for the recent upswing in the city’s population.

“We need to stop the demolition derby,” Paul Steinke, head of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, told an audience at the Walnut West Public Library (40th and Walnut).

The goal of Wednesday’s meeting was to provide local residents and community organizations some ways to save historic buildings, including private residences, from future demolition. Steinke and others on the panel hope the fight currently brewing over Jewelers’ Row along the 700 block of Sansom Street might garner enough attention that city officials, including politicians, might become more preservation friendly.  Continue Reading