Matt Pestronk of Post Brothers speaking at the annual Spruce Hill Community Association meeting. (Photo West Philly Local)

Matt Pestronk did something at last night’s annual Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) member meeting that property developers rarely do anymore in the neighborhood. He voluntarily showed up and answered questions from residents about the reasons his company, Post Brothers, plans to spend some $250 million on apartment buildings, including the newly purchased Garden Court Plaza building at 47th and Pine.

Pestronk, who owns the company with his brother Michael, took questions ranging from whether they would allow pets in their buildings (an emphatic “yes” on that one) to whether Post Brothers would convert any rental units into condos and put them up for sale (probably not).

The company has acquired several buildings in recent years including: 4311 Spruce Street; The Netherlands at 4300 Chestnut; Chester Plaza at Farragut and Chester; Chester Hall at 4205 Chester; Hamilton Court at 3800 Chestnut; and Garden Court Plaza. Altogether, they have accrued about 550 units.  Continue Reading

An artist’s rendering of what the Provident building will look like after its conversion into the Public Safety Services Campus. Two small buildings near the southwest corner of the complex will be demolished.

We are starting to get an idea of what the hulking, long-vacant Provident Mutual Life Insurance Building at North 46th and Market Streets will look like a few years from now. The building is being converted into a public services complex that will house the headquarters for the Philadelphia Police Department and the Department of Public Health, including the city’s coroner’s office and morgue.

Designers unveiled some drawings this week of a spiffed up Provident Building, complete with lots of greenery and a couple of out buildings removed. PlanPhilly reports that on November 17 artists who responded to a competitive call for a public installation that will be the centerpiece of a public plaza at 46th and Market are scheduled to present their ideas to designers. The city will draw $675,000 from its Percent for Art program to pay for the installation.

Two buildings on the west side of the site, a powerhouse (with a large smokestack near the El tracks and an auditorium) will be demolished. Ballinger Architects is designing the complex.

The complex is scheduled to be completed by 2018.

Here are some detailed site plans and photographs.

Don’t forget to vote today. The slate of offices up for grabs include mayor, city council and, perhaps most important and least predictable this time around, seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Check on your voter registration status here and find your polling place here. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Registered voters who are in line at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

All 17 seats on the City Council will be on the ballot. Some 14 candidates are running for at-large seats. Here’s a rundown from the Committee of Seventy. Jannie Blackwell is running unopposed for the 3rd District seat. As usual, the mayor’s race was likely decided in the primary.

The election for three seats on state’s Supreme Court has drawn a lot of interest among criminal justice activists, who see it as a test of the state’s commitment to easing mass incarceration and sentencing reforms. Here’s a rundown of the candidates for Supreme Court from the Committee of Seventy.

Real estate developer Post Brothers announced recently that it bought the Garden Court Plaza (4701 Pine St.) and is planning upgrades and renovations that has current residents wondering if they will be priced out of their apartments.

Built in the 1920s, the 13-story apartment building, which includes 146 units, was purchased for an undisclosed price as part of Post Brothers $250 million University City acquisition strategy, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal and other news outlets.

A founder of Post Brothers told the Philadelphia Business Journal that there is a shortage of housing geared toward “young professionals” in the area, which he compared to Cambridge, Mass., and that the firm’s strategy is to “upgrade and reposition” properties.

Post Brothers will do substantial renovations to Garden Court Plaza’s interior and exterior and add upscale amenities, according to a press release.

Some current residents who have contacted West Philly Local and asked not be named say they are bracing for big changes, including a substantial rent increase. They said that the new management company has begun asking for tax and pet vaccination information from residents.

Here are some photos from Saturday’s 16th Annual Peoplehood Parade. The parade is led by the Spiral Q Puppet Theater and this year included help from the Paul Robeson House, Friends of Clark Park, Neighborhood Bike Works, the Caucus of Working Educators, the Philadelphia Coalition for REAL Justice, the West Powelton Steppers and artist Vitus Shell.

“Peoplehood is a celebration of our communities’ creativity, joy, can-do attitudes, and courage to act on their convictions,” according to Spiral Q.  Continue Reading

UPDATE (10:50 a.m.): The Friends of Clark Park (FoCP) voted last night to recommend to the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation that limited hours be established when off-leash dogs are permitted at the Clark Park Bowl, the latest move in the park’s more than decade-long canine conundrum. The recommendation for permitted hours is daily from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., though, as in the past, enforcement of the new rule will be tricky.

The “fastest dog” competition during the 2011 Bark in the Park. (Photo West Philly Local).

The vote followed a discussion about off-leash dogs that included suggestions of stepped up enforcement by Parks and Recreation rangers or University City District’s bicycle patrol. FoCP board members agreed that a compromise was to post signs with hours for off-leash dogs, which are prohibited in public areas in Philadelphia but have been a fixture in Clark Park for years.

Tight enforcement risks alienating “a community that is one of the more dedicated to the park,” said resident Valerie Ross, who lives near the park. People who run their dogs in the Bowl often help clean up trash there, she said. And park events sometimes focus on dogs, including the annual Bark in the Park (24 years and counting) and even a corporate-sponsored, dog-friendly singles meet-up last year.

But complaints, including some at last night’s meeting, focused on off-leash dogs’ interactions with leashed dogs and children and adults who are afraid of dogs. Ross said the off-leash dogs are rarely a problem.  Continue Reading