Rendering of the new Baltimore Avenue Pedestrian Plaza provided by University City District.

Many folks are probably wondering what is going on at 48^th Street and Baltimore Avenue, so here’s what we learned: The three bumpouts now hugging the curbs of the intersection’s south side were the first phase in a new University City District project that’ll transform the glut asphalt into a pedestrianized plaza.

The second phase, which should start this week, will have stone barriers and terra-cotta style planters housing budding perennials installed around the bumpouts’ outer edges, serving as protection from oncoming traffic. A new crosswalk directly connecting the Gold Standard Café and the Calvary Center was also painted.

Once completed this spring, the plaza will shrink the vast, daunting gap of the 48^th Street and Baltimore Avenue juncture, shortening crossing distances, improving pedestrian safety, slowing vehicle speed, and “better [knitting] together Baltimore Avenue,” UCD’s Seth Budick told West Philly Local. The organization partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities and worked with the West Philly community to develop design plans, he said.

The local plaza development is one of two implemented by UCD, which received two grants under the City of Philadelphia’s recently-announced Pedestrian Plaza program that aims to convert excess street surface into usable pedestrian spaces. The first plaza, named Woodland Green, was finished last fall at 42^nd Street and Woodland Ave.

– Annamarya Scaccia

The “design” table offers some suggestions during a community meeting on the proposed property at 4224 Baltimore Ave. on Monday.

The roughly 40 residents who sat down Monday evening at the International House (3701 Chestnut St.) to offer their input on the proposed 92-unit residential development project at 43rd and Baltimore made a few things clear: More parking, no pharmacies, absolutely no undergraduates and a design that respects what Clark Park means to West Philly.

Their input was part of the first of three community meetings designed to weave community input into design, retail space and transit choices to be made by the developers of the property at 4224 Baltimore Ave., the long-vacant plot across 43rd Street from Clark Park.

“Working with the community we can aspire for a project that works for the community, for the neighbors, for the business owners,” said Omar Blaik, a 15-year resident and former senior vice president at Penn, whose firm, U3 Ventures, is serving as a development liaison between the community and the property owners. U3’s job is to gather community input over the next couple of months and integrate them into the project’s design.

So far, there is no design. A conditional use permit from the city allows the development of a 92-unit structure, but places few restrictions on the amenities offered or the businesses that could occupy the first floor of the project. No building drawings were offered at the meeting. Those will be available at the next meeting in mid June, when the comments from Monday’s meeting are passed along to architects.

Residents were broken into groups and asked to address the building design, ideas about retail spaces, the type of units that should be offered and parking/transit. Here’s what they had to say:

• Design – This group of residents recommended that there be at least 50-60 parking spaces incorporated into the design. The original proposal calls for six. They also advised that the service access for the project in no way interferes with trolley traffic on Baltimore Avenue. So no double parking etc. The height of the building should fit in with other buildings in the vicinity.

• Retail – They recommended businesses that fit the current flavor of the neighborhood. The options range from a single 5,000-square-foot business (the space at Mariposa is about 5,500 feet for comparison), or whether it should house several smaller spaces. The Green Line Café at 43rd and Baltimore, for example, is about 1,000 square feet. Milk and Honey Market is about 2,000 square feet. Resident Mel Clampet-Lundquist suggested a design that incorporates a pub/restaurant that looks out over a recreational space that could be used for wiffleball, similar to Rookie’s, a Wisconsin pub/field. “Absolutely no pharmacies,” the group concluded. Another suggestion was a “restaurant that served good booze rather than a pub that served bad food.”

• Unit type – This group was asked to consider the preferred market for the complex. There was a clear consensus that it should not include undergraduates. Other possibilities included single families or condos that could be purchased by current neighborhood residents looking to downsize. One issue the group raised was the added pressure that would  be placed on the Penn Alexander School if the project marketed to young families.

• Parking/Transit – They recommended a resident-to-parking-space ratio of 2:1 or 3:1. They also recommended that the project should encourage walking, biking, car share and public transit to residents through added car share spaces and maybe a SEPTA kiosk.

Blaik said that these suggestions will be be taken into consideration in the designs that are set to be released at a June meeting. A final meeting will be held in early July.

What can you do?

This process isn’t over. The developers are collecting ideas from residents at a website, 4224baltimore.com. They encourage everyone to submit design ideas on the “community” portion of the site, including photos of building designs you like and restaurants you would like to see housed there.

– Mike Lyons

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The developers of the proposed residential building at 4224 Baltimore Avenue are seeking residents’ input on the project through a series of community engagement meetings, with the first one scheduled on Monday, May 20, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at International House of Philadelphia (South America Room, 3701 Chestnut St). The goal of the meetings is to come up with alternative design plans for the proposed apartment complex to be built on the large vacant lot at the corner of 43rd and Baltimore.

Vacant lot at 43rd and Baltimore where the new apartment complex is proposed.

