The final public meeting on the University Southwest District Plan is tonight at Quorum in the University City Science Center (3711 Market St.). The meeting is an open house and community members are invited to attend any time between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
At the meeting, the City Planning Commission will present the draft of the plan including recommendations for zoning changes in the area. You can also learn about the feedback the planning commission received from the Philadelphia2035 online game. The game developers will be there to share results and hear from you about your gaming experience. Most importantly, they will award $500 prizes to the top three local causes supported by participants. The following causes were presented in the game: Greening Lea initiative, Neighborhood Bike Works, the Kingsessing Recreation Center and the University City Arts League. More than 900 people signed up to play the game.
For more information, please contact Andrew Meloney, 215-683-4656, Andrew.Meloney@phila.gov.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell who is a “gentrifier” these days – or whether that word or concept still has any meaning. Film director Kelly Anderson, a self-proclaimed “gentrifier” from Brooklyn will talk about her journey and her neighborhood after a screening of her documentary My Brooklyn (see trailer below) at the International House (3701 Chestnut St.) on Tuesday.
Drawn to Brooklyn in 1988 by cheap rent and a “Bohemian culture,” Anderson watched through the nineties and particularly into the early part of the 21st century as luxury housing and chain stores changed the neighborhood forever. Starting to sound familiar? The changes spark conversations about “authenticity,” who controls the future of the neighborhood and cause Anderson to examine her own role in the changes to the neighborhood.
The film’s themes are relevant to many parts of West Philly.
The film focuses on the future of Fulton Mall, a popular African American and Caribbean shopping Center, that officials are considering razing. “The film’s ultimate questions become how to heal the deep racial wounds embedded in our urban development patterns, and how citizens can become active in restoring democracy to a broken planning process,” according to its website. The film is co-sponsored by the Scribe Video Center.
Here are the details:
Tuesday, April 9, 7 p.m.
International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut Street
$10, $8 students/seniors, $5 Scribe and IHP members
An artist’s rendering of the building project at 43rd and Sansom. This is an early rendering and thanks to some pressure from the Spruce Hill Community Association, the building will include some brick facade, windows on the west-facing wall and more landscaping.
Construction of a 4-story, 31-unit apartment building (artist’s rendering above) on the southeast corner of 43rd and Sansom could begin as early as this spring.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment approved the project earlier this month. The building will occupy 121-133 S. 43rd St., which is now a vacant lot near the Bravo Advanced Care Center on the 4300 block of Walnut Street. The Spruce Hill Community Association signed off on the project in February.
The project will include 31 off-street parking spots and 11 bicycle “parking spaces.” Two commercial spaces will also be located in the building ground floor. Most of the 31 apartments are between 600 and 750 square feet.
A New York-based property developer is hoping to build a 92-unit residential building on the large vacant lot at the corner of 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue (pictured), across from Clark Park.
The property owner, Clarkmore LP, is associated with Thylan Associates Inc., whose properties include the University of Pennsylvania-run independent housing complex for the elderly, LIFE UPenn, at 4508 Chestnut St., the Bailey Building at 1218 Chestnut St. and the Biddle Building at 1217 Sansom St. The company also owns upscale condos at 1111 Locust St. and the Heid Building, 325 N. 13th St., which houses lofts.
The conditional zoning permit, granted on March 11, confirms that the developer meets some basic requirements for construction, but does not give a green light for construction.
A 17,600 square-foot structure and the plot, which is a little over an acre, was purchased by Thylan in 2008 for $3.5 million. The building was demolished soon after. The building had most recently housed a women’s shelter. In the past it had served as a nursing home and before that a private boarding school.
The proposed project will also include 36 “bicycle spaces” and 6 parking spaces.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) yesterday cleared the way for local ice cream producer and retailer Little Baby’s Ice Cream to open shop on the 4900 block of Catharine Street, across the street from Cedar Park. If all goes as planned, the shop should be open by April 1.
Little Baby’s has been wooing Cedar Park residents for a while now and even sent them an “open love letter” on Valentine’s Day. The Cedar Park Neighbors civic association loved them back with a letter of support to the ZBA, which late yesterday provided Little Baby’s with the necessary permit to convert the storefront at 4903 Catharine into the company’s first retail shop west of the Schuylkill.
The company got a massive boost in the form of a 5-year, $50,000 loan from The Enterprise Center to expand into Cedar Park.
Little Baby’s Ice Cream is handmade in their production facility in East Kensington. Their dairy comes from Trickling Springs Creamery in Chambersburg, Penna. Here is a great profile on the three musicians who turned their passion for ice cream into a successful business.
If you live in the University City area, your participation is requested for Penn’s 2013 Retail Market Survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services. The survey has received a lot of responses from students and staff, but more input is sought from neighborhood residents.
The survey is designed to gather ideas and opinions for a new retail real estate master plan – information you share will be used to “evaluate retail opportunities on and off campus and plan for future needs.” Just to clarify, the survey’s interest is retail businesses on Penn property, a sliver of the University City District. “We’re hoping some UCD residents utilize the Penn retail offerings as well,” says senior research associate Abbey Becker.
To access the survey please follow this link. Respondents who provide their email address will be entered in a drawing to win a gift certificate from a Penn merchant. NOTE: The survey closes after this Friday (March 15).
The final public meeting on the University Southwest District Plan is tonight at Quorum in the University City Science Center (3711 Market St.). The meeting is an open house and community members are invited to attend any time between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
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