Photo: Nathaniel Popkin

• With some help from the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, the nascent Iroko Pharmaceuticals has increased its stake in the future of the Navy Yard Corporate Center threefold, opening yesterday its new 56,412 square foot, LEED-certified office building at 1 Crescent Drive. Mayor Nutter told the Inquirer that the Navy Yard, “with now more than 10,000 workers on the site, has ‘serious momentum’ and is a ‘spectacular performer for the city’.” The building was designed by the firm DIGSAU.

• In his new book Fading Ads of Philadelphia, graphic designer Lawrence O’Toole chronicles for posterity some of the many “ghost signs” to be found around the city. In a piece for Philly Weekly, O’Toole describes his vision, and shares a few selections, like the Klosfit Petticoat factory building at 3^rd& Arch.

• Prior to today’s 2PM announcement by the School District on the schools it plans to close or merge, NewsWorks says the rumor mills have designated Germantown High School as one of those to be shuttered.

• Philly History Blog tells of the life of the oddities dime museum at the corner of 9th & Arch Streets at the turn of the twentieth century.

• Forbes has deemed Philadelphia as the 3rd dirtiest American metropolitan area in a top 20 list released yesterday. The culprit is the Delaware, “which has been lined with refineries and chemical plants for decades.” For our story on the hazardous Delaware, click HERE.

View looking north from the south end of Opal Street | Photo: Peter Woodall

Laid out in 1869, the 800 block of tiny North Opal Street in Fairmount was given generous eight foot sidewalks. Since then a house was built over the sidewalk at the southern end of the block and the western sidewalk disappeared beneath walled-off backyards and concrete driveways.

Looking up from the south end now, the encroachments from the houses on North Uber and North 20th, on either side of Opal, appear integral to the architecture of the street.

This sense of permanence is perhaps why residents there were surprised to receive notices issued in August by the Streets Department that their backyards were not in compliance with the street plan. Building owners were told they must vacate the sidewalk. Now potentially facing fines, residents are seeking either exemption from the rule or recourse.

No one lives on this block of Opal.

Of the 22 vacant parcels with an Opal Street address, most are owned by city agencies and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. None of the properties, whether privately or publicly owned, are yet in compliance with the right-of-way if they had not been so before.

And some of them comprise Ogden Park, created and maintained by local residents. Under the ruling, portions of the park would have to be removed.

Backyard fences encroaching on the western side of Opal Street | Photo: Peter Woodall

A Streets Department spokesperson, Kiesha McCarty-Skelton, stated in an e-mail that the enforcement is a response to complaints received by the department. She added that “all property owners received the same warning.” But neighbors were given no clear deadline for removing encroachments. Moreover, there have been no signs of city workers sent out to clear the sidewalks in front of city owned land.

This has given residents the impression that the city is arbitrarily enforcing the century old code. They are hesitant to move forward with dismantling their backyards until they see some effort on the part of the city-owned properties.

The Streets Department spokesperson declined to clarify the source of the complaint that triggered the enforcement of the 1869 street plan, but Opal Street property owner Doug Young noted how the warnings coincided with the sale and development of three lots on the street’s eastern side. Other property owners do not see any connection between the warnings and development.

Looking north from the south end of Opal St. The house in the foreground at right was built on top of the sidewalk.

Young, whose backyard faces Opal, fought for an exemption through an ordinance of council, which was the course of action recommended to him by the Streets Department. This amounted to a letter sent to his city councilperson, Darrell Clarke, requesting that the right-of-way not be enforced for the entire block.

Later, says Young, another Streets Department official visiting the the block told him that there is a chance he could exempt his own property but not remove the public right-of-way.

Another property owner, Drew Kondylas, also noted that city officials have given contradictory responses. “I’ve talked to several people in the Streets Department and each has given me a different answer,” he says.

One impression residents share is that they’re unlikely to receive permission for their encroachments. They also feel they have been left without recourse for having purchased properties they thought were legally compliant.

McCarty-Skelton counters that “if a person builds illegally there is no time frame whereby the construction is declared legal by virtue of its existence.” So regardless of how long the city has ignored the street plan, property owners are now expected to abide the right-of-way.

For many, this will mean demolishing retaining walls and relocating fences. But just as hard to swallow is the loss of Ogden Park, which extends on both sides of Opal, between 20th and Uber. Kondylas, who formed the non-profit Friends of Ogden Park, is trying to get the city to consolidate the publicly owned parcels that comprise the park and permanently transfer them to the Department of Parks and Recreation. But if the right-of-way is enforced the park could lose several feet of green space on both sides of Opal.

Ogden Park | Photo: Peter Woodall

Prior to its recent improvements, says Kondylas, “Ogden Park was home to drugs and prostitution and not much else. Today there is a beautiful garden cultivated by a landscape architect, a picnic table, and there are barbeques almost every weekend in the summer.”

More than three months after the August notices were delivered, it remains to be seen whether this public amenity will survive the city’s sudden desire to reclaim the public right-of-way.

Photo: Christopher Mote

3:40PM Update

Anthony and Frank Giovannone, the owners of the Bunting House, in addition to the three blighted houses next door along Ridge Avenue, plan on tearing down all four properties–none of which is listed on the city’s Historic Register–and leaving them vacant for future redevelopment. They contend that they were unable to find a viable tenant for the 130-year-old house despite agreeing to hold off on demolition for 30 days to consider new offers. Some neighbors, though, questioned the owners’ intentions, alleging that several offers to purchase the house at its market value were never given full consideration.

Neighbors led by the Central Roxborough Civic Association formally requested injunctive relief after the 30-day pause had expired to allow time for their appeals to be taken up. Attorney Hal Schirmer presented the case that the city’s recently updated zoning code did not permit a vacant lot as an allowable use. He contended that the newness of the code merited a review before any demolition activity could commence.