Clarkmore Group LLC, the property owner, has obtained a conditional zoning permit for the 92 residential unit building, six parking spaces and 36 bicycle parking spaces. The proposed plan had received mixed reviews from the community, including comments by West Philly Local readers after our first article on this subject.

Clarkmore Group LLC is working with the Spruce Hill Community Association, which will coordinate the community engagement process that will include three meetings in total (we’ll post more details about the other two meetings when this information is available). At the meetings, community members can learn more about the project, meet the project team and work with it on a number of focus areas, including the building design, transportation and retail mix.

More details on this project and its stakeholders are available here.

Neighbors, community leaders and experts are getting together this afternoon (at 4 p.m.) to discuss the future of University City High School that is slated for closure at the end of the 2013 school year along with 22 other Philadelphia schools. The school opened in 1973.

Strategies for the use of the building after the closure will also be discussed at the forum that will take place at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 3500 Baring St. The panelists include:

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell

Algernong Allen, Baltimore Avenue Business Association

DeWayne Drummond, Mantua Civic Association

George Poulin, Powelton Village Civic Association

Emily Dowdall, Pew Charitable Trusts

Allan Domb, President Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors

The discussion will be moderated by Solomon Jones of AxisPhilly and filmed by NBC 10.

To register please go to uchigh.eventbrite.com/ (registration closes at 3 p.m.)

Come late summer, West Philly will be home to two new diverse and palate-pleasing restaurants located in the Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises at 310 S. 48th Street.

For those who love Caribbean-American fusion cuisine, 48th Street Grille will provide a taste of the islands with a focus on seasonal fresh and local ingredients. Owned by Chef Carl Lewis of Catering by Carl Lewis, LLC, 48th Street Grille will serve fresh seafood, pasta, meat, poultry, curry dishes, burgers, salads, soup, vegetarian dishes and sandwiches, and non-alcohol beverages, as well as signature fare from the South and Jamaica, once it opens late summer. The 65-seat dining space will also offer sidewalk dining, take-out service, and full-service catering. It will be open Tuesday – Sundays for lunch and dinner, with mid-week breakfast available through Saturdays. Chef Lewis also plans to host special events for New Year’s Eve, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Mother’s Day, as well as host midweek Family Dining Nights.

Area vegans and vegetarians craving more chow options in West Philly will find potential in Planet Vegan Café, a sit-down vegan juice bar and eatery opening in late July/early August. The vision of Dorinda Hampton, owner of vegan food company Really Fresh Vegan, Planet Vegan is a reinvention and enhanced version of the restaurant Hampton developed as part of her stint on Food Network’s 24 Hour Restaurant Battle in 2010. The 25-person capacity space will feature a full juice bar with all organic juice and smoothies, as well as serve hot and cold sandwiches, hot vegan and veggie dishes, soups, and salads using all healthy, organic, non-GMO products. It will also offer juice cleansing, in which six 16 oz. bottles of fresh-made juice are given for the amount of time needed.

“We want to have a really cool place where people can come, socialize and enjoy people’s company,” said Hampton, who also owns Sprout Vegan Eatery and Juice Bar, located at 909 E. Baltimore Pike in Kennett Square. “I want to [also] give people a new way of thinking about healthy eating. You don’t have to compromise texture or taste. It can be tasty as well as beneficial to your health.”

Planet Vegan will be open Mondays – Sundays (hours are yet to be determined), with takeout and delivery options available. Hampton plans to host local entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays, and hold screenings of wellness, health and nutrition documentaries on Sundays.

Opened in September, the Center for Culinary Enterprises was designed to assist start-up and established food enterprises by providing commercial kitchen and food storage space for rent, as well as affordable food business development services. The 13,000+ sq. ft. facility, which is open 24 hours a day, includes four state-of-the-art commercial kitchens, the eKitchen Multimedia Learning Center (a demo kitchen and classroom), and retail space. A third restaurant may open in the space but it could not be confirmed.

–Annamarya Scaccia
 

Mayor Michael Nutter and Seeds Gallery owner Saba Tedla speak about Cedar Park on Monday.

Michael Nutter chats with a local business owner outside the Seeds Gallery on Monday.

Mayor Michael Nutter dropped in at the Seeds Gallery near 50th and Baltimore as part of a multi-neighborhood tour of the city designed to publicize the launch of the Philadelphia Neighborhoods marketing campaign.

The campaign highlights neighborhoods as “visitor-ready” destinations surrounding Center City. One person traveling with Nutter called it “intra-city” tourism that would appeal to people already living in Philadelphia.

Seeds Gallery owner Saba Tedla, who also owns Aksum on Baltimore Avenue, joined Nutter at the gallery.

Nutter, a West Philly native who grew up about 10 blocks from the gallery, called the Cedar Park area an “amazing melting pot” that features what he called the “3 Rs” needed for vibrant neighborhoods – restaurants, retail and residential housing. He also visited East Passyunk and Bella Vista.