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

After more than five years of operation, The Farmacy, the popular brunch spot at 45th and Spruce, has closed. The restaurant closed at the beginning of the month, and “For Rent” signs have been displayed in the windows since then.

The owners, local chefs Ross Scofield and Danielle Coulter, want to focus on their new restaurant in New Jersey, according to Foobooz.  Continue Reading

City Council formally approved the sale of the sprawling Provident Mutual Insurance Co. building and surrounding land on Thursday, clearing the way for the long-anticipated development of the site.

Iron Stone Real Estate Partners has been shopping its plan to develop a healthcare campus on the site in collaboration with Public Health Management Corp. and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia around to neighborhood groups and public meetings since September 2018.

Last year, the city selected the proposal, which included an approximately $10 million sale price, after a bidding process that began in 2017.  Continue Reading

Multiple injuries have been reported after a packed SEPTA Route 13 trolley was struck by a paratransit vehicle late Tuesday morning. The incident happened near the intersection of 41st Street and Chester Avenue at around 11:30 a.m., according to reports, after a collision between a CCT Connect paratransit bus and another car.

At least 31 people were injured in the incident, according to a report by NBC10 Philadelphia. The drivers of the vehicles involved in the collision were taken to the hospital, and their condition is currently unknown. None of the injuries sustained by the trolley passengers are considered life-threatening, according to reports.  Continue Reading

Since the beginning of this month, PennDOT has been doing rehabilitation work on Grays Ferry Avenue Bridge, which connects the Kingsessing neighborhood in Southwest Philly with the Grays Ferry neighborhood on the east bank of the Schuylkill River. The bridge was built in 1976 and includes four lanes of traffic in both directions.

Here’s what motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians should expect in the next couple of years (the entire bridge rehabilitation project is expected to be completed in late 2020).  Continue Reading

             

Jamie Gauthier, a Garden Court resident and the former head of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, has announced that she will mount a primary campaign against Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, whose family has controlled the 3rd District seat since the 1970s.

Gauthier is a former president of the Garden Court Community Association, was born in the district and returned as an adult to get a master’s degree at Penn and raise her children here. She served as executive director of the Fairmount Park Conservancy from October 2017 until yesterday when she stepped down to announce her candidacy. She previously served as head of the Sustainable Business Network, a non-profit started in West Philly that helps small businesses balance profitability with social and environmental responsibility. Gauthier has a master’s degree in city planning from Penn.  Continue Reading