An artist’s rendering of redeveloped Bartram Village.

A $50 million grant will help revitalize Bartram Village neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia. The grant was announced last week by U.S. Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman and U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon.

The grant was awarded to the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) and will be used to rehabilitate and transform affordable housing at Bartram Village, a public housing site located next to historic Bartram’s Garden along the Schuylkill River, as well as make investments to “create a neighborhood that is vibrant, well-connected to services and public transportation, and is safe and welcoming for Philadelphians.”

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The annual SEPTA Trolley maintenance project, Trolley Tunnel Blitz, is scheduled to begin this Friday, July 7.

While trolleys will be on diversion to 40th and Market via 42nd Street, SEPTA crews will be working in the tunnel and at the 40th Street Trolley Portal near 40th and Woodland. A portion of Woodland Avenue immediately west of the gated entrance to The Woodlands cemetery will be closed to vehicular traffic from July 8 to July 24 to accommodate SEPTA crews working on trolley track replacement (see map). Vehicles can only enter the cemetery by traveling west on Woodland Avenue.

In other Woodland Avenue news, it has been revealed that Phase 1 of the Woodland Avenue Complete Streets project, which includes installation of traffic signals and marked pedestrian crosswalks at the intersections of Woodland Avenue with Chester Avenue and near the Woodland Cemetery gates/40th St. Trolley Portal, has been postponed until next year. Design plans and construction contract to be used for this work are currently being finalized.

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Streetscape improvements are in the works for Woodland Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets, and next Thursday, June 15, community members are invited to meet the design team, share thoughts and ask questions (the event has been rescheduled from June 8 due to the hazardous air pollution in Philadelphia). The Woodland Avenue Complete Streets Project pop-up event, organized by Vision Zero, will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at The Woodlands Cemetery front gates at 40th and Woodland (see the event flyer below).

Streetscape improvements are a part of a larger reconstruction project along Woodland Avenue between 39th and 42nd streets. Some safety improvements, like traffic lights and crosswalks, are expected to be installed at the section of Woodland Avenue near The Woodlands cemetery and the intersection with Chester Avenue later this year. To read more about the project phases and what they include, click here. Continue Reading

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Community Resource Hub was held on Wednesday.

After more than two years in development and construction, a new Community Resource Hub has opened at 277 South 52nd St. The grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, attended by state and local officials, like State Sen. Vincent  Hughes and City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, was held on Wednesday. The new three-story structure replaced a dilapidated former business.

The project represents a significant milestone for The Enterprise Center  Community Development Corporation as the organization moves into a new phase of growth and larger strategic reinvestment plan for the historic 52nd Street commercial corridor.

The new Community Resource Hub will house offices for The Enterprise Center CDC on the first floor, extending outreach for business services along the corridor. The second and third floors will house market rate apartments, providing housing for individuals living and working along the corridor. The Enterprise Center is planning to utilize this model for more projects. Continue Reading

The University City District‘s annual report released this week shows that an upward trend in construction that began in 2021 will icrease dramatically in 2023, with more square footage of commercial and residential development under construction than in any year since the report began in 2002.

The “State of University City,” a yearly snapshot of development trends in the area roughly bounded by the Schuylkill River to the east, 50th Street to the west, Market Street/Powelton Avenue/Spring Garden Street to the north and Woodland Avenue/University Avenue to the south, also shows a slight increase in public transit use compared to last year. But ridership is still roughly half that of pre-Pandemic levels on trolleys and the Market-Frankford Line. Continue Reading

The two plans under consideration for Woodland Avenue near the intersection with Chester Avenue and down to 42nd Street.

Traffic lights and crosswalks are coming to the section of Woodland Avenue near The Woodlands cemetery and the intersection with Chester Avenue.

Visitors to The Woodlands know that crossing Woodland Avenue at the awkward intersection at Chester or the trolley portal can get a little dicey. But a new plan unveiled last night at a Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) meeting will slow traffic along Woodland and close down the little section of 41st Street that often baffles drivers and pedestrians alike.

“The whole project is about user safety, whether you’re a pedestrian, a cyclist or a driver,” Julie Bush of the landscape architecture firm Ground Reconsidered told the SHCA board. Continue Reading