However, Carl Primavera, the attorney for the Giovannones, countered that “vacant lot” was not a use in itself but rather the absence of a use. Deputy solicitor Andrew Ross, representing the Department of Licenses and Inspections, said that there had been no change in the code regarding allowable use and that the City had followed the correct procedure in issuing the permit to the Giovannones.

In denying the request for injunction, Common Pleas Judge Idee Fox appears to have decided that the new code did not present enough ambiguity to support Schirmer’s interpretation.

The neighbors’ appeals to the Board of L&I Review (concerning the demolition permit) and the Zoning Board of Adjustment (concerning acceptable use) are still pending. However, the developers are under no obligation to withhold from demolition activity before the appeals are heard.

The house takes its name from its first resident, Ross Richardson Bunting, a prominent Philadelphia physician. Bunting and his family are buried in the nearby cemetery of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church.

11AM

A Court of Common Pleas judge, Idee Fox, who ruled previously to allow demolition of the Church of the Assumption, has denied a petition brought by the Central Roxborough Civic Association to stay the demolition permit for the Bunting House in Roxborough.

For our previous stories on the effort to save the mansion, click HERE and HERE.

Photo: Nathaniel Popkin

This afternoon, as members of City Council’s Rules Committee voted 4-3 to reverse some aspects of the progressive new zoning rules that were enacted and that would have encouraged mixed uses and density in the commercial corridors of the Northeast, I’m reminded of my the experience of my hometown, Kansas City, Missouri. In 1940, on the eve of a nearly 50-year annexation spree that quintupled its land area, KC had a little more than 400,000 residents spread out over some 60 square miles of land.

While I haven’t been able to find land area figures, I suspect that these numbers are comparable to the same figures for Northeast Philadelphia today.

At that time, Kansas City had a well-defined downtown, two satellite commercial centers organized around local streets–including the very walkable first planned shopping center in the country, the Country Club Plaza–and a number of smaller, similarly pedestrian-scale neighborhood commercial districts such as Brookside and Waldo. It also had a grand commercial thoroughfare through the city’s west-central section–Broadway, naturally–lined with businesses and mid-rise office buildings.

3535 Broadway, in Kansas City’s Valentine neighborhood. The city’s new CMX-2.5 zoning code makes structures like this one possible in neighborhood commercial corridors. The City Planning Commission’s Lower Northeast district plan envisions such a future for the Castor Avenue business district. But the vision could go even further–if amendments to the zoning code don’t cut it off completely. Photo from LoopNet.com.

Northeast Philadelphia today has only some smallish examples of the next-to-last of these, but with some imagination and a little effort, it could support all of these types of development–even the “downtown,” though it would be a satellite to the actual one about six miles to its south.

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission recognized this fact in targeting Castor Avenue, a broad thoroughfare through the heart of the Lower Northeast, for upzoning in its Lower Northeast District Plan. The trouble is, it didn’t go far enough with its vision. Worse still, Councilman O’Neill’s push to limit density and mixed uses could hinder any chance that Castor Avenue’s potential could be realized.

Image: Philadelphia City Planning Commission

The new zoning code’s CMX-2.5 classification is tailor-made for the kind of medium-density, street-oriented, mixed residential/office/retail development that makes streets like Kansas City’s Broadway interesting and lively. And as part of the Lower Northeast District Plan, the code applied the new classification to the heart of the Castor Avenue business district, stretching from Robbins Avenue on the south to Unruh Street on the north. (The remainder of the avenue lies in the city’s Far Northeast planning district, whose district plan is still under development.)

Yet there is low-scale, low-density mixed residential and retail development along the entire avenue from Oxford Circle to Bell’s Corner, with only a few exceptions. Much of this is in areas zoned for residential use as well. As rezonings do not affect existing structures and uses until those parcels are redeveloped, a rezoning of the entire avenue to CMX-2.5 opens up the potential for its transformation to a more walkable, livelier urban commercial corridor–a place that might even attract Northeast residents to it for business and pleasure.

But O’Neill’s amendment that passed today and will be taken up by the full Council in late January, and which has raised the hackles of fellow Council member Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, whose district includes most of lower Castor Avenue, would make a number of uses currently by right special allowances or variances instead. (Another, even more harmful change that would reduce the minimum required densities and reinstate parking minimums currently absent from the category was withheld today by O’Neill.)

Photo: Nathaniel Popkin

While a 3:10 parking requirement for all but the smallest structures in a CMX 2.5 zone doesn’t seem like a huge imposition, the decision to include such parking should be left to the developers. Providing shared parking in central structures would most likely meet the needs of those pushing for this change, whoever they are, without destroying the transformative potential of this new zoning category. Lowering the required density by increasing the minimum size of dwelling units is just as bad an idea, especially considering that the Lower Northeast is one of the city’s fastest-growing districts.

The area’s existing housing stock is already well suited to the larger families that are repopulating the area. Reshaping Castor Avenue brings with it a chance to further diversify the area’s already highly diverse population, and in a potentially good way given proper property management. Councilmann O’Neill, like his other colleagues seeking to prematurely tinker with the zoning code, should wait a while and see what develops under the new code. And the Planning Commission should give serious thought to taking the vision it developed for Castor Avenue one step further.

Photo: Nathaniel Popkin

As an architect, I’ve tromped through obscure places chasing a unique structure or historic location. In Paris, I sought the laboratory of Claude Bernard, the great 19th century physiologist, only to end up in some ordinary basement space that had become the precise location of history lost to history. Why it took me some 20 years of casually walking past that old pile of bricks at Fourth and Delancey called The Physick House, home of the first significant American surgeon Philip Syng Physick, I just don’t know.

