The City’s Department of Licenses and Inspections has issued zoning permits for the demolition of six row homes on the east side of S. 44th Street between Spruce and Locust – from 245 S. 44th St. to 255 S. 44th St.

The three-story row homes have been used as single-family rental properties until recently. The city issued use permits for the buildings in 2018, allowing the property owners to repurpose the existing structures for multi-family use, with four to five units per building. Continue Reading

A new bike share station has been installed near Malcolm X Park (52nd and Larchwood).

Philadelphia’s bike share program, Indego, has installed more bike share stations around the city after announcing plans to expand its service area to more underserved neighborhoods last December. As part of this plan, Indego has been expanding its operation in West Philadelphia and in the past few months, the following new bike docking stations have appeared in West Philly:

• 52nd and Chestnut
• 52nd and Larchwood (near Malcolm X Park)
• 50th and Baltimore Continue Reading

                        Click to enlarge

The annual Philadelphia Marathon will return this Sunday, Nov. 21 after last year’s hiatus with COVID-19 safety measures in place. The Half-Marathon will be held on Saturday, Nov. 20. Both events kick off at 7 a.m. at 22nd St. and Benjamin Franklin Parkway and will bring road closures in many parts of the city, including in some West Philly areas.

Street and road closures will begin on Saturday and Sunday as early as 2 a.m. and will continue for the duration of the Half-Marathon and Marathon. All streets except Eakins Oval are expected to be reopened no later than 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Continue Reading

60th and Chancellor Streets redevelopment project rendering (courtesy of WPRE)

A large-scale redevelopment project has been proposed for the site of the former Imperial Ballroom building at 215-19 S. 60th Street and other nearby properties that will include construction of affordable housing, new community and event spaces, and a new public park or parking lot.

The basic project description so far is as follows, according to the developer, West Philadelphia Real Estate (WPRE):

• New construction of 30 affordable housing units along S. 60th Street and the 5900 block of Chancellor Street.
• New construction of three ground floor community spaces at 221, 225 and 227 S. 60th St. These spaces will be rented for nominal consideration ($1) to non-profit community groups who provide services to benefit the 60th Street Corridor / Cobbs Creek neighborhood. Continue Reading

A rash of thefts from USPS mail collection boxes, first reported at the end of last year, continues to be a problem in some West Philadelphia neighborhoods, according to media reports. Thieves have recently broken into unidentified mailboxes, stole checks, and fraudulently cashed them for thousands of dollars, according to a report by CBS Philly. The amount in one of the stolen and cashed checks was changed from 40 dollars to 3,000, according to the report.

Thefts from USPS mailboxes have been occurring mostly in and around the zip code 19143, sometimes multiple times from the same mailbox. Last December, neighbors reported mailbox break-ins and thefts of checks, DVDs and letters/forms containing some personal information from mailboxes in Garden Court, Spruce Hill and Cedar Park neighborhoods in West Philly. Continue Reading

A demolition permit has been issued for the former Fit Gym building at 4415 Chestnut St. The building will be demolished to make room for a new five-story 40-unit residential building as part of the Philadelphia real estate company Orens Brothers’ redevelopment plan for the 4400 block of Chestnut. The new building will include ground-floor commercial space, a “green” roof, and 14 bicycle spaces in an accessible route, according to the building permit issued in March. Continue Reading