The plot that Drexel plans to buy includes University City High School and Drew Elementary School.

Drexel University is set to substantially expand its footprint north of Market Street with the tentative purchase of the 14-acre property where the shuttered University City High School and Drew Elementary School currently stand. Drexel plans to build residential housing, retail space and, most importantly, a K-8 school complex.

Drexel’s plan was outlined in broad terms during a meeting Wednesday night at West Philadelphia High School to announce that the university was the winning bidder on the property, one of seven properties the School District of Philadelphia has for sale. The School Reform Commission is expected to approve the sale during its March 20 meeting.

Drexel’s plan for the site includes an expanded Powel Elementary School, which currently serves students in K-4, and a Science Leadership Academy (SLA) middle school. If approved, the site would be the first middle school for SLA,  the acclaimed magnet school that has a campus in Center City that works closely with the Franklin Institute and a nascent high school program in the Beeber Middle School building in the Overbrook neighborhood.

Officials stressed that the plans are very tentative and are subject to several community meetings and the city zoning process. The terms of the purchase, including a possible price, has not been announced.

About 100 people attended the meeting, including members of the Powelton Village Civic Association and the Mantua Civic Association. The responses to the announcement ranged from relief to indignation.

“The community coming into this was very nervous,” said George Poulin of the Powelton Village Civic Association. “But we are excited about the possibilities of the site.”

The Powelton Village neighborhood would benefit the most from the project, particularly from an expanded Powel School.

Mantua residents, whose children lost their high school when University City High closed, questioned whether the project would help them.

“We don’t know where our community is heading,” said Terry Wrice, a University City High graduate and son of famed city activist Herman Wrice. “Our kids are all over the place.”

High school students from Mantua have been assigned to West Philadelphia High School, where many have experienced confrontations with students from other neighborhoods.

Lucy Kerman, Drexel’s vice provost for University and Community Partnerships, said the university has no plans to include a high school on the site.

“Our commitment has been to support the existing school and that means Powel,” she said during the meeting. “Our vision is in the K-8 space.”

The site will also include residential housing. “It will not be dormitories,” said Bob Francis, Drexel’s vice president of University Facilities.

Francis said the retail would be “small and locally organized.”

“We see ourselves as participating in the recovery of West Philadelphia,” Francis said. “This is about improving the tax base and bringing in jobs.”

Drexel’s push further north into West Philadelphia neighborhoods has increased under president John Fry. Fry, of course, was one of the key architects of the University of Pennsylvania’s initiatives west of 40th Street, including the construction of the Penn Alexander School, while he was executive vice president of Penn from 1995 to 2002.

Residents will have many opportunities to weigh in on the project at different stages. The next chance is the March 20 meeting of the SRC. Click here for information on registering to speak at that meeting. The deadline to register is 4:30 p.m. on March 19.

–Mike Lyons

UPDATED (2/11/2014): Due to heavy snowfall forecast, the meeting on the potential sale of the University City High School, Drew Elementary School and Walnut Center buildings has been postponed until Wednesday, Feb. 26.

The School District of Philadelphia has scheduled informational meetings where you can learn more about the potential sale of some West Philadelphia school buildings that have been vacant since their closure last summer. The meetings will provide updates on efforts to sell the buildings, communicate next steps in the sales process and share details about how the public can give feedback and comment.

The remaining meetings are:

• Tuesday, Feb. 11—Shaw Middle School building
  Meeting location: 5400 Warrington Ave.
  Registration: 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
  Meeting: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, Feb. 26—University City High School, Drew Elementary School and Walnut Center buildings
  Meeting location: West Philadelphia High School, 4901 Chestnut St.
  Registration: 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
  Meeting: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

School District Chief Operating Officer Fran Burns talks about the district’s plan to sell the Alexander Wilson School building at 46th and Woodland to developers who will likely convert it to a retail/residential building.

It appears that a mixed-used retail/residential building will replace the Alexander Wilson School (46th and Woodland), which the school district closed last June.

Officials from the School District of Philadelphia said during a public meeting Thursday night that all of the leading bids on the building proposed similar uses – a combination of street-level retail and housing. The district’s Chief Operating Officer Fran Burns told about 25 residents gathered in the auditorium of the Henry C. Lea School that it’s “probably not going to be a demolition, but a major renovation within.”