But I know I’m not the only one. The Frank Furness-designed Emlen Physick Estate, Cape May home of Dr. Physick’s grandson, is a better known house museum than the Fourth Street Federal style mansion of Dr. Physick himself.

Foyer of the Physick House, courtesy of the Physick House

Finally crossing the threshold of the house, which had been built by wine merchant Henry Hill in 1786, I met J. Del Connor, tour leader, artist, and great-great-great-grandson of Dr. Physick. Connor led me around the house, which was restored in 1966, and later put me in contact with George F. Sheldon, chair of the surgery department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Sheldon is deep into writing the first comprehensive, modern biography of Dr. Physick, sprung from his own student thesis written in 1958. “I’m about six months away from completion,” he says.

Philip Syng Physick (1768-1837) rose to fame as a 25 year old hero of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. He treated dozens and survived the disease himself.

Single father of four, Physick established a surgical practice treating prominent figures such as Dolly Madison, who for a time lived around the corner at Fourth and Spruce, the renowned physician Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and President Andrew Jackson, who held Physick in such high regard he brought his own grandchildren in to be evaluated.

Physick House interior | Photo: Joseph G. Brin, 2012

Physick was a medical pioneer. He designed and fashioned his own surgical instruments, offered his patients the first health insurance program in this country ($20 per year, per family), performed the first successful human blood transfusion, was the first to use a stomach pump, and regularly utilized autopsy to further his knowledge and application of medical practices. His medical intuition was astonishingly prescient in that he considered dental conditions central to overall health–a notion endorsed by researchers today who connect gum inflammation with inflammatory diseases affecting the heart.

So why did a man with such an unusual name and notable history fade into obscurity?

“He made no major breakthroughs,” says Sheldon, commenting that surgical instrumentation, for example, has come so far with laparoscopic procedures and robotics that Physick’s claims to fame have been eclipsed. In Sheldon’s estimation, the most profound medical discoveries of the 19th century were anesthesia and aseptic technique which emerged after the Civil War.

As a medical educator, however, Physick had far reaching influence. “There was no indigenous medical school in the United States and there was no American textbook on surgery,” Sheldon points out. Copious notes filling some 40 notebooks were carefully scribed during Physick’s lectures and still exist. “The anatomy is very accurate,” notes Sheldon.

He was the first professor of surgery at the Pennsylvania Hospital established by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond in 1751. And he was a professor of Dr. Samuel Gross of the famed “Gross Clinic” painting by Thomas Eakins, preeminent surgeon of the late 19th century.

Surgeon’s Toolcase at Physick House | Photos: Ken Beem

In historiographical terms, Physick’s importance lies in his role as a transitional figure in medicine, a conduit between the thinking in the leading medical centers of London and Edinburgh, where he was trained, and the first medical school in the United States, the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Physick–his illustrious family, friends, and house–stood at the crossroads of history as if a beacon to the future. Conner contends that the importance of the Physick House should be more evident to the public because it provides essential historical context. In his insightful view, the house “is now a measure of what we’ve become.” But, he adds, “it’s frustrating that we are in a city that is swamped with historic structures.”

The Physick House garden | Photo: Nathaniel Popkin

A silver inkstand now on display at Independence National Historical Park was designed by Philip Syng, silversmith, lifelong friend of Benjamin Franklin, and grandfather of Dr. Philip Syng Physick. It was used to sign the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence and is symbolic of the wealth of stories merging historical, medical, architectural, military, political, religious, and social currents of Physick’s day. Guided tours at the Physick House are scheduled for one hour each but Connor has many more hours of material. “It all starts with these stories,” he says.

All this argues for a greater profile for the house with a more prominent sidewalk sign or by following through with plans to reconstruct a carriage house that could serve as a visitor and education center. A shoe string budget renders both those improvements unlikely for now, however. Recently, a large, eye-catching outdoor banner advertised the treasures inside. It boosted attendance for a while, but it was stolen.

Author’s Note:If you’re going to be the Father of American Surgery you may as well be the Father of American soda pop and Dr. Physick was. In 1807, Physick introduced artificial carbonated water to America for the relief of gastric disorders. Flavors were later added. You can purchase an ice cold bottle of soda from his recipe at the Physick House. It tastes good.

Editor’s Note:Abandoned places are unsettling by their very nature, but there is something especially disturbing about seeing civic institutions–schools, hospitals, prisons and the like–in a state of decay. This is especially true when the place wasn’t left voluntarily, but under duress, as was the case with SEPTA’s Spring Garden Street Station on the Broad-Ridge Spur. The transit agency cited both low ridership and safety concerns (the two issues went hand-in-hand) when it closed the station at Ridge Avenue and Spring Garden Street in 1991 after 59 years in service. This was a not unreasonable response to one of the most violent periods in Philadelphia’s history. The city’s total number of murders had crested the year before at an astounding 503, and 1991 proved little better, with 447 people killed. The long, dark night of crack cocaine had descended on the city, and it seemed as though Philadelphia might never wake up. It did, of course, (at least partially–we’re up to 324 murders in 2012 with 14 days to go), but the subway station has remained closed. The platform can still be seen, albeit dimly, from the train en route between the Chinatown and Fairmount stations. Christian Suchecki made a number of trips into the tunnels over the past year to photograph the derelict station using a large format camera and long exposures, and returned with these images.

