The developers of the old West Philly High School building recently secured $24 million in funding. According to reports, the loan has been arranged by Colliers International Capital Markets and will be used for the acquisition and redevelopment of the 442,200-square-foot, four-story building at 4700 Walnut Street. The 103-year-old building was acquired by New York-based developer Andrew Bank in early 2015.

The project to gut the building and convert it into 298 loft apartments was first presented in 2012, but it took more than two years for Bank to finalize the purchase of the building.

Bank, who is the Managing Director of the real estate development company Strong Place Partners, met with community members last summer to talk about the project. During a June 2015 Garden Court Community Association meeting, Bank told the attendees that his company had obtained all necessary permits and that some work on the building was already being done, including asbestos and debris removal and construction of a loading dock on the eastern portion of the building.

Bank also said that he was waiting for a loan settlement to begin building the first 130 apartments. He added that the project may include some commercial space along Locust Street.

Construction is set to begin in 2017.

More details are available on the armed robbery that took place at 41st and Pine on early Sunday morning and prompted an alert from the Division of Public Safety at Penn.

The robbery took place at around 2:30 a.m. when the victim was approached by two males with covered faces and was robbed at a gunpoint. The men took the victim’s phone and headphones and fled on foot toward 41st and Spruce.

Penn police were on the scene and patrolled the area after the robbery.

We’ll post more information when it becomes available.

Police detained three teens Thursday evening after an alleged gunpoint robbery near 44th and Osage. The robbery was reported at around 7:40 p.m. The victim told police that he was approached by five young males, and “felt a hard object pushed into his back,” according to a police report. The teens took the victim’s phone and fled.

Plainclothes police, who were in the area, were able to catch three of the suspects, all of them 14 years old, after a chase. No firearm was found.

Police were unable to recover the cell phone, which was tracked to the area of 42nd and Haverford and then disabled, according to the report.

A new apartment building will break ground at 4050 Haverford Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The project, called 4050 Apartments, will provide affordable housing for low-income artists, a group that is an essential part of the Lower Lancaster identity.

The 24,350-square-feet building replaces a large vacant lot in a highly visible area, just off of the intersection of 40th Street, Lancaster Avenue, and Haverford Avenue. The project will consist of a new three-story building with 20 living units and a shared exhibition and workshop space for artists. The apartments will have one- two- and three-bedroom layouts.

A community room on the ground floor will be open to all residents and will offer arts and educational programming open to the public.

The $7.2 million project is being carried out by the PEC Community Development Corporation, which has been building affordable housing in Philadelphia’s Promise Zone area for more than 20 years.

Community members are invited to the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Please check the event’s Facebook page for updates.

UPDATE: Here’s some more information from the Streets Department about the delay:

“With double the amount of trash on Monday due to the holiday and blizzard, crews are almost a day behind in most neighborhoods. Also many residents didn’t have materials curb side for collection after the storm, [so] this also has collections running behind.”

The Philadelphia Street Department has confirmed that they are struggling to pick up trash on time this week due to high collection volumes after last week’s record-breaking snow. The department had to cancel last Monday’s collections because garbage trucks were used for snow removal and asked residents to hold on to their trash until this week.

It seems though that the delay is about 24-30 hours, so if your trash hasn’t been picked up, don’t worry, your garbage truck will likely arrive soon.

Experiencing delays w/trash/recyce coll. this week due to the increased vol of materials set out after last week’s record-setting snow storm

— Phila. Streets Dept. (@PhilaStreets) February 3, 2016

As soon as the news broke last summer that the University City Science Center-based Department of Making and Doing (DM + D) was closing in the fall, four local organizations which shared DM + D’s collaborative space began looking for new homes. One of them, a popular technology education program, The Hacktory, has just announced that they found a new space at 3645-3647 Lancaster Avenue, right around the corner from their previous location at 3711 Market Street.

Program executive director Georgia Guthrie writes that The Hacktory team is very excited about the move. “We will be joining the vibrant businesses along Lancaster Ave (as you can see we’re right next door to the Green Line Coffee shop) and look forward to contributing to the great arts and cultural activities taking place there,” Guthrie’s blog post reads.

           Photos courtesy of The Hacktory.

The Grand Opening Party for the new space, which includes two adjacent storefronts, will take place on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 1 – 9 p.m. There will be fun activities for all ages and demos of The Hacktory’s tools. The evening portion of the party will include activities and beverages for adults who want to continue to celebrate. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

The Hacktory has been offering tech education programming for both adults and youth, including classes and workshops, an after-school program and summer camp. They also want to offer memberships at the new location in order to provide direct access to their tools and space. Those who are interested in becoming a member are asked to fill out a membership interest form on this page.

For more information about The Hacktory, visit www.thehacktory.org.