The final bid will not be officially announced and approved until the School Reform Commission (SRC) meeting on Feb. 20 or March 20 (we’ll let you know when we know). No other uses for the building, which many in the community hoped would reopen as a charter school, were proposed by developers and no more offers will be accepted.

Although the purpose of Thursday’s meeting was to elicit public comment on the proposal, officials offered very few details, which frustrated many in attendance.

“I’m a little frustrated about how little of this process seems to be about the impact on the neighborhood,” said a resident who lives near the school.

Burns hinted that the offers proposed student and “multi-family” residences and that senior housing was not part of any of the proposals. No charter school offered a bid, but the nearby University of the Sciences expressed some interest, Burns said.

There are more opportunities for public input, including at the SRC meeting and during the zoning process, but that will be input on the project’s details, not on whether the building should become housing or something else.

Neither the names of bidders nor bid amounts were released. Burns would not say how much is owed in bond payments on Wilson, but said that the sale of the closed schools will not do much to offset budget problems.

“The budget will not be fixed through property sales,” she said.

Here are some more details on the sale process.

The district hopes to close the sale of the school by June 30.

–Mike Lyons

About 150 people turned out at the People’s Baptist Church at 5039 Baltimore Ave. for a public meeting about the future of the 5000 and 5100 blocks of Baltimore Ave. Business owner and state representative candidate Algernong Allen (front left) and David Hincher (right), both of Cedar Park Neighbors, facilitated the meeting, which raised as many questions as it answered. (Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local)

UPDATED (2/1/14): City Paper’s Ryan Briggs also has a recap of Thursday night’s meeting at the People’s Baptist Church. He also caught up with Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell after the meeting to ask why she was missing and what’s happening with the land around 50th/51st and Baltimore. Read more here.

If one thing is clear following last night’s public meeting on the future of the 5000 and 5100 blocks of Baltimore Avenue, it’s that nothing is clear about the future of the 5000 and 5100 blocks of Baltimore Avenue.

About 150 people jammed into the basement of the People’s Baptist Church, to talk about what kind of development, if any, might take place in the area. The block is a patchwork of city and privately held land. Some parcels have structures – many are abandoned – and some are empty lots.

One longstanding plan by a private developer would expand the Mercy Wellness Center at 5008 Baltimore and include parking lots. Another plan by a private developer would have put a garden center on the block, but investors were scared off by the possibility of eminent domain seizures by the city.

Much of the background was included in a story last week.

Anxiety about the future of the area among nearby residents and property holders prompted the meeting. The meeting was well-intentioned, but some key players – like folks from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and others –  were missing, so many questions and concerns went unaddressed. People were looking for answers about blight certification, eminent domain and definite plans for the block. We don’t purport to have all of the answers in this post. We do try to fill in some holes by providing information (if you know more about this than we do, which is quite possible, comment below and we’ll try to fill holes together). For those of you have been keeping a close eye on this there will likely be nothing new here:

• Blight certification. The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority oversees blight certification in the city. The ins and outs of that process are spelled out (somewhat) here. Blight and redevelopment reports are here. The area near 51st and Baltimore was certified for redevelopment in 1995, so the report is not online. The area is now due for recertification, which could pave the way for redevelopment. Certification clears the way for lots of things, including condemnation or seizure through eminent domain.

• Redevelopment plan. Before the city proceeds with redevelopment, it must have a plan. In the Philadelphia 2035 plan, the City Planning Commission identified 51st and Baltimore as an area where blight certification needed to be updated and a new plan written. It also notes that “senior housing” had been identified as a possible priority. The key here is that there needs to be a legitimate, specific plan in place with “demonstrated financing.” One plan that has been on the table for many years is the expansion of the Mercy Wellness Center, but no action has been taken.

• Eminent domain. Several speakers at last night’s meeting voiced concerns about the threat of eminent domain seizure as part of a redevelopment process chasing away potential investors. This requires a City Council resolution.

So that’s about the size of it. More questions were probably raised than answered last night. Perhaps the best thing we can do is serve as a public discussion platform. If you have comments, insights or answers, please feel free to comment below.