Photo: Christian Suchecki

Photo: Ethan Wallace

In Fishtown, where Richmond Street meets Frankford Avenue, developer Michael Shamschick will turn the former Ajax Metal Company complex, dating to 1893, into the concert venue Live Nation. The complex contained everything from the company offices to foundries and furnaces, and even laboratory facilities. The company started off melting brass and bronze in standard crucible ovens. They moved to smelting zinc, lead, copper, brass and tin, producing alloys that were essential to the railroads and the emerging automotive industry. In the labs they invented products with names like Bull Babbitt, Ajax Metal, and Plastic Bronze, and the company became a leader in the production of high quality machinery bearings.

This was not only not that efficient, but could also cause the zinc to be released as a vapor which caused nausea and a condition referred to as the “zinc shakes.” In 1912, the company began working on creating an electric furnace, and eventually they came out with their own design, the Ajax-Wyatt Furnace. The company holds numerous other patents such as the Ajax-Hultgren Salt Bath Furnace.

The company continued in its Fishtown location until 1950 when the property was sold. For a while some of the buildings were used as warehouses. The company eventually moved to Trenton and became Ajax Electrothermic Corporation.

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Peter Woodall

Photo: Peter Woodall

Photo: Peter Woodall

Photo: Peter Woodall

Photo: Peter Woodall

Photo: Peter Woodall

Ajax Metals | Photo: Ethan Wallace

Singer Toby Keith’s chain of country and western bar and restaurants, I Love This Bar, is coming to Fishtown, the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association zoning committee learned Monday night.

Architect Janice Woodcock confirmed the longstanding rumor during her presentation of developer Michael Samschick’s plans to turn a desolate stretch of Delaware Avenue and adjacent Canal Street just south of Frankford into an entertainment complex. The bar will be located on the site of the former Dry Ice Corp, and will be big enough to seat 600 people for dinner and another 600 for live music shows.

Per the company’s website, expect a “fun and rowdy atmosphere” and “beer in mason jars.”

In addition to the Keith chain, Samschick said he’s nailed down a deal with Live Nation to open a 3,000 seat concert venue in the adjacent old Ajax Metals building. Metallica in the old bronze foundry? It has a nice ring to it, but the hall probably isn’t big enough. In any event, Samschick highlighted the family-friendly nature of at least some of the programming, with performers in the same vein as the Wiggles playing weekend matinee concerts.

Samschick said he expects both venues to open around this time next year if all goes well. The first phase of the project, which will also include a Revolutions Bowling & Lounge and a manufacturing space and tasting room for Philadelphia Distilling, received conditional approval from the Planning Commission last week.

We’ll have further news and analysis of Samschick’s plans later this week.

• On Monday, Michael Samschick discussed his vision for Canal Street North—an entertainment and restaurant development to be centered on Canal Street in Fishtown and Northern Liberties—with the zoning committee of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association. Plan Philly shares some of the community’s concerns. They want a consolidated parking lot, proof that the sound proofing to the 3,000 seat music venue will work, and sufficient wayfaring signage for the street.

• News operations for the Saturday Evening Post will move from Indianapolis, reports that city’s Business Journal, and return to Philadelphia, where it was began in 1728 by Benjamin Franklin as the Pennsylvania Gazette. Publisher Joan SerVaas is shooting for a small office space, serving up to six employees.

• The Daily News talks to developer Ori Feibush, who contests the necessity of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) affordable housing project in Point Breeze.“‘The goal of [plan] was to allow for houses and opportunities for individuals who wouldn’t otherwise have it,’ said Feibush, adding that there are no asset-disclosure requirements. ‘You’re not creating new homeowners who otherwise couldn’t live in this home or another. You’re creating a windfall for some.’ “

• The Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS) says the School District’s plan to close 37 of its schools is simply rash, arguing instead for some reformulation of the 2008 PA funding formula.“If we closed tax loopholes. If we collected more property taxes. There’s series of things that the city and state could do to increase revenue for Philadelphia public schools, and for public schools around the state,” says Andi Perez, head of Students United for Change.

• Naked Philly offers a construction update on the Project H.O.M.E. sponsored, 55-unit affordable housing apartment complex to be known as JBJ Soul (after the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation) Homes.

• Bike Score has expanded its list of the nation’s most “bikeable” cities to 25, including Philadelphia—with an impressive score of 68/100. You can find the more exact bike score of any city address on their site’s interactive map, HERE.

Lardner’s Point Park, with the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge in the background | Photo: Peter Woodall

With several key trails in the works and the monumental Delaware and Richmond Power Stations drawing renewed interest from imaginative designers and planners, the north Delaware waterfront has begun to reemerge–albeit quietly and mostly below radar–in the seemingly endless grappling with the city’s principal riverbank.

But while several trail and park projects, including sections of the East Coast Greenway and Lardner’s Point Park, have begun to transform small sections of the fragmented landscape, the 2009 rezoning of large, privately held former industrial parcels has so far failed to result in any substantial new real estate development.

Blessed with transportation access and vistas of the Delaware River and wooded New Jersey lands, it was here that waterfront planning initiatives beyond Penn’s Landing first took off in the region. In the 1980s, a pair of disparate City Planning Commission studies brought to the fore the idea of transforming the riverfront from an abandoned industrial relic into a public amenity.

And by 2001, US Representative Robert Borski’s push to reclaim the waterfront led to the North Delaware Riverfront Master Plan by the landscape architecture firm Field Operations, the most sweeping of the plans thus far, calling for the redevelopment of 11 miles and 3,500 acres of waterfront land north of Penn Treaty Park to Glen Foerd Estate in Torresdale.

The plan was an important one; to this day, its principles of creating mixed-use neighborhoods with a system of trails and open spaces along the waterfront continue to guide planning and investment efforts.

With interest in bringing trail and park proposals to reality, in 2005, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council led the effort to create the follow-up North Delaware Riverfront Greenway Master Plan and Cost Benefit Analysis, which spelled out several scenarios for park development, defined an implementation program, and created trail and park design guidelines.

