New 3-story apartment building with ground floor retail space at 4619 Woodland Avenue (photos West Philly Local).

Commercial and residential changes in recent months are beginning to reshape a couple of blocks of Woodland Avenue a block from the south end of Clark Park. Here is a look at some of the developments:

• A boxy, 3-story apartment building next to Gold Star Pizza and Chicken with ground-floor retail at 4619 Woodland Ave. is complete. No businesses have opened in the storefronts yet, but the apartments upstairs, which are aimed at University of the Sciences students, are open for business. The retail rental seems pretty reasonable at $15 per square foot. The apartments range from two to five bedrooms and rents are reportedly running between $800 and $3,200 per month.

“Our vision for building in the University City area is to bring a higher quality of housing to neighborhoods, which may be in need of additional housing options,” Ashley George from HOW Properties, the property manager, told West Philly Local back in April 2014. “There is not an abundance of student housing in the University of the Sciences West Philadelphia corridor.”  Continue Reading

A zoning meeting for a potentially highly-valuable piece of property on the 5000 block of Hazel Avenue is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 17. Residents are invited to hear the proposal to build a three-story single-family home on a vacant lot at 5023 Hazel Avenue, between two other three-story homes. The meeting is organized by Garden Court Community Association’s Zoning Committee and will be held at Ahimsa House, 5007 Cedar Ave., starting at 7:30 p.m. Everyone who has questions or concerns about this proposal is welcome to attend the meeting.

The 2,200 square foot lot was purchased for $60,000 in July 2015 by Elkins Park based company HSSK LLC, which is planning to build a semi-detached structure with a roof deck and a pilot house for access to the roof deck, according to the information posted on the City’s Office of Licences and Inspections website. The cleaning of the lot ahead of the construction has already begun (pictured).

The Enterprise Center Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC) will provide information to residents about home repair programs at its first community meeting tomorrow. The meeting will run from 6 – 7 p.m. at The Enterprise Center (4548 Market Street).

Here’s the agenda:

• Home Repair Programs for you and your neighbors, including the PHIL-Plus and Mini-PHIL loan programs.
• Helping connect residents with other resources and services.
• How you can get involved through NAC subcommittee elections that will take place in 2016.  Continue Reading

The planning process focused on creating a single integrated vision for the area surrounding 30th Street Station continues this Wednesday with an open house. The 30th Street Station District Plan project team will present refined design ideas for the area.

The open house will be held from 4 – 7 p.m. at the station, behind the Amtrak ticket office.

More than 200 people attended the open house on June 17 to learn about and provide feedback on three preliminary concepts for the 30th Street Station District in the year 2040. The concepts are divided into three themes:

• “Central Business District 2,” a new central business district.

• “Schuylkill Crossing,” a new urban neighborhood.

• “Innovation City,” which hooks in with nearby universities, mainly Drexel.

Nearly 1,400 comments were received at the June open house and from an online survey that was posted on the District Plan website. The summary report is available here.

The 30th Street Station District Plan is a joint planning effort led by Amtrak, Brandywine Realty Trust, Drexel University, PennDOT and SEPTA with support from a wide range of public and private agencies, area stakeholders and other interested parties. For more information, visit: http://www.phillydistrict30.com/.

Henry C. Lea Elementary School (47th and Locust)

Dock Street Brewery is joining efforts to support public education in Philadelphia, with a focus on West Philly schools.

Every month, they will be tapping a special beer (aged, soured, oaked, irresponsibly hopped, blended…) and giving it away. In return, they ask that you bring in and exchange school supplies that will be donated to West Philadelphia public schools. This month, Dock Street will be working with Lea Elementary at 47th and Locust.

Photo from Dock Street Brewery’s Facebook page.

If you like beer and want to help Lea Elementary, come to Dock Street at 50th and Baltimore this Wednesday (Dec. 16) and bring one ream of 8 x 11 copy paper (paper is an essential tool in most classrooms and is often in short supply). In return, you’ll get a 6 oz pour of Mah Nà Mah Nà, a Belgian Golden Ale, aged for eight months in a freshly drained tequila barrel. If you want you can bring more school supplies; they will be gladly accepted and delivered to the school. The event starts at 3 p.m. and goes on all night.

If you can’t make it to Dock Street this Wednesday, you can follow them on Facebook for information on future school supply drives. You can also donate to Lea Elementary and other schools on the Donors Choose website. Check out this list of school projects that need funding, compiled by the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools:

Lea Elementary School

1. Reaching Higher Resources
This project is about halfway to its goal but only has 15 days left for funding. Ms. Harris is hoping to buy sets of reading and math games to offer her students hands-on practice.
http://www.donorschoose.org/…/reaching-higher-reso…/1660214/  Continue Reading

Photo from Herban Quality Eats’ Facebook page.

Herban Quality Eats, a West Philly healthy food startup, which has been operating for a little over a year out of the shared kitchen space at the Culinary Center at 48th and Spruce, is opening a fast-casual restaurant this Tuesday at 3601 Market Street. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the recently completed University City Science Center’s high-rise apartment building.

The restaurant will open at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 15 and to celebrate the opening, the first 101 guests will be treated to a free lunch.

At Herban (a mashup of “herb” and “urban”), diners can build their platter starting with a base such as Himalayan red rice, seasoned kale, or chilled whole wheat peanut noodles, then adding a protein: you can choose from grilled chicken, backyard steak, pesto salmon, or “the vegan jawn”, a mix of lentils, quinoa, and sweet potatoes baked into protein-packed balls. Next, you can pick a sauce to accompany your combo, from herbed tomato, walnut coriander, and Herban hot sauce. And to finish off your plate you can choose two sides, like roasted Brussels sprouts and quinoa ‘n cheese.

Salads are also on Herban’s menu: the Montego with organic baby spinach, avocado,  plantain chips, fresh pineapple, and jalapeno-lime vinaigrette and the Spruce with organic kale, feta cheese, pear, pecans, dried cranberries, and balsamic-ginger vinaigrette.

Throughout December, Herban Quality Eats will be open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. In 2016 they will extend their hours. For more information, visit www.herbanqualityeats.com.