Another holiday season has come to 52nd Street and efforts are continuing to help the teeming commercial strip regain its reputation as “West Philly’s Main Street.”

52nd Street Station after renovation.

Over the past five years, the Enterprise Center’s Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC) has invested in the renewal of 52nd Street, a once busy commercial corridor hit hard by the 10-year Market-Frankford EL reconstruction project. Providing guidance and support, the neighborhood initiative group has worked to spur economic growth in the area, hoping to bring back its vitality.

As part of those efforts, TEC-CDC recently hired Akeem Dixon as the retail gateway’s first-ever Commercial Corridor Manager, made possible by support from the Philadelphia Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC). In his role, Dixon will primarily oversee a cleaning contract managed by the center, funded in part by the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, aimed to “help make 52nd Street the best it can be,” said Bryan Fenstermaker, TEC-CDC’s senior director of programming.

52nd Street Station before the 2007-2008 reconstruction project / Photos: Wikipedia.

“Our [work] is to make 52nd Street the most attractive and vibrant corridor that it can be,” Fenstermaker told West Philly Local. “52nd Street is really the livelihood of West Philadelphia … A number of people grew up here on the corridor and remember what it used to be like. There’s no reason it can’t come back.”

Hiring a portal manager is a major development not only for the corridor, but for the local organization,  which has a hand in its planning and economic growth. According to Fenstermaker, the new manager will also serve as a soundboard for the “wants and needs” of the area, helping TEC-CDC leverage the requests of 52nd Street’s businesses and residents. Dixon will, in effect, act as a liaison for those partners involved in the corridor—be they local community associations or business owners and street vendors—so there’s full engagement among everyone who has a stake in 52nd Street’s success.

“What we would like to see is the businesses and vendors come together to support somebody that’s full-time on there as a sustainable practice,” said Fenstermaker. “We’re there to support the stakeholders and the corridor, so I see us being there long-term.”

Continue Reading

As always, we here at West Philly Local aim to keep neighbors abreast of community news and inform you of updates to that news. For today’s installment of updates, we’ve rounded up news about three big projects we’ve featured in the last three months that verge from the exciting (tacos!) to the conflicting (another expensive development!). And, of course, if there are other updates you’d love to know, we’d love to hear them in the comments.

Groundbreaking for Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral’s $110 Million Development

Photo by West Philly Local.

Tomorrow, Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral and Radnor Property Group (RPG) will hold a groundbreaking for 38Chestnut—the $110 million mixed-used development at 38^th and Chestnut Streets that will see the razing of two historic brownstones (pictured) formerly used as the Cathedral’s parish house. The demolition will make way for a three-prong 326,000 square-foot project (owned by 3737 Chestnut, LP and developed by RPG) to be completed in 2015, and will include the construction of an allegedly “state-of-the-art” 25-story apartment building targeting professionals and grad students, as well as the Episcopal Cathedral Center that features a three-story office building with ground floor retail, a community center, and an early-learning childcare center. Additionally, as part of a settlement with the Preservation Alliance, the development will also see the renovation and maintenance of the cathedral itself. The groundbreaking starts at 2 p.m. at the Cathedral, located at 13-19 South 38th Street.

As we reported in November, the demolition to the two 19th-century brownstones has been nothing but contentious since it made news last summer. In an 8-2 vote, the Philadelphia Historical Commission approved the Cathedral’s hardship application to bulldoze the two historically-sanctioned houses, which were on the list of Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The Preservation Alliance appealed this decision almost immediately, but came to an agreement with the Commission in March, in which a 50-year preservation and restoration plan is implemented and maintained by the Cathedral, with project funds set aside for immediate work on the house of worship.  Continue Reading

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

A new chapter began last night in the ongoing saga of 400 S. 40th Street, the contentious property on the edge of the University of Pennsylvania’s growing footprint that includes a historic mansion that community members, developers and Penn officials have been quarreling over for a decade.

Developers presented preliminary drawings last night to the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee for a graduate housing complex that keeps the original mid-19th Century Italianate mansion, strips away the hideous concrete block additions added when it was a nursing home and adds a detached five-story, L-shaped housing complex aimed at graduate students.

Residents look over a preliminary drawing of a new proposal for 40th and Pine last night at the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee meeting.

“We’re hoping to build support for this approach and avoid a couple more years of litigation,” said Jonathan Weiss of Equinox Management and Construction, the developer behind “Azalea Gardens.” “We’re trying to find a way forward.”

The developers and officials from Penn, which bought the property at 40th and Pine streets in 2008,  presented the plan as a compromise to  head off a lawsuit filed by the nearby Woodland Terrace Homeowners Association after the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment (and the Philadelphia Historical Commission and SHCA) approved a plan last November that would have demolished the mansion to make room for a five-story structure. Penn officials argued that the mansion presented a hardship for any plans to develop the property.

That five-story structure without the mansion was proposed after many residents balked at a previous plan for a seven-story structure that kept the historic mansion intact. That proposal came after a plan to build an 11-story, long-term stay hotel (which was eventually built on the 4100 block of Walnut) was abandoned.  Continue Reading

Early this year, it was revealed that a mixed-use high-rise tower would replace two historically designated brownstones on 38^th and Chestnut Streets, with construction completing in 2015. It seems that demolition of those two brownstones, formerly Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral’s parish house, is fast approaching, Hidden City Philadelphia recently reported.

According to Philadelphia License & Inspection records, a demolition permit was secured for the brownstones, located at 3723-25 Chestnut Street, on September 27 and updated on November 1 with an amendment for inclusion of a revised work plan. Once demolition completes, construction will begin this year on the $97 million project, developed and overseen by local firm Radnor Property Group (RPG) in partnership with the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. The end result will feature a 25-story residential tower offering 276 apartment units, retail on the ground floor, and a fitness center.  Continue Reading

University City Chinese Christian Church.

It’s a big day tomorrow in Spruce Hill – the day for the Spruce Hill Annual Meeting where residents are invited to “mingle, vote, and discuss developments in the neighborhood.” The meeting will be held at a new location – the recently completed University City Chinese Christian Church at the northwest corner of 45th and Walnut. The church building is also used as a community space.

This meeting is an opportunity for neighbors to ask questions and offer comments about the future of the Spruce Hill neighborhood, which covers an area from 40th to 46th street and Market to Woodland avenues, and also a chance to renew your dues. By the way, all new and recurring SHCA members will receive a free Spruce Hill door decal while supplies last.

Martine Decamp, Philadelphia City Planning Commission’s new planner for the University City/Southwest and Lower Southwest region, will be the featured speaker at the meeting. Since the new zoning code went into effect in August 2012, Decamp will talk about the city’s remapping and rezoning efforts. She will also provide some insight into the Commission’s thinking as it developed its recommendations for future development in the Spruce Hill neighborhood.

Voting is a very important part of the meeting. Here is a list of candidates for the SHCA Board of Directors:

• Monica Calkins – president.
• Andy Cole – executive vice president.
• Mark Wagenveld – vice president (operations).
• Marie McCullough – secretary
• Judy Powers – treasurer.

Overall, 10 seats on the 20-member board are up this year and the Nominating Committee is recommending five newcomers and five incumbents. To see the full list of candidates, please follow this link: http://www.sprucehillca.org/shca-annual-election.

For more details about the meeting and to let your neighbors know that you’re coming, visit the event’s Facebook page.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m.