North Delaware Greenway Gaps Feasibility Study

The North Delaware Greenway (as it was now called) was identified as an important section of the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000 mile multi-modal trail that will eventually extend from Maine to Florida. In 2006, the Delaware River City Corporation was established to spearhead the creation of the North Delaware Greenway and ensure Philly was doing its part in building the larger East Coast Greenway.

By 2009, the DRCC understood exactly where to focus greenway development efforts and what the weak links were. Planners completed the North Delaware Greenway Gaps Feasibility Study to help advance DRCC’s efforts by evaluating the feasibility of potential alignments through challenging, mostly privately owned, sections of the waterfront.

While activity progressed on greenways, the City Planning Commission initiated the rezoning of a number of large parcels to encourage development and investment. “They were re-zoned to make way for high density, mixed-use development,” says district planner Ian Litwin, adding that at sites like the former Philadelphia Coke and Dodge Steel planners “encouraged particularly high residential densities as an incentive for developers” to offset necessary environmental remediation constraints.

But as the economy reeled from recession, planning efforts for private development became stuck. With the city unable to front the bill for cleanup costs, private developers shied away. “Every parcel is still vacant,” says Litwin.

Former site of the Dodge Steel plant | Photo: Peter Woodall

There are myriad reasons why the mixed-use environment envisioned in 2001 has yet to come to fruition over 10 years later, among them suggests Litwin, the high financial costs associated with brownfield redevelopment as well as the uncertainty brought to the waterfront by the impending redesign of Interstate 95.

The down real estate market has played the most obvious role. In 2007, some 20 towers and 5,000 condominium units were on the drawing tables for the waterfront, proposed to line the Delaware from Port Richmond to Queen Village. But when the condo boom that defined the middle of the last decade ended, so too did the City’s rush to waterfront living.

Three of the five planned towers at Waterfront Square north of Spring Garden Street were built. The first two, built in 2005-06, sold briskly. But the units in the third tower, completed in 2009, did not. Sales have been so poor that 119 of the units went up for sheriff’s sale earlier this year, indicating a continued weak market for waterfront condos and giving reason for lenders not to finance such projects, especially those on the North Delaware, an area likely seen as more risky to develop than parcels closer to Center City.

Waterfront Square condo towers under construction, 2008 | Photo: Peter Woodall

One of obstacles to residential and mixed-use development on the north waterfront is the fragmentation of land and neighborhoods. Riverfront parcels are disconnected, says real estate broker Frank DeFazio, of Prudential, Fox & Roach Realtors. DeFazio, who focuses on condominium sales at Waterfront Square and elsewhere on the central Delaware, says that the only way residential development along the north Delaware could be successful in the near term is if developers create “mini villages” complete with urban amenities.

But as market tastes have shifted away from disconnected autocentric developments like Waterfront Square toward pedestrian-friendly and more authentic neighborhood living, these one-off developments become harder to rationalize. Moreover, DeFazio says, the north waterfront isn’t likely to become desirable until the central waterfront is built-out. At the same time, he cautions against giving up on residential and mixed use development in favor of a industry because ultimately there is a much larger potential market for housing and lifestyle uses.

Still, Litwin says, industrial uses persist. “The notion that the entire stretch of the [north Delaware] is abandoned is incorrect,” he says, “there are still industrial uses and they’re expanding.”

He points to Revolution Recovery, a fast-growing recycling services company, which moved into a former vacant lot just south of Pennypack Park along the riverfront in 2008, something he thinks might signify at least a minor reemergence of industrial activity in the coming years.

Revolution Recovery

But planners will have to seek ways to make industrial uses like Revolution Recovery or the Tioga Marine Terminal, compatible with the quietly advancing North Delaware Greenway, where years of planning efforts finally seem to be paying off.

The executive director of the Delaware River City Corporation Tom Branningan says greenway activity has picked up in recent years thanks to DRCC, a non-profit champion for improvements that also has the wherewithal to tap into various public and private funding sources. Thanks to the greenway’s status as an integral part of the East Coast Greenway, federal funds have also started funneling in.

DRCC’s efforts began paying off in 2008 when the City built the Pennypack on the Delaware Trail, bringing a wide paved trail to the waterfront, winding north from Pennypack Park to Pennypack Creek.

This year, several key projects advanced, including the 4.5 acre Lardner’s Point Park, which opened in May just below the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, preserving freshwater tidal wetlands. In October officials broke ground on the Port Richmond Trail, a 1.5 mile, 12 foot wide asphalt trail that will run along Allegheny Avenue from Monkiewicz Playground to Pulaski Park, at Delaware Avenue, and along Delaware Avenue from Allegheny Avenue to Lewis Street. Completion is expected a year from now.

View from Pulaski Park | Photo: Peter Woodall

In final design with construction to come in the next two years are the two mile K&T trail, which is being developed on an abandoned riverfront Conrail freight rail line and the Baxter Trail, another two mile extension of the trail from Pennypack Creek to Pleasant Hill Park.

“By 2014, 60 percent of the Greenway will be built,” says Brannigan, who adds that sections identified in the 2009 Gaps study are the only holes left to fill.

These varied developments point to an increase in momentum on the North Delaware. “The trails bring quality of life and access to open space to communities in need of more amenities” says Brannigan.

He also adds that through the construction of the trail and open space network, a significant amount of contamination and wildlife restoration efforts have been achieved. Brannigan points to Lardner’s Point Park which he says features wetlands, meadows, and forested areas for wildlife that currently don’t exist close by.

Cleaning up the contaminated soils that litter the North Delaware might be the key to unlocking private development in the future. As Hidden City reported recently, concentrated hazardscapes exist, en masse, along much of the Delaware River. Nowhere is that more apparent than the north Delaware.

