UPDATE (1/9/2019): Xavier has been found safe, according to police.

(1/8/2019): Police are asking for the public’s assistance to locate a missing endangered person. Xavier Brower, 14, was last seen on Friday, Jan. 4 at 3 p.m. on the 5000 block of Ludlow Street.

He is six foot one, 185 pounds, has brown eyes and black hair. He was wearing black sweatpants, a black t-shirt, and a coat.

Anyone with any information on Xavier’s whereabouts is asked to contact Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183 or 911.

The Millcreek Tavern at 42nd and Chester Ave. will soon be gone and a five-story, 42-unit residential building aimed at students could soon take its place.

Developers pitched a preliminary plan to the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee on Monday night for the building, which would require variances for height and number of units. Representatives of Core Development told the committee that they purchased the building about 10 days ago, are in the “very early conceptual stages” and have yet to apply for the variances.  Continue Reading

The non-profit owners of the Arvilla, an affordable housing building on the 4500 block of Osage Avenue, insisted on Monday that they will go through with the sale of the building despite pleas from some residents and neighbors.

Representatives of Mission First Housing Group, one of the largest providers of affordable housing in the city, said during a Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) zoning meeting that it can’t afford the necessary renovations required to maintain the 14-unit building and will go through with a sale that will likely convert the building to market-rate apartments.

“The costs of modernizing the building are much higher than we can cover,” Mission First’s Director of Business Development Mark Deitcher said. “We have to pull the plug on the building because of the capital needs of the building.”  Continue Reading

The proposal to convert the Provident Mutual Insurance Co. site at 46^th and Market into a healthcare campus hit a major roadblock on Thursday when Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell halted a vote on legislation that would have allowed the city to sell the property.

The move followed a contentious public meeting in West Philly on Tuesday where several community members spoke against the proposal, which the city selected this summer after a bidding process. Criticisms included the low sale price of $10 million and a lack of transparency in the bid selection process.  Continue Reading

Residents criticized developers and city officials for a lack of transparency in the proposal to convert the city-owned Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co. building and surrounding land at 46^th and Market into a campus focused on mental health services and child care during a public meeting on Tuesday night.

About 125 residents gathered in the auditorium of West Philadelphia High School at 49^th and Chestnut for presentations from the developers, a city official handling the deal, and proposed tenants, which include the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and the YMCA.

The city chose that plan earlier this year after a call for proposals. The call came after a long-anticipated plan proposed by former mayor Michael Nutter to move the police headquarters and related offices to the 13-acre site was scuttled by Mayor Jim Kenney, Nutter’s successor. The police headquarters, the Medical Examiner’s office and the 6th and 9th police districts will now move into the old Philadelphia Inquirer building at 400 N. Broad St..

That change and the city’s subsequent choice of this new proposal caught many residents off guard.

“People aren’t mad, they’re just tired of hearing a lot of things that they didn’t have any say in,” said one resident. “The process is defective.”  Continue Reading

Rent prices in the University City District leveled off, the number of home sales dropped by a third last year and the population got a little older, according to the annual “State of University City” report released yesterday.

The report covers everything from real estate development to population demographics to tree coverage in the area managed by the University City District (UCD). UCD roughly defines “University City” as the area bounded by the Schuylkill River to the east, 50th Street to the west, Market Street/Powelton Avenue/Spring Garden Street to the north and Woodland Avenue/University Avenue to the south.

Here’s what the report, which covers trends through 2017, shows in key areas:  Continue Reading