The last two summers, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has transformed two different vacant lots in Center City into pop-up gardens. In 2011, they created a lovely but temporary green space at the corner of 20th & Market where (in theory) a new building will soon (finally) rise. Last year, a garden appeared on the embarrassing vacant lot on the 1900 block of Walnut Street which where a movie theater burned down almost twenty years ago. Now, a third garden is poised to open, this time at 313 S. Broad St., on a lot owned by University of the Arts.

In the past

Current view

The front of the space functions as a welcome area, with trees, a lawn, and flowers. The rear contains seating and greenery, a beer garden, and…

It was the summer of 2011 that we first clued you in that the Garden of the Arts, a community garden on the northeast corner of Broad & South was on the way out, and in its place would soon rise Southstar Lofts, a new mixed-use development by Dranoff Properties. It’s been a year and a half, and it looks like the project is finally ready to get underway.

The site

Closer look

We’re basing this assumption on the fact that the retail space in the building is now being actively marketed on Loopnet, a website dedicated to commercial leasing. According to Loopnet, just over 10,000 sqft of retail space is available, divisible down to 1,500 sqft units. The price is $45/sqft/yr, and the expected availability is December…

A reader checked in, asking about the vacant building at 311 S. Broad St., directly across the street from the Kimmel Center. We were reminded that we wondered about that very building some ten years ago, around the time the Kimmel Center opened, thinking it would be a slam-dunk location for a fancy bar/restaurant. Alas, the building is being used now for pretty much the same purpose as it was back then- a pigeon coop.

Awesome building

All 19,500 sqft of 311 S. Broad St. were purchased by Assorted Music Partnership, back in 1997, for $400K. The (former) Philadelphia International Records office was located in the building next door, until it caught fire last year. Both Assorted Music Partnership and Philadelphia International Records, in case you didn’t already assume, are owned by gated-mansion loving,…

Last week, we looked into the history of Philly’s venerated Museum of Art.  Today, we consider another of the city’s Greek-influenced cultural landmarks.  The flagship building of The University of the Arts, Dorrance Hamilton Hall, stands between Pine and Spruce Streets on the west side of Broad.  The University’s Eugene Bolt tells that the building was conceived by architect John Haviland, most famous for previously designing the Eastern State Penitentiary.  Erected in 1824, it is the oldest building still standing on Broad Street.

UArts today

However, an image taken from G.M. Hopkins’ 1875 Philadelphia Atlas shows that the art school was originally an educational institution of a different kind.  For its first 70 years, Haviland’s building housed the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, alternately known as Philadelphia’s Deaf and Dumb Asylum.

Awful name

In addition to being one…

Though you’ve probably already heard, Ted’s Montana Grill, located at Broad and Spruce Sts., closed about a month ago. The upscale grill was exposed back in March for having mice (one of the critters was conveniently near a street-side window when the Inside Edition’s Rat Patrol was doing their investigating). Although most people know, and maybe understand, that this is a city and most restaurants have probably seen a mouse or two (we just don’t want to see them as consumers), this may have tarnished to Ted’s reputation somewhat. We imagine this had little to do with the restaurant ultimately closing.

Former space

After all, it wasn’t just the Philadelphia location that was suffering; Ted’s actually shut down nine of their establishments throughout the country in recent months. According to George McKerrow, one of the chain’s…