But with a continued lack of private development, Litwin suggests that the future North Delaware and River Wards district plans will give planners the opportunity to reconsider housing and mixed-use development. “It really depends on the housing market,” he says, “but if the land is still vacant in a few years maybe the best use for the rezoned land would be to turn it back to industrial zoning. When it comes down to it, how long are we willing to wait for residential to happen?”

Tioga Marine Terminal | Photo: Peter Woodall

Still, Litwin asserts that no decisions have been made regarding north waterfront zoning. “These districts were purposefully left for the end of the district planning process because so much uncertainty exists that could be worked out in the near future,” he says.

While the City might be open to any proposal to put some of these vacant parcels back to productive use, reconcentrating industrial uses is unlikely to sit well with those who worry about public health threats from the industrial hazards.

Meanwhile, the apartment market along the central waterfront appears to be inching back. Albeit downsized from 2005-07, a number of residential developments are currently in the works along Columbus Boulevard. An increasing number of them, including Penn Treaty Village and the Canal Street North Entertainment Complex in Fishtown, are at the southern edge of the north waterfront.

With so many ifs surrounding residential development, the City is focusing its north Delaware efforts on building the greenway. Brannigan says the DRCC is constantly looking for ways to fill the existing gaps and connect the waterfront to surrounding neighborhoods.

Notable among them is the Streets Department’s northward extension of Delaware Avenue from Lewis Street to Orthodox Street. Brannigan says this will relieve truck congestion on Richmond Street and include right-of-way acquisition for pedestrian use to access the waterfront. “Our ultimate mission is to connect the waterfront to neighborhoods and improve access,” he says, “that’s what we’ll focus on in the future.”

We’re pleased to announce that our place-based news reports and building histories are now available through Google’s new Field Trip mobile app. We’re Field Trip’s first non-profit journalism partner in Philadelphia.

Field Trip is a guide to marvelous, hidden, and unique things in the urban landscape. (It also provides conventional reviews of restaurants and stores.) The app runs in the background on your phone, and when you get close to something interesting, it pops up a card with details about the location. No click is required. If you are connected to a headset or a Bluetooth device, it can read the info aloud.

“Google’s New Hyper-Local City Guide Is a Real Trip,” wrote WIRED reviewer Michael Calore in September. Hidden City recommendations and events will appear on Field Trip alongside similar stories from sites like Zagat, Food Network, Thrillist, Eater, Cool Hunting, Inhabitat, Remodelista, Atlas Obscura, and Flavorpill.

Field Trip is the first project of Niantic Labs, the Google team headed by Google Earth creator John Hanke. Niantic’s sophomore effort, a massive multiplayer game called Ingress, is generating a ton of buzz. If you’re a gamer, definitely check it out or follow along as clues are revealed online at Niantic Project.

Download the Field Trip app or get more information at http://support.google.com/fieldtrip. You can share your favorite finds on Google+ or use the hashtag #FieldTripApp. We look forward to hearing about your favorite Philly field trips!

 
Most of the buildings at the Philadelphia Navy Yard have been restored, but with several hundred on the base, it’s not surprising that some still sit vacant. And a good thing, too, for our purposes at least. The things people leave behind make for great photo subjects, which is why we were thrilled to be able to hold a photo workshop there in November taught by Abandoned America’s Matthew Christopher. The images everyone came back with were so spectacular, we decided to feature them in the Hidden City Daily. The more industrial photos come from Building 18, a Renaissance Revival beauty that was originally used as a boiler and blacksmith shop. The images of office equipment are from Building 83, an eight-story concrete structure with a suite of offices on the top two floors built in 1919 to be a general storehouse.

Photo: Brad Remick

Photo: Brad Remick

Photo: Brad Remick

Photo: Brad Remick

Photo: Brad Remick

Photo: Laura Kicey

Photo: Laura Kicey

Photo: Laura Kicey

Photo: Laura Kicey

Photo: Laura Kicey

Photo: Andrew P. Madden

Photo: Andrew P. Madden

Photo: Andrew P. Madden

Photo: Andrew P. Madden

Photo: Andrew P. Madden

Photo: Donna Lipin

Photo: Donna Lipin

Photo: Donna Lipin

Photo: Donna Lipin

Photo: Dominic Mercier

Photo: Dominic Mercier

Photo: Dominic Mercier

Photo: Dominic Mercier

Photo: Dominic Mercier

Photo: Theresa Stigale

Photo: Theresa Stigale

Photo: Theresa Stigale

Photo: Theresa Stigale

philly.com

• The Juvenile Justice Services Center at 48th & Haverford was unveiled yesterday, finally replacing the overcrowded Youth Study Center on the Parkway. While Mayor Nutter touted the $110 million building as high tech and comfortable for the juveniles who will spend time there while they await trial, protestors held up signs reading, “Schools not jails.”

• Philadelphia Real Estate Blog suspects that contractors have begun preliminary work on the refurbishment of the Provident Mutual Insurance Company building, to be reused as the Police headquarters and city morgue. They’re hopeful, for “it would be the keystone in the revitalization of this section of West Philadelphia and Walnut Hill, which has seen a revamped 46^th Street El station, the repaving of Market Street from 63^rd to 45^th streets, and the construction of the Center for Culinary Enterprises.”

• City Paper visits Vietnamese immigrant Thin Tham’s Giant Aquarium fish store at 7^th& Tasker. “The shop is a bridge between the hardcore fish enthusiasm that’s widespread in Asia and hobbyists from throughout the region, and exemplifies the transformation of this corner of South Philly from heavily white to polyglot diversity.”

