In West Philly

For most Penn students, the Wistar Institute has long been a mystery. Located at 3601 Spruce St. across from freshman dorms at the Quad, Wistar covers an entire block in the heart of campus despite the fact that it's not affiliated with the University. Though one of their buildings is

Back in August, we told you that Lea Elementary School at 47th & Locust was getting a new playground, or rather a newish playground by way of the now-closed Wilson School. At the time, Greening Lea was working to raise $3,000 to cover additional project costs, including insurance and security.

As the vacant land near 40th & Baring has continued to fill in with new construction student housing, it comes as no surprise that existing properties are now seeing some attention from developers as well. Last month, we directed your attention to an apartment building just north of the intersection,

Over the summer, while attending a wedding in Connecticut, we stayed at a cute hotel in New Haven called The Study at Yale. Next to the elevator, there was an easel with a rendering of a future hotel, The Study at University City. It's like they knew we were coming!Project

For at least a decade and surely much longer, a pet store has held down the retail space at 27-29 S. 40th St., near Penn's campus. But over that last decade, there have been plenty of changes to the surrounding area with the most notable being the construction of the

The 400 block of N. 40th St. in University City has experienced a dramatic change in the last several years. As recently as 2009, the western side of the block was dominated by a collection of vacant lots, until a couple of apartments buildings went up a couple of years ago.

West Philly Tool Library, located at 1314 S. 47th St., is a wonderful resource for the local community. We've told you about them in the past but in case you've forgotten they're a non-profit that does exactly what their name suggests- they're like a library but with tools. With over

A couple of weeks ago, we told you about plans for a new apartment building at 4213 Chester Ave., around the corner from the District 3 Health Center and mere steps from Clark Park. Previously, a West Philly twin stood here, and our initial expectation was for a building with

Last summer, the middle of the 4200 block of Powelton Ave. was a big vacant lot where a blighted building had been demolished. A year later, we observed an interesting looking project called Bigham Place, the exterior of which was nearly completed. When it's finished, Bigham Place will serve formerly

An example of spillover development is taking place right now along N. 40th St. between Baring and Spring Garden Streets in University City. You may recall two years ago when the 4000 and 4100 blocks of Baring Street wer transformed from a mouthful of vacant lots into a whole row of