Month: February 2013

Bob Bruhin

Tomorrow at 2PM, the Board of L&I Review will rule on the appeal of the demolition permit for the Church of the Assumption at 11th and Spring Garden Street. That ruling will be announced without testimony taken and is based on the Historical Commission’s own finding of economic hardship for the owner, John Wei, who wishes to tear the historic church down. There is still an appeal pending on the case in the Commonwealth Court; lawyers for the Callowhill Neighbors Association, disputing demolition, will likely then appeal the case to the Court of Common Pleas. Read the latest on that case by Hidden City reporter Christopher Mote HERE.

(via Critical Day Tomorrow For Two Major Preservation Cases | Hidden City Philadelphia)

Bob Bruhin

In December of 2011, we told you about the exciting new development that was nearly complete at 600 North Broad Street. Today, the complex represents the future promise of North Broad Street. Joe Volpe’s Vie, Marc Vetri’s Alla Spina and Stephen Starr’s Route 6 anchor a reviving area already pioneered by Osteria. This facelift for the property bound by Broad, Green, Mt. Vernon and 15th Streets is a big piece of the puzzle in the transformation of a long-neglected area. This is appropriate because, as history shows, this space has a documented habit of mirroring the broader (no pun intended) changes around it. Indeed, as shown by the image below, taken from Hexamer & Locher’s 1858 Philadelphia Atlas, the 600 block of North Broad was a lumberyard, as was every block between Spring Garden and North Streets.

(via Delorean Time Machine: 600 North Broad Street | NakedPhilly)

Bob Bruhin

Under a new strategic plan adopted by the city planning commission Tuesday, the Callowhill/Chinatown North of the future would include 21 new acres of parks and green space, development that mixes commercial and industrial space with residences, and an extended Noble Street that cuts through the “superblocks” created in the 1960s to attract industry that now feature low-rise buildings and surface parking lots.

(via PlanPhilly | PCPC adopts Callowhill/Chinatown North plan for mixed use, green space.)