The presentation of revised plan for a 12-unit apartment building at 4820 Chester Ave. during a meeting last night at Kingsessing Recreation Center (photo by West Philly Local).

The owners of an empty lot at 4820 Chester Ave. presented a scaled-down proposal for a 12-unit apartment building during a zoning meeting last night. But in the end it didn’t really matter.

Last night’s meeting, hosted by Southwest Philadelphia District Services at the Kingsessing Recreation Center, was the latest iteration of an ongoing debate about the property at the corner of 49th and Chester. The lot is zoned for a semi-detached, two-family structure. The original proposal of a four-story, 18-unit building received considerable community pushback, so the developer hired a new architect and proposed a revised plan that included 12 units.  Continue Reading

A four-story, 18-unit apartment building is being proposed for the empty lot at 4820 Chester Avenue and residents are invited to a community zoning meeting on Tuesday, May 7, to learn more about the proposal.  Continue Reading

Here are some details on projects and properties that have been discussed at recent zoning meetings in Cedar Park and Spruce Hill.

• Ahimsa House (5007 Cedar Ave.)

                                Ahimsa House

The Cedar Park Neighbors zoning committee will support a variance request from the owner of the Ahimsa House at 5007 Cedar Ave. that would allow the privately owned residence that is used for various community activities to continue to operate. The decision made at its April 16 meeting follows a lengthy zoning committee hearing concerning the property last month.

The variance would rezone the property as a three-unit, multi-family dwelling. The zoning committee’s support includes stipulations that the property owner continues to live at the residence and that the zoning would be rescinded if the building was sold or operated as a non-owner occupied building. Other stipulations include that the variance be renewed after three years and that the owner follows fire and food safety codes.  Continue Reading

Demolition of 19th century Christ Memorial Church underway (October, 2018).

The demolished 19th century Christ Memorial Reformed Episcopal Church building on the northeast corner of 43rd and Chestnut Streets has recently been resold (for a second time) to a new developer, according to reports. Alterra Property Group, the same developer who is currently erecting a 6-story prefab apartment building on the 4100 block of Chestnut, purchased the property for $17 million in February, according to a recent report by Philly.com, and is planning to build another apartment building aimed at “graduate students, retained graduates, and young professionals” on the site.  Continue Reading

Photo by Shepard Ritzen.

The mystery of the lifestyle art sculptures that recently appeared on an empty lot on the 4700 block of Market Street has been (somewhat) solved. The statues are by well-known New Jersey-based artist Seward Johnson, and the lot, owned by the Daniel Veloric Foundation, is a future site for a museum with some public meeting space, according to a recent report by Philly.com.

It’s not clear yet when the construction will begin, but reportedly “soon.” The Veloric Foundation, whose owner Daniel Veloric is 91 years old and lives in the suburbs, purchased the entire block in 2017. Some demolition work on the site has already been done, according to the report. The organization has reportedly allocated $1.3 million for the project.  Continue Reading

An artist’s rendering of 4306 Market St. The city approved the adjacent building to the right in October.

The 4300 block of Market Street, which includes a Checkers, some vacant lots and a handful of row homes, will likely look completely different by next summer.

A proposal for a six-story, 22-unit apartment building at 4306-4310 Market St. met with a favorable reaction from the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee on Monday. The building would be fit in between a cluster of existing row homes and another building, 4312 Market St. that was approved last year. The two projects are related.

The proposal would combine three lots into one for the building (one is the former site of the Dirt Factory). The proposed building would include 13 two-bedroom apartments, 5 one-bedrooms and 4 three-bedrooms. No information was available on proposed rent prices, but developers said the apartments would be “higher end” and not aimed at students. There are no affordable housing units proposed as part of the project, which several zoning committee members asked developers to reconsider.  Continue Reading