• University City Review covers last week’s community planning meeting held by the Spruce Hill Community Association, aimed at drafting the first neighborhood plan for Spruce Hill in seventeen years. The civic has hired planner Jennifer Hurley to lead the project and relay resident’s vision to the Planning Commission.

 
Compared to their brethren out West, most Philadelphia real estate developers are an imaginatively stunted lot. They don’t get the chance to build entire towns from scratch in the desert outside of Phoenix or Las Vegas, or construct waterfront neighborhoods with sleek condos and New Urbanist pretensions in Portland or Seattle. What passes for big dreamers here busy themselves with converting a couple factory buildings into lofts, building a dozen townhouses in Grad Hospital or throwing up a mid-size apartment building on Rittenhouse Square that looks like a supersized row house. They are forced to nibble because someone already built pretty much the whole darn thing one hundred-plus years ago.

The lone recent exception is Bart Blatstein. His Piazza at Schmidt’s and adjacent Liberties Walk in Northern Liberties has both scale and complexity, whatever its other merits. By the time he’s done, Blatstein will have built 1,500 or so units of rental housing in the neighborhood, along with enough commercial space to house a dozen restaurants and bars, plus a Superfresh and an assortment of boutiques, galleries and office space. Plus, he’s doing some social engineering-lite, editing his commercial tenants to ensure they’re small, independent operations, and programming concerts and festivals in the Piazza’s open space.

However, Blatstein may soon have a neighbor who is nearly as ambitious. Michael Samschick says he has both buildings and tenants in place to create a sprawling entertainment complex called Canal Street North by this time next year on a desolate stretch of Canal Street bounded by Frankford, Laurel and I-95, just off Delaware Avenue. After that, Samschick plans on building housing adjacent to the complex in a bid to create a successful, mixed-use urban space. Yet his vision may be undermined by his choice of tenants, which tilt the project toward suburbanites who will drive in then drive back out again.

Phase One of his plans call for turning the former Ajax Metals building into a 3,000-seat Live Nation music venue, and the former Dry Ice Corp. buildings across the street into a country and western themed bar with a 1,200 person capacity. Also in the works are a Revolutions Bowling Alley & Lounge and a distillery and tasting room for Philadelphia Distilling. Later phases will add more residential units on either side of the complex, joining the 187 units already underway at Delaware and Brown Streets.

Samschick gave the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association zoning committee a look at his vision for the area Monday night, and it was a bravura performance. He sounded more like a community planner than a developer as he talked about eventually pedestrianizing Canal Street, as well as creating a community porch and green space. He promised traffic studies, bike parking, even discounted tickets for people arriving via public transit. And the list of goodies went on: L.E.D. signage on top of the building that will be set back from the facade and visible only from I-95, an incubator space for neighborhood retail and a small army of flag men to keep patrons east of Front Street after concerts. Even the old industrial buildings would be adaptively reused.

Rendering for the redevelopment of the Ajax Metals building

Most of all, though, there would be parking, just enough of it, and much of it on vacant land directly under I-95. The parking lots will be as attractive as possible, Samschick said, sectioned off with ornamental fencing. But they’ll still be parking lots, and therein lies the problem: the project is auto-centric at heart. By choosing big national chain operators as anchor tenants, Samschick has virtually assured that most of the patrons will be driving in from the suburbs, and that’s a dubious basis for creating a neighborhood.

To be sure, plenty of city folk will attend concerts at the Live Nation venue. But Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Revolutions Bowling Alley & Lounge are both slick national operators who usually set up shop upper middle class suburbs like Mesa, Arizona, or near sports stadiums like the Palace at Auburn Hills, outside Detroit. They should continue to draw much of their business from this demographic despite the city location unless there turns out to be an unexpectedly large, untapped market for country music in Fishtown.

Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar

The presence of the Barbary, an Indie bar and dance club just across Frankford Avenue, puts a sharp edge on the urban/suburban divide. Spots like the Barbary are an underrated form of community, and a fragile one. While the Barbary crew will want nothing to do with the crowd that’s helped turn NoLibs into “BroLibs” on weekends, the reverse may not be true, and the energetic scene there could become a casualty of Samschick’s project.

Even if the area never becomes a successful neighborhood, though, it’s still a pretty good spot to park a family-friendly entertainment district. Every great city has a tourist-and-bridge and tunnel ghetto or two, and it’s usually located near a redeveloped waterfront. San Francisco has Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghiradelli Square; Boston has Faneuil Hall. Perhaps Canal Street North will turn into our homegrown version.

Aftermath of the Buck Hosiery mill fire | Photo: Peter Woodall

Every building meets its demise via a unique set of circumstances, however the historic buildings lost last year reflect some broad trends that will continue to play an important role in the coming year.

The devastating fires at the Thomas W. Buck and L.H. Parke industrial complexes, and a minor fire at the Divine Lorraine, highlighted the importance of sealing vacant buildings. Doing so isn’t easy–it requires consistent effort. Nor is it cheap, but many of these buildings that appear abandoned are owned by deep-pocketed developers–Tony Rufo, Bart Blatstein and the Lichtensteins, we’re talking to you–who can afford the expense.

The historical value of industrial buildings is finally being recognized, with new federal National Historic Districts at Wayne Junction and in Callowhill, and one pending for buildings connected to Kensington’s textile industry. But the federal designation only provides tax incentives, and the city historic register, which would have protected buildings like those at the Frankford Arsenal from demolition, hasn’t caught up with the federal effort.

Meanwhile, the city’s Historical Commission still lacks a comprehensive survey of historic properties, which would allow it to prioritize what needs to be protected, and would help prevent surprises like the demolition of Bunting House. The commission remains scandalously underfunded overall, with staffing levels that are far below comparable cities. You can read more about the holes in the city’s system of historic preservation HERE.

