We were in Pennsport the other day on our way to get the old jalopy inspected and happened upon Karen Donnelly Park, a public green space we never knew existed. According to the South Philly Review, this little patch of public space at 230 Dickinson St. was originally established as a quiet resting place for area residents back in 1978. For years, it contained a few tables and chairs and several trees, but upkeep fell off and the area was leveled by the City in the 1990s.

In 2009

Around 2005, the City decided to sell the lot for redevelopment, but after a few years of pushback from neighbors the plan changed to refashion the space into a new and improved pocket park. The space, as you can see, has been totally rebuilt from the ground up with permanent tables…

Earlier this winter we wrote about the possible development of a Francisville lot in the middle of Winding Roses Park, an underutilized neighborhood park located at Uber and Brown, a block away from the Francisville Rec Center. This space had been a quasi-public green space for years, with City agencies owning four of the five lots that make up the park.

Back in January

Regrettably, 1911 Brown St., a lot in the middle of the park, is privately owned by a developer named William Guzman. Over the winter, Guzman moved to build a single-family home on his lot. Our previous story about the lot quoted a Daily News article that said that Guzman was willing to swap his lot for another in the area, but miscommunication and perhaps insufficient effort on the parts of several parties meant that this…

Go to most of the neighborhoods surrounding Center City, and you’ll find a healthy number of green spaces that are open to the public. Graduate Hospital, until very recently, has been more or less bereft of public green space, with the nearly complete Julian Abele Park representing a very new addition to the neighborhood. And with the rapid development of almost every vacant lot in the neighborhood, opportunities for additional green space are rapidly dwindling. With that in mind, SOSNA is attempting to preserve the corner of 17th & Carpenter, one of the few remaining large vacant parcels in the neighborhood, as Carpenter Green.

The lot

Looking north of 17th St.

Owned for years by the Redevelopment Authority, this lot has sat vacant for as…

Ahoy mateys! Land bouy, dead ahead!

A land bouy, of course, is both beacon and wind monitor. It tracks the current of the sky with a sail that produces a deep, haunting sound when moved by the wind. And it’s also the art concept proposed to serve as a gateway to Pier 53, and scheduled to be constructed as part of Phase II of the green infrastructure project Washington Avenue Green.

Two summers ago

A land bouy, coming soon

Located at Washington Avenue and Columbus Boulevard, Pier 53 once served as Philadelphia’s equivalent to Ellis Island. It was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century, according to Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) spokesperson Lizzie Woods.

Entry to the park on Columbus Blvd., which is currently not very clearly marked

Phase II of the…

A hundred years ago, 1917-45 E. Hagert St. was home to a gigantic hosiery mill. For the last several years, it’s been a vacant lot, like many other parcels in the immediate area. But this will not be the case for long.

Sure is vacant

Looking north

Months after EKNA gave their support to the project, the ZBA recently approved plans for the construction of forty new apartment units for low-income senior citizens at this site by an organization called Catholic Health Care Services. This is the same company that oversaw the adaptive reuse of the former St. John Neumann High School for Boys in South Philly into senior housing. As is the case at St. John Neumann Place, the units here will be available for lease, and they’ll…

Over the past couple of years, we’ve written several times about Triangle Park, a green space that sprung up at the intersection of E. Passyunk Avenue and Christian and S. 6th Streets a few years ago. This triangular lot was a gas station for decades, then it sat vacant, then it became a park, and now it sadly sits mostly vacant again.

A year ago

Current view

At the end of 2011, it looked as though the Redevelopment Authority would be acquiring the privately owned lot with the intention of maintaining it as a green space moving forward. Then, it seems the PRA changed their tune, insisting that they couldn’t purchase the property without it undergoing environmental testing and remediation, which would cost at least tens of thousands of dollars. This despite…