BEFORE: The bedroom of the home on the 4900 block of Osage Avenue.

After a year of work, a West Philadelphia family was able to successfully clean, rehabilitate, and sell their home on the 4900 block of Osage Avenue with the help of Project Rehab, making it the eighth project completed since the University City District program launched in 2011.

Established in partnership with the City of Philadelphia’s License and Inspections, Project Rehab guides owners of degraded real estate through the process of rehabilitation, providing assistance in obtaining financing, construction contracts and, if needed, real estate contacts. In the last three years, the free UCD program has helped generate $4.3 million in financing to rehab properties that have gone through its process, and is currently working on about 24 in-need estates, said Ryan Spak, Project Rehab’s project manager.

“Project Rehab functions freely for the owner of the property. We are a completely free program for owners of distressed real estate. It will guide them to the process of rehabilitation,” Spak told West Philly Local. “We have helped multiple owners to obtain financing so they can accomplish their goal.”

AFTER: The living room of the home on the 4900 block of Osage Avenue (Photos courtesy of Ryan Spak)

As part of the program, Project Rehab actively seeks out vacant properties in the area that are in some state of disrepair and are “not being a part of our community the way it’s supposed to be,” Spak said. In the case of the Osage Avenue home, after marking the property as a possible project, Project Rehab contacted the owners in December 2012, and worked with them over the last year to clean out their home, which was overflowing with debris and suffering from structural problems due to water damage.

While the family initially wanted to rehab their home, they decided it wasn’t financially viable, said Spak. Instead, they chose to sell their property in order to rectify their debt, and worked with Project Rehab to find an affordable contractor to clean it out before placing it on the market. According to Spak, Project Rehab provided the family five options for real estate agents to choose from, with the caveat that whoever does buy the property must be able to afford to rehabilitate it completely. Within three days being on the market, he said, the Osage Avenue home received eight offers, with a bid of $50,000 over the asking price winning out.

While Project Rehab actively canvasses the neighborhood for distressed properties to help, it is also looking for owners of distressed properties to reach out and use the assistance it provides. As Spak said, “The advice is free. There is absolutely no reason why they should feel like they have no way to turn.”

If you have questions about Project Rehab, please contact UCD at 215-243-0555 or email Ryan Spak at: ryan@universitycity.org.

–Annamarya Scaccia

When West Philly Local last reported on the Center for Culinary Enterprises in May, two new restaurants options were slated to open late that summer—48th Street Grille and Planet Vegan. But the summer has come and gone, and neither restaurant has opened its doors in their respective spaces at 48th and Spruce Streets.

Photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local.

This week, West Philly Local caught up with Bryan Fenstermaker, senior director of programming at The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC), to find out the reason for the radio silence. Turns out, financing delays pushed back the grand opening of 48th Street Grille, Fenstermaker told us. According to the TEC-CDC executive, Chef Carl Lewis has signed a 10-year lease for the Culinary Center’s retail space, where he will open his American-Caribbean restaurant this spring.

As for Planet Vegan, it’s no longer opening in the second space. Owner Dorinda Hampton told West Philly Local she wants to instead focus on further expanding her health food line, Really Fresh Vegan, which operates out of the Culinary Center, and grow the list of places that carry her products. “Once things get more stable, I will start looking for another location for Planet Vegan I’m really passionate about opening it up in the near future,” Hampton said.

Real Food Works To Go will, instead, open in Planet Vegan’s place, Fenstermaker said—although there is no word yet on its launch date. Real Food Works To Go is a pilot program developed through a partnership between TEC-CDC and Real Food Works­—a Philadelphia start-up providing subscription-based, home-delivered healthy meal plans—that will function as a health food store, as well as offer on-site food preparation, cooking demos, and nutritional education.

In addition to 48th Street Grille, TEC-CDC will open the Philly Restaurant Residency Incubator in the middle retail space at the Culinary Center. The new program, said Fenstermaker, will serve as a sort of pop-up shop for the food world—aspiring restaurateurs and chefs can test out their sit-down restaurant concepts in the 1,445 sq-ft fully-functioning space without “cashing in their life savings to do so.”

The restaurant incubator model received an economic boost recently from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services through its Economic Development Healthy Food Finance Initiative Award distributed by HHS’ Office of Community Services. The award, according to Fenstermaker, will be put towards construction and operation of incubator. In February, TEC-CDC will also release a business plan competition for the incubator.

“The restaurant incubator will allow new entrepreneurs to hone their craft while we work with them to line up financing,” Fenstermaker told West Philly Local. “The end result would be to place them on corridors in West Philly and other parts of the city with financing ready to go. It is a proof of concept model to assist small entrepreneurs.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

The remnants of the “Fake House” which was demolished last month to make room for a new apartment building. Photo: Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.

Last month, a graffiti-covered building at 3862 Lancaster Avenue was demolished to make way for a three-story, 22-unit apartment building to be developed by Turn Key Realty LLC, according to city records. The building sat vacant after its residents were evicted last December.

