In West Philly

Too often, as West Philly has seen more than its share of new student housing rise over the last several years, developers have skimped on the design side of things, opting for function over form. It's not that the new apartment buildings in the neighborhood are unattractive per se, but

The Porch at 30th Street Station, now a couple of years old, has been a big success story for University City District. The public plaza replaced a sad stretch in front of our main train station, with events and food trucks adding life to the landscaped streetscape. It's been great

Two summers past, we were jonesing for a Slurpee while in West Philly, and visited the 7-11 at 38th & Chestnut with frozen satisfaction in mind. Alas, when we got to the convenience store, we were shocked to see it closed forever, wondering aloud when we'd ever seen a 7-11

A reader recently tipped us off to the ongoing demolition at 245 S. 45th St. in Spruce Hill. Seeing the opportunity to snap some photos and enjoy a huge sandwich from Koch's as a bonus, we made our way over there and discovered an old home which was surely once

For many years, we delighted in the fact that a pizza place at 43rd & Baltimore thought it was a good idea to call themselves "Wurst House Pizzeria." And it was definitely a sad moment for us back in 2006 when new ownership came in and inaccurately renamed the place

When we last visited the vacant lot at the corner of 43rd & Baltimore, we detailed an exciting plan for a thoughtful and appropriate building that had evolved through a number of community meetings. The Clarkmore Group, with help from U3 Advisors and Cecil Baker Architects, came up with a glass, brick and stone panel building

Between the summer just passed and the last, there's been consistent building along Spring Garden Street in West Philly starting the minute you cross over the Spring Garden Bridge. Closer to the Drexel and Penn campuses, numerous large-scale institutional developments have generally ruled the roost. But deeper into Mantua, smaller

As Penn continues to expand in a very physical and institutional way with additions like the new dorm at Hill Field and the 23-acre South Bank Campus, it's is also expanding incentives for employees to find housing of their own near work. For those unfamiliar, Penn has for years offered a buying program, really

The astounding growth of HUP and CHOP over time has resulted in a West Philly campus that's probably confusing even for doctors that have worked there for years. The buildings are a mess of different styles and functions. The roads are confusing and sometime terminate unexpectedly. For pedestrians, there's just

A couple of years ago, we told you about plans from The Enterprise Center to convert an old warehouse (and former supermarket) at 310 South 48th St. into a kitchen incubator and a restaurant space. We checked in again during the summer of 2012, as construction had moved along but nothing was yet completed.