Move out of the way, way. Now is the time for more park, and less way along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Various improvements have been made to the Parkway in recent years and more are coming. The Action Plan for the Parkway will be unveiled during a public meeting tonight at 5:30pm at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

The Academy, photo credit greatnonprofits.org

The plan, rooted in the “More Park, Less Way” theme, is the result of a year long process overseen by the Department of Parks and Recreation, with the help of PennPRAXIS, aimed at collecting public input to inform design upgrades. Four meetings were held this past summer in the neighborhoods surrounding and connected to the Parkway: Fairmount, Logan Square, Brewerytown and Francisville. The project will connect past improvements, like streetscaping (although those…

If you’ve spent a summer in Philadelphia, it’s likely you’ve ended up at Penn’s Landing at some point, perhaps perusing a flea market, catching a concert, or simply visiting with the purpose of lamenting its inaccessibility, its unfortunate design, and its spectacularly wasted potential. Yes, Penn’s Landing coulda been something special, but it’s instead an unfeeling amphitheater, cut off from most of downtown and lacking the kind of warmth we crave in our outdoor spaces.

Photo credit: Michael Cook

The Master Plan for the Central Delaware seeks to change all of that. Perusing this extremely thick report, you’ll find a section that details plans for Penn’s Landing and its surrounding area. Those plans include a large park extending over I95 and Delaware Ave. replacing the current Penn’s Landing setup, additional pedestrian foot bridges, and several mixed-use development projects springing up along…

A long stalled project may be on the horizon as developers for the vacant lot across from the Ben Franklin Bridge at 205 Race St. are scheduled to appear tomorrow before the Old City Civic Association Zoning Committee to seek support for newly revised plans for a mixed-use apartment building. This project has been discussed on and off for years, and may finally move forward, provided the developer and the community can see eye-to-eye.

Lot and bridge

Brown/Hill Development will seek the community group’s approval for a 16-story 128-unit building, according to the zoning refusal. That would make it perhaps the tallest building in the area, a 197-foot structure, three times that of the current height allowed by zoning. The building, as proposed, will have 34 interior parking spaces, as well as bicycle parking.

These plans are a departure from the…

A few individuals have indicated to Naked Philly that developer Michael Samschick has purchased the large vacant warehouse across the street from the Barbary, which stretches the length of the 900 block of Frankford Avenue from Richmond Street to Laurel Street.

It is huge

These people, a commercial real estate broker, members of local neighborhood organizations, and an urban planner all affirmed Samschick, through his company Core Realty, acquired the property and hinted

A couple of weeks back, the Philadelphia Planning Commission gave its blessing to a proposal that’s been floating around for about a year now, for bro-bar Finnigan’s Wake to take over little Bodine Street for the purposes of porch seating for catering customers. We’ve always been fond of the look of the outside of this bar, but confess we haven’t been inside since a fateful night in 2003, when our shoes narrowly avoided vomit at two different locations within a matter of minutes.

Finnigans Wake

Bodine St

According to this story on Planphilly, Bodine Street will be struck, and closed to car traffic. In its place will be a raised patio, with seating for Finnigan’s Wake customers. There will, however, be a six foot wide path for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.…

In July, we celebrated the five-year anniversary of the announcement of a plan to construct a W hotel, plus condos, at the southwest corner of 12th and Arch Sts., across from the Convention Center and the Reading Terminal Market. If you’ve walked by that corner at any point in the past five years, you probably noticed that the parking lot looks nothing like a W hotel. Still kind of looks like a parking lot.

Parking lot

Definitely just a parking lot

Looking south. Parking lot on the right, Reading Terminal Market on the left

According to Planphilly, Mayor Nutter, along with Robert and Joseph Zuritsky of Parkway Corp., will announce new plans for a hotel on Monday…