4510 Walnut Street / Photo by Mike Lyons.

After years as a shop selling phone cards to most recently an art studio, it looks like the storefront at 4510 Walnut St. will become West Philly’s third tattoo studio.

The property owner and the potential studio proprietors presented their plan to the Spruce Hill Community Association’s zoning committee last night for the 1,200-square-foot storefront, which is a couple doors west from Monarch Hardware. Marvin Graaf, the owner of the Falls Taproom in East Falls who would be a co-owner of the studio, told the committee that the studio would require no changes to the facade of the building, “no major construction” inside and, importantly for the committee, no neon signs anywhere, Graaf said.

Graaf and his partner recently met informally with people from nearby businesses, a church and mosque to talk about his plans and told the committee he received mostly positive feedback. One local business owner initially responded negatively, afraid that “Hell’s Angels types” might be hanging around the studio, a committee member said. But that business owner was persuaded that the tattoo scene has changed.

“I think the common perception is that you get a seedy crowd hanging around,” said Graaf. “That’s really not how it is anymore.”

The studio would be open until 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.

The studio still needs a nod from the full SHCA and a special use variance from the city.

– Mike Lyons

The Spruce Hill Community Association’s (SHCA) Business Association Committee was formed earlier this year to work on several things in support of SHCA’s efforts to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood. These efforts include figuring out what the neighborhood wants and doesn’t want in terms of storefronts. To get a better idea of your interests and opinions, the committee is conducting a survey of retail preferences in the neighborhood and inviting community members to participate. Later this month, SHCA will be distributing a newsletter to every resident in the neighborhood that will include an invitation to participate in the survey, according to Lee Huang, the committee chair.

The 10-question survey is now available online. Residents can also email shca.bac@gmail.com to request a copy of the survey.

Some of the survey questions include: What kind of retail would you like or not like to see in the neighborhood? What is your favorite business? What retail locations need the most improvement? For more information about Spruce Hill, including its borders, visit: http://www.sprucehillca.org/about/

The problems are continuing for the Watusi II at 45th and Locust and its owner Noel Karasanyi. The bar’s commercial activities license has been revoked for “serious tax violations,” according to a sign affixed to the building dated Sept. 11.

The business owes about $37,000 in back taxes, according to the Revenue Department website. The closing of Watusi II follows The closing of the Watusi Lounge at 46th and Walnut earlier this month due to an expired food license. Both bars are owned by Karasanyi, who has a Yeadon address listed on tax and real estate documents. Karasanyi also owns the Third World Lounge at 49th and Baltimore.

All three establishments have received complaints about late night noise and fights. Three people were shot near the Watusi Lounge on Aug. 30 and the Third World Lounge got some brief citywide publicity for its second-floor “pee pipe” that drained onto the sidewalk along 49th Street.

The Watusi II was briefly closed and put up for sale in 2012, but later taken off the market and reopened. The cease operations sign at the Watusi II lists its name as “Spider Kelly’s,” which is the name of the establishment before it was sold in 1988. It still retains that business name in city records.

Photo by Alex Vuocolo/West Philly Local.

Chestnut Square, a mixed-use development located at 32nd and Chestnut Streets, has added more retail to its over 360,000 square-feet of space. The building now contains a total of seven businesses in addition to 19 stories of student housing and other amenities like study areas and a computer lab.

The newest retail additions include Plaza Artist Materials & Picture Framing, Yogorino, and a branch location of Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union. Four other food establishments– Joe Coffee, Shake Shack, Zavino and coZara— are already in the lineup.

Drexel University students and some businesses will be moving in within the month, as construction finishes up just eight months after the project broke ground.

Rendering of Chestnut Square. Image via americancampus.com.

Plaza Artist Materials should open as early as the next two weeks, while Yogorino, Joe Coffee and Shake Shack should open by mid-October. The rest will open between December and January, according to Jason Wills, senior vice president of campus development at American Campus Communities (ACC).

Wills explained that ACC has made a concerted effort to bring in a mix of retail options that are interesting and local to the region.

“We could have filled the space three times over with chains, but instead we really wanted to make it a cool Philadelphia square that felt like a good place to go for an evening,” Wills said.

ACC’s portfolio also includes another West Philadelphia building, University Crossings, a 30-story campus-housing building at 15 N. 32nd Street. It is perhaps most recognizable as the building that towers above the Firestone Tires store.

Though University Crossings will soon be refurbished and potentially given retail on its ground floor, according to Wills, the two developments couldn’t be more different.

Chestnut Square’s inclusion of retail reflects Drexel University’s most current thinking about what it wants its campus to look and feel like. As shown in Drexel’s campus master plan, a big part of this involves building denser housing and adding retail and other amenities to its educational and residential areas.

Wills credits Drexel University president, John Fry, for this change in culture.

“Among the things that [Fry] has committed to is was work to bring students out of absentee landlord situations in the neighborhoods and bring them back on campus,” Wills said. “He has also really tried to activate and urbanize the campus core.”

–Alex Vuocolo

Tomorrow, in conjunction with the Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll, the Baltimore Avenue Business Association (BABA) will launch its new website, babawestphilly.org—a first for the member organization that has promoted and supported local business along the Baltimore Avenue corridor for the last few decades.

Baltimore Avenue/West Philly Local archive photo.

BABA’s new website will feature a list of known businesses within its boundaries (Baltimore Avenue between 40^th and 52^nd streets, plus one block north and south), a calendar of events, special promotions, a member-maintained blog, and local business and community news. The website, made possible through grants from The Enterprise Center and Local Initiative Support Corporation, was created by BABA members and will feature BABA’s new member-designed brand and logo.

According to BABA member and neighborhood organizer Algernong Allen, the website was launched in an effort to “enhance our digital presence, better marketing of the Baltimore Avenue corridor, and connect customers with the diverse range of local businesses we have to offer.” “The Baltimore Avenue Business Association will be able to highlight the wonderful energy taking place in West Philly from a commercial perspective,” Allen told West Philly Local.

The Baltimore Avenue Business Association underwent a revival six years ago thanks to the effort of a small group within the organization that focused on cementing BABA as a presence in the community, Vincent Whittacre, owner of the Gold Standard Café on 48^th Street and Baltimore Avenue, told West Philly Local. In those intervening years, he said, the association held group meetings as well as business and community meetings to address local concerns, like parking and outdoor table licenses.  Continue Reading

The cease and desist order at the Watusi Lounge at 4600 Walnut St.

Editor’s Note: We are aware that the sign on the establishment at 46th and Walnut says “Watutsi.” However, the business in all its public dealings (its filings, licenses and even its Facebook page) refers to itself as “Watusi,” so that’s what we have always gone with. Both words, of course, refer to the Tutsi people of East Africa.

The Watusi Lounge at 46th and Walnut has been closed for not having a proper food license, according to the city’s Office of Licenses and Inspections.

A cease operations notice was put on the door of the bar and night club on Sept. 6. The Watusi Lounge has received complaints from neighbors for late-night noise including alcohol-fueled fights. Police are still investigating a triple shooting earlier on Aug. 30 allegedly connected to the bar.

The lounge will not be permitted to open until a food license is issued. The notice is the latest in a list of violations the city has issued to Watusi.

In other Watusi-related news, the Watusi II at 45th and Locust, which has also received complaints, got a new paint job over the last few days. Local businessman Noel Karasanyi runs the Watusi Lounge, Watusi II and the Third World Lounge at 49th and Baltimore. The Watusi II was the subject of a community meeting in August, where some community members complained about noise and open drug use. But other members of the community have defended the businesses, saying they are among the few black-owned establishments remaining in the neighborhood.