3rd Ward, a unique Brooklyn-based outlet for all your creative needs, is coming to Philadelphia!

According to their press release, they’ve signed a lease on an undisclosed Northern Liberties/New Kensington space. A little digging and we uncovered the location to be at 1227 N. 4th St. (4th & Thompson, just north of Girard Ave). 3rd Ward will utilize three buildings, totaling 27K sqft (!) – a 3-story brick warehouse, an historic church, and a single-story concrete warehouse. They plan on preserving all of the buildings and restoring each building’s special features. Construction has begun and opening is slated for summer 2012.

Current view

Rendering, during the daytime

Rendering at night

It seems that 3rd Ward will offer a lot of the same mix of over 200 classes and programs like their…

What exactly is coming to the current Lucky 7 location at 25th and Aspen Sts.? An upscale dining locale? An uppity subterranean speak-easy type bar? A CVS?

Though Lucky 7 continues to be in business, an application for the transfer of liquor license to a new owner appeared at Lucky 7 back in August. Those new owners, Restaurant Destination Group, Inc., are the same folks behind the Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co., the high-end prohibition-era style cocktail bar and restaurant near Rittenhouse.

Does that mean drinks like the 5 Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique Punch or the Sweet 16 in Leather Boots are Fairmount bound?

Lucky 7′s owner, Jud Derholf, said it was too early to comment, and added things were still in the negotiations stage. The lawyer on the application, Edward Taraskus, also had nothing to say for now. We’re hearing rumors that the…

A few months ago, we reported on Bella Vista’s Triangle Park, it seems that the Friends of Triangle
Park are could be a step closer to acquiring this small pocket of real estate and keeping it as the garden they’ve worked to create. The large ‘For Sale’ sign has come down, the asking price for the property has come down, and the organization is hopeful that their continued work with the property owner and the city may pay off soon.

The new property listing, added only a week ago, has the lot at over 2600 sqft and touts the possibility of “3-4 townhomes or 2 townhomes, 1 commercial space + 2-4 apartments under current C-2 zoning.” The current asking price, $320K, is down from an original asking price of $750K in 2006. In the meantime, Shot…

The intersection of 6th and Fitzwater Sts. was a dark one for awhile, but its been brightened up recently by a new hair salon.

Sponsorship!

The Philadelphia Hair Studio, owned by Michael Esposito, has put the finishing touches on its tasteful space at 744 S. 6th Street and is open for business. It’s made a home in a remodeled Variety Store that had seen better days before closing for good and remaining vacant for almost a year. The salon has refined the inside using the newly exposed brick wall and smart lighting, and leaving the decades-old Coca Cola market sign up for its kitschy exterior style. It’s adjacent to the soon-to-be sold Little Fish restaurant, which took over the old Salt and Pepper space on the Southwest corner. The other two corners of…

Sephora and Blue Mercury are going to have a little more competition in the near future.

Rented

Ulta, the US beauty superstore chain, is presenting to the Center City Residents’ Association tonight with plans to move into the storefront space at 1619 Walnut St. The nationwide retailer plans to create a three-story flagship store in the newly remodeled building, which was most recently home to Brassier Perrier. As a more budget-friendly option to Sephora, and significantly lower-priced alternative to Blue Mercury, the Illinois-based company offers makeup, hair and skin care products, perfumes, and an in-store salon. Currently, the nearest locations to Philly are in Cherry Hill, Deptford, and Plymouth Meeting.

Built in 1937 and known as the Broadcast Building, 1619 Walnut Street underwent major and impressive renovations in the last year by architects from

When they walk out of the Quad and head north, freshmen at Upenn gawk at the Wistar Institute at 3601 Spruce St., wondering what goes on inside the strange building in the heart of the campus that’s totally unaffiliated with the university. The Wistar Institute was founded in 1892 and has been located at this site since a few years after its founding. It employs hundreds of people who are all committed to the Institute’s goals of research, specifically in the fields of cancer and immunology. The last major improvement project at Wistar took look place in the 1970′s, resulting in a building that’s very unfriendly to pedestrians, offering few clues about what actually happens inside.

Wistar today

A tremendous new addition to the Institute broke ground just last week, which should create a building that’s far…