The building was formerly a venue and makeshift apartment for artists called the “Fake House.” It was first occupied by a group of artists in the late ‘80s, according to an article by Philadelphia Weekly, and had occupants and musical performances up until the evictions.

The building was known as Fake House because the word “Fake” was painted in large letters on the front of the building. Much of the graffiti on the building enforced its counter-culture reputation, as there were strong anti-gentrification and anti-corporate messages.

The occupants never signed a formal lease, and as one resident admitted to Philadelphia Weekly almost a decade ago, “We know we’re all this close to losing our space. Anything could change at any time.”

He was right, of course. But the fascinating and somewhat subversive alt/punk hub still got another decade under its belt. The final punk show took place just a week before the evictions.

–Alex Vuocolo

Here’s another chance to save some money on your property tax bill – if you have owed and lived in your home since July 2003.

Homeowners have until Jan. 15 to apply for the Longtime Owners Occupancy Program, which is in place to help offset tax increases brought on by neighborhood development (some are calling it “gentrification relief”). If approved, the tax relief is good for 10 years.

Taken from city brochure on the LOOP program.

This offer is different from the Homestead Exemption offered earlier this year and you should apply whether you received that or not.

• You must own and have lived in this property as your primary residence since at least July 1, 2003.
• Your home is either a single family or a multi-unit property with no more than three residential units and one commercial unit.

• Your property has not received a tax abatement.

• The real estate Taxes on your property must be paid in full or you must be up-to-date on a payment plan (or have an application for a payment agreement pending).

• There is an income limit based on household size (see graphic).

Here is a brochure with more details about the LOOP program. The application is available here. The city says that applicants will be notified in March. Call 215-686-9200 with questions.

Another holiday season has come to 52nd Street and efforts are continuing to help the teeming commercial strip regain its reputation as “West Philly’s Main Street.”

52nd Street Station after renovation.

Over the past five years, the Enterprise Center’s Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC) has invested in the renewal of 52nd Street, a once busy commercial corridor hit hard by the 10-year Market-Frankford EL reconstruction project. Providing guidance and support, the neighborhood initiative group has worked to spur economic growth in the area, hoping to bring back its vitality.

As part of those efforts, TEC-CDC recently hired Akeem Dixon as the retail gateway’s first-ever Commercial Corridor Manager, made possible by support from the Philadelphia Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC). In his role, Dixon will primarily oversee a cleaning contract managed by the center, funded in part by the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, aimed to “help make 52nd Street the best it can be,” said Bryan Fenstermaker, TEC-CDC’s senior director of programming.

52nd Street Station before the 2007-2008 reconstruction project / Photos: Wikipedia.

“Our [work] is to make 52nd Street the most attractive and vibrant corridor that it can be,” Fenstermaker told West Philly Local. “52nd Street is really the livelihood of West Philadelphia … A number of people grew up here on the corridor and remember what it used to be like. There’s no reason it can’t come back.”

Hiring a portal manager is a major development not only for the corridor, but for the local organization,  which has a hand in its planning and economic growth. According to Fenstermaker, the new manager will also serve as a soundboard for the “wants and needs” of the area, helping TEC-CDC leverage the requests of 52nd Street’s businesses and residents. Dixon will, in effect, act as a liaison for those partners involved in the corridor—be they local community associations or business owners and street vendors—so there’s full engagement among everyone who has a stake in 52nd Street’s success.

“What we would like to see is the businesses and vendors come together to support somebody that’s full-time on there as a sustainable practice,” said Fenstermaker. “We’re there to support the stakeholders and the corridor, so I see us being there long-term.”

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300 block of North 42nd Street.

A group of West Powelton residents attended last week’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting to speak out against a proposed development on the 300 block of North 42nd Street that would have squeezed seven single-family homes onto a lot zoned for just one.

Through a combination of the community’s testimony, the Planning Commission’s recommendation and the ZBA’s own concerns, the project did not receive a variance.

The hearing, which ran over two hours, was the culmination of multiple community meetings and strained attempts to communicate with the project’s developer, 42nd Street LLC. Even after meeting with the architect and seeing the site plan and renderings, the majority of residents on the block signed a petition expressing their lack of support due to what they saw as an overuse of the property.

The developer’s attorney stressed during the hearing that the lot was over 12,000-square feet and irregularly shaped. The visible portion of the lot is between 320 N. 42nd and the Lombard Presbyterian Church, but it also extends behind the houses on the west side of the street, forming a triangular shape. This was the justification for attempting to fit so many houses in the space, according to the attorney.

The case was set to be heard last September, but the developer requested a continuance. Through the leadership of the West Powelton/Saunders Park Registered Community Organization (RCO), residents returned for the second meeting with prepared testimony. Each resident spoke about a different concern, from traffic, parking and child safety to how the development would affect the fabric of the neighborhood.

Martin F. Cabry, chief of staff for Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, said after the meeting that the testimony from the community was one of the best he has ever heard.

To get involved with the group that helped organize the community around this issue, attend tonight’s monthly meeting of the West Powelton/Saunders Park RCO. The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. and will take place at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church at 4110 Haverford Ave.

– Alex Vuocolo