The rebuilt 41st Street Bridge, connecting Mantua Avenue and Poplar Street over train tracks, has reopened to traffic today.

The old, deteriorating bridge, which closed in 1994, was completely removed and replaced with a new, two-span structure with architectural concrete parapets and fencing. The project began in May 2015. The new bridge opened one month ahead of its December 2016 projection completion date.

The new roadway includes two travel lanes with wide shoulders and sidewalks, new street lighting, signing, line striping, ADA curb ramps, and enhanced safety features, such as the realignment of the Mantua Avenue and 41st Street intersection.

Construction cost $10.8 million and was financed with 80% federal and 20% state/Act 26 funds.

The lot at 4224 Baltimore Ave.

After years of planning and community meeting after community meeting, people are starting to wonder if the grand residential building proposed for the corner of 43rd and Baltimore will ever get built.

Residents look over plans during a community meeting on 4224 Baltimore Ave. in September 2014 (Photo by West Philly Local).

“I’ve given up going to the Farmers’ Market on Saturdays because I’m tired of people asking me what the problem is,” Barry Grossbach, the chair of Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee said at a recent meeting.

In case you had forgotten, construction on a 132-unit residential building at 4224 Baltimore Ave. complete with a full-service restaurant overlooking Clark Park was supposed to begin this summer. Delays on construction projects in the city are not that uncommon, so observers of the process waited. Soil samples were taken, more engineering studies were ordered, construction plans were submitted and re-submitted. But nothing has happened at the large, empty lot at 43rd and Baltimore.  Continue Reading

The first floor of the residential building connected to the left side of Clarkville at 43rd and Baltimore would be converted into a restaurant under a proposal considered last night by the Spruce Hill Zoning Association (Photo from Google Street View).

The Spruce Hill Community Association considered a proposal last night to convert the first floor of the row home adjacent to Clarkville at 43rd and Baltimore into a small restaurant amid concerns from some neighbors of commercial encroachment in residential areas.

Brought by the owners of the Clarkville building (not the business itself), the proposal for 4303 Baltimore includes an 1,100-square-foot restaurant on the first floor and renovated, high-end apartments on the second and third floors. In the past, the building housed three apartments, but is in rough shape, said Tom Lussenhop of Best House Partners, the building owners since May.

The proposal requires a variance for the first-floor restaurant, which has yet to be decided on (they’re open to suggestions). It will not have a liquor license.  Continue Reading

Developers pitch a proposal for an apartment building at 4045 Baltimore to the Spruce Hill Community Association Zoning Committee on Thursday evening (Photo by West Philly Local)

The owners of a parking lot on the 4000 block of Baltimore are proposing a five-story, 55-unit apartment building.

New Horizons Housing, which owns the lot at 4045 Baltimore Ave. (see Google Street View image below) and an adjacent apartment building, brought the proposal before the Spruce Hill Zoning Committee last night for feedback. A formal zoning request has not yet been made.

An apartment building once stood on the lot, but burned down in the mid 1980s. The proposed building would include mostly 450-square-foot, one-bedroom units and a few studios.

Under one version of the proposal, the plan includes a small 900-square-foot retail space. Concerns included the proposed building’s height. At 71 feet, it would be about 15 feet higher than a nearby apartment building (owned by the same developers) and would be the tallest structure in the immediate area.  Continue Reading

The Spruce Hill Zoning Committee will be meeting Thursday, Oct. 13 to take up three RCO cases, and community members are invited to participate in the meeting. Additionally, revised drawings for a proposed apartment building at 4043 Baltimore Avenue will be reviewed (this project is currently in the “talking stage” and no zoning has been applied for).

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the cases heard will be:

• 4407 Pine Street – currently zoned for two units, application seeks four units

• 4301-4303 Baltimore Avenue – application for lot adjustment to create one lot out of two, and for a sit down restaurant in first floor and front of the 2nd floor in 4303. 4301 Baltimore Avenue is currently occupied by Clarkville bar and restaurant.

• 4323-31 Spruce Street – application for a take out restaurant (bakery).  Continue Reading

When community members came last spring to hear the University of the Sciences’ proposal to tear down the Alexander Wilson School and build a 6-floor student dorm complex, they had lots of questions and one big request: Could USciences host an event that would provide Wilson alumni, parents and employees a last chance to share their memories of the school, which has stood at the corner of 46th and Woodland for 100 years.

A mural at the Alexander Wilson School.

A celebration of Wilson’s history is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 2 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the school’s courtyard (see the schedule below).

The event will include the opening of a Wilson school time capsule from 1958 and a recording booth for alumni and teachers to share their memories about the school.

Wilson was shuttered during a controversial round of school closings in 2013 and then sold. The school is scheduled to be demolished within a couple of months.

USciences paid a reported $2 million for the 1.03-acre parcel that borders its campus and includes the three story school building. The purchase, which was approved at a School Reform Commission meeting last fall, followed a long bid process that included interest from West Philly based developers Orens Brothers.

The proposed new dorm complex, which will house about 400 students and replace residence facilities elsewhere on the campus, will be U-shaped with the open end of the U along Woodland. The university hopes to break ground for the building early next year and open it to new students in the fall of 2018.

Here’s the schedule for Sunday’s event:

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Music by the Brook Street Band and DJ Lonnie Love BBQ Lunch

3:00 pm – 3:45 pm PROGRAM REMARKS
Paul Katz, MD, President, University of the Sciences
Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, City of Philadelphia, District 3
PA State Senator Anthony H. Williams, 8th District
Joan Myers Brown, Founder, Executive Artistic Director, PHILADANCO, Former Wilson student
Reverend Martin Wright, 46th Street Baptist Church
Jane Golden, Founder & Executive Director, City of Philadelphia, Mural Arts Program
Dianne Settles, Former Wilson student
Richard Liuzzi, Former Director, Wilson Community School
Dr. Kathleen Cosby-Tabb, Former Wilson student

3:45 PM – 4:00 PM UNVEILING OF SCHOOL TIME CAPSULE

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Music by the Brook Street Band and DJ Lonnie Love Water Ice

ALL DAY Story Collection Booth – Collect video and audio stories and scan in photos.