– Mike Lyons

EDITOR’S NOTE: After publication of this post we heard back from the Orens Brothers, who own The Croydon, the once infamous apartment building at 49th and Spruce, which is undergoing extensive renovation. As the first part of the building revitalization project is expected to be complete soon, we have updated the post with this information.

West Philly Local would like to update its readers on a few business openings and real estate developments in the area we covered in the past.

• The south wing of The Croydon, which contains 27 units, will be complete around April 1 and ready for occupancy in the spring, said John Orens of Orens Brothers, who purchased the property, formerly known to squatters as “Paradise City,” in 2011. The north wing and center building, which make up 100 units, will be complete and ready for occupancy around Sept. 1, 2014.

The Sedgley (photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local)

• The renovation of the historic Sedgley Apartments building is nearing completion, according to Noah Ostroff, principal at 400 S. 45^th Street LLC, which owns the Sedgley. The work on the building, which has stood on the corner of S. 45^th and Pine Streets for more than 100 years, began last summer and was expected to be complete this month, but is taking a little longer because of the size of the building, Ostroff told West Philly Local. Two sample units will be done in the next two weeks and the building will be ready for occupancy in the spring. Tours of the building are expected to start in the next 30 days (email: noah@phillyliving.com with questions).

• Great news for South Asian cuisine lovers: Shaban Kabab & Curry opened its doors earlier this week at 4145 Chestnut Street and is already taking online orders. Stay tuned for our review of this place.

• Due to minor setbacks, West Philadelphia Community Acupuncture (WPCA), the new holistic clinic run by Philadelphia Community Acupuncture’s Sarah Lefkowich, will delay its grand opening until the end of February.

According to Lefkowich, West Philadelphia Community Acupuncture’s efforts to open, originally scheduled for early January, were stalled by city inspections and permit issues facing the building where the practice will be located, which is undergoing renovations including a new building facade, walls, ceiling, bathroom, and floors. “We are so excited to be a part of it,” she said.

Lefkowich said there is no firm date for when WPCA will open next month, but she will keep the community updated through West Philadelphia Community Acupuncture’s Facebook page and company newsletter, which readers can sign up for here. The clinic is still offering $10 treatments as a grand opening special for its first month open.

• Cafe Renata is celebrating its first anniversary this Saturday and community members are invited to join in the celebration (more info is on Renata’s Facebook page). Congratulations to the owners, Yasser and Katie. As a reminder to our readers, this is how it all began for these guys.

–Annamarya Scaccia

In recent months, the 5000 block of Baltimore Avenue has become a politically-charged center of controversy that has West Philly residents both frustrated and perplexed. Should the block, flanked by some boarded-up buildings, evolve with the help of local businesses into a commercial strip? Or should the city step in, reclaim the land and enlarge an existing health center and include parking?

A public meeting scheduled for next Thursday (see details below) will provide an opportunity for business owners and residents to discuss these two possibilities.

As Naked Philly reported earlier this month, community members learned in November about possible tentative plans to redevelop mostly privately-owned properties between 50th and 51st Streets. The redevelopment, which would happen through eminent domain, could make way for an expansion of the Mercy Wellness Center at 5008 Baltimore Avenue as per a proposal currently being considered by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA).

Baltimore Avenue near 51st Street.

For many residents, the tentative expansion proposal, submitted to the PRA by the Baltimore Avenue Redevelopment Corporation (BARC) — the non-profit that owns the Wellness Center—runs contrary to the needs of the community. In business owner Saba Tedla’s view, what the neighborhood needs along the slowly developing stretch are more restaurants and retail spaces that can solidify the Baltimore Avenue Corridor as a destination point—and without the use of eminent domain. (According to a recent City Paper article, the BARC proposal is “in flux” and may have already lost steam as inferred by statements made by BARC’s current president, Dr. Benjamin Smallwood.)

After all, more foot traffic on that block can only help Tedla, who owns Seeds Gallery at 5011 Baltimore Avenue and the restaurant Aksum further east on Baltimore and  plans to open a second restaurant across from the center this spring. She wants the competition.

“People like myself feel that the needs of the community are more for commercial retail than it is to have an expansion of a parking lot and a healthcare center,” Telda told West Philly Local. “If I know I’m opening a restaurant, why am I asking for restaurants? Because I am a member of the community. It’s productive and economical for more people to have more jobs [and] to attract more young professionals.”  Continue Reading