One way to shape one’s neighborhood is to communicate with developers, telling them what you do and do not want. If they listen, perhaps you’ve got an amicable arrangement on your hands.

Such may be the case in the Logan Square neighborhood, at the northwest corner of 21st and Race Streets next to the old Please Touch Museum (which moved a few years back to Memorial Hall) where now resides I. Brewster and Company Gallery. That’s where folks from MBM Realty purchased a corner building that was used by the Philadelphia School District until being absorbed by the museum in the mid-1990s.

Town homes on the way, perhaps

“We’re cautiously optimistic about what might be going on,” said Ed Panek, zoning chair of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA).

Panek said he talked with developers at Matzi Builder and…

Yesterday, we noticed that fences have gone up around the nearly one-hundred year old Bob Morris building at 17th and Arch Sts. Purchased for $6.5M in 2004 by 1701 Partners LP, the building’s interior was demoed in 2007 in anticipation of a new Kimpton Hotel leasing the building. In the meantime, 2008 happened, and the hotel ain’t coming.

According to a press release from Federal Capital Partners, a DC based company providing some financing for this project, the fourteen story building will contain 111 luxury apartments along with a media center and a small gym. There will be retail space on the first floor, but no word on tenants just yet. With the Comcast Building across the street, and additional development possibly coming to the surrounding blocks of Arch St., these apartments are in a very desirable location. Whether the apartments themselves or the facade restoration…

We’ve been covering a lot of what’s going on in Locust Square with the River Trail Path and other developments with pedestrian traffic in Schuylkill River Park, so we thought we’d let our readers know of another big project in this file. The non-profit Community Design Collaborative is working for the Friends of Schuylkill River Park on gateway improvements for the park at Taney and Pine Streets. The FSRP have begun developing the new vision for the gateway to this park, to “potentially transform the park into an archetype of a living, didactic landscape,” according to the FSRP. The project will concentrate on the “front parlor” entry and the larger, paved gathering area referred to as “the living room” to solve the problems of dark space, cracked pavement, drainage problems, cross circulation for bicycles and the recirculation of water in the central fountain.

In July, the Boardwalk to South Street trail project connecting West Philadelphia and University City to the Banks will be bid. The Schuylkill Banks Development Corporation is working with the city to build a 2000-foot-long concrete structuring that will run parallel to the eastern shore of the Schuylkill from Locust Street to the South Street Bridge. Michael Baker Engineers will build a ramp to link the 15′-wide boardwalk for bikers and pedestrians who would otherwise block the trail.  Three points of access will be provided along with several overlook areas to enjoy the river view. The construction phase of the project is expected to take two years.

After learning about the Schuylkill River Parks Connector Bridge and the At-Grade Crossing at Race and Locust Streets, we were left to wonder why these related projects were not kick-started sooner for convenience and pedestrian safety.

The pedestrian bridge connecting Schuylkill River Park to Schuylkill Banks will span across the CSX tracks about 500 feet south of Locust Street and have ADA-compatible ramps leading up to it on both sides. “The bridge is being built to provide a safe crossing for the railroad tracks even if the nearby Locust Street grade crossing is closed,” explains Danielle Gray of the Schuylkill River Development Corporation. Designed by HNTB, the bridge is under contract to SRDC and the Philadelphia Streets Department is overseeing construction on this project, which will begin in July and last about 18…

Photo courtesy of the City of Philadelphia and SRDC

The Walnut Street Bridge is going to be more easily accessible to all of its users (i.e. drivers, bikers and pedestrians), rather than it being predominantly for motor-vehicle traffic. Currently, the bridge possesses four traffic lanes, a bike lane and two eight-foot sidewalks. Pedestrian and bike traffic has increased considerably and the bridge currently isn’t set up to accommodate all that traffic.

To make the Walnut Street Bridge more conducive to current traffic, design team Michael Baker Engineers will reduce the number of lanes from four to three which will allow for the sidewalks to be expanded to 12’. According to the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, reducing the number of lanes will also help to calm the traffic, creating a symbiotic relationship between bikers, pedestrians and vehicles. In…