The city’s stock of beautiful 19th century churches continues to be a source of anguish. There are a lot more churches than congregations willing to call them home, perhaps as many as 200. And even those still being used suffer from decades of deferred maintenance, particularly those in poorer neighborhoods that have congregations with few resources. Now the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is planning to close a half dozen more churches and its downsizing isn’t done yet.

Finding new uses for all these churches will take imagination, will and money. Perhaps a formal program to stabilize threatened buildings could be created by the city. The work can be done quite cheaply with sweat equity, as the example of 19th Street Baptist in South Philadelphia has shown. A robust tax incentive program on the part of the city is another possibility. What doesn’t seem to work is selling churches for a song to nonprofits without the resources to restore or even maintain the buildings, as the Archdiocese did in selling Church of the Assumption to Siloam, an HIV/AIDS group, or St. Boniface to the Norris Square Civic Association.

Philadelphia has one fairly robust–though threatened–way of protecting buildings and that’s by putting them on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Register nominations have fallen off, however, in recent years because no new historic districts have been approved (buildings that contribute to an historic district become listed). In 2012, about a dozen buildings were nominated. Citizens can initiate register nominations–that’s the subject of an upcoming workshop we’re holding on January 16. To register for the event, click HERE.

Thomas W. Buck hosiery mill | Photo: Peter Woodall

Thomas W. Buck Hosiery Co., York and Jasper Sts.
Of all the buildings on this list, the loss of the Buck Hosiery mill buildings in an early morning blaze on April 9th is by far the most tragic. The fire not only destroyed a historic mill complex that might have been restored, but also cost the lives of two fire fighters. This terrible outcome might have been avoided had the property been properly maintained. Owners Yechiel and Michael Lichtenstein of Brooklyn-based YML Realty Holdings allowed the building to deteriorate after buying it in 2009, racking up numerous building code violations and $60,000 in unpaid property taxes along the way. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the building was often open to trespassers, which is an invitation to disaster.

Bunting House | Photo: Christopher W. Mote

Bunting House, 5901 Ridge Ave.
This Second Empire-style house with a stone facade was built around 1880 by Dr. Ross Bunting, a prominent Roxborough physician. Owners Frank and Anthony Giovannone purchased the building and three adjacent properties on Ridge Avenue at foreclosure sale, and obtained demolition permits from L&I in September. The permit for Bunting House came as a surprise to community groups, since the building was in good condition and had tenants until this year. The Giovannones agreed to postpone demolition for 30 days to look for new tenants, but said they were unsuccessful. They did not accept two fair market offers to buy the property, and a last-minute request for an injunction was denied. With no plans for the site, the lot will remain vacant for the foreseeable future.

Frankford Arsenal, September, 2011 | Photo: Peter Woodall

Aerial view of the Frankford Arsenal, 2004. Demolished area highlighted in red

Frankford Arsenal, 5301 Tacony St.
Developer Mark Hankin’s demolition of more than two dozen historic industrial buildings on the north half of the Arsenal’s grounds may be the greatest wholesale loss of historic buildings since nine blocks around Independence Hall were torn down to create Independence Mall in the 1950s. Hankin purchased the entire Arsenal–all 86 acres and 167 buildings of it–in 1983 for $3.5 million, financed via low interest loans from the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. A 1979 survey ranked the buildings on a scale of 1 to 4, with category 1 defined as “historic properties of great significance,” while category 4 buildings contain “little or no historic value,” and recommended preserving category 1,2, and 3 buildings. Since then, Hankin has torn down three category 1 buildings, one category 2 building, and a few dozen category 3 buildings. A shopping center is planned for the site.

Wakefield Presbyterian/Goodwill Baptist Church

Wakefield Presbyterian/Goodwill Baptist Church, 4711 Germantown Ave.
This large stone church was demolished very quickly, without a peep from the media, (including us) leaving a yawning gap in what had been a block-long string of handsome 19th century structures. It was built in 1886 by architect George T. Pearson, whose residential work is still scattered throughout Germantown and who designed both factories and residences for John Stetson, the Philadelphia hat manufacturer. The Goodwill Baptist Church, which purchased the property in 1975 for $115,000. We don’t have any information about when the church stopped being used or its condition, however the roof of the parish building in the rear had partially collapsed.

Church of the Nativity | Photo: Peter Woodall

Church of the Nativity, 11th and Mt. Vernon Sts.
The Church of the Nativity was built in 1844 by noted Philadelphia architect Napoleon LeBrun, who also designed the Academy of Music. An adjacent building that housed classrooms, a convent, ballroom and small chapel, and once featured a bowling alley and basketball court was added in 1909. The Ruffin Nichols Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, the last congregation to make the Church of the Nativity its home, moved out two years ago and sold the property to developer Anthony Randazzo. Both buildings appeared to be in good condition, however Randazzo told the us that structural issues with the church building made restoration too expensive. He plans to build 12 townhouses on the site.

Frankford Central United Methodist | Photo: Chandra Lampreich

Frankford Central United Methodist, 1515 Orthodox St.
This Romanesque gem was built in 1892 by the prolific firm of Hazlehurst & Huckel, which also designed the Mother Bethel A.M.E. church and the Bachelor’s boat house on Boat House Row. One of the building’s walls partially collapsed in August, 2011, and owner Frankford Group Ministries, a provider of social services, did not have money to repair the damage. The City of Philadelphia paid to have the building demolished, and billed Frankford Group Ministries.

Former Van Stratten & Havey silk mill | Photo: Peter Woodall

Van Straaten & Havey, 133 W. Berkley St. The loss of this former silk mill built in 1919 is especially unfortunate because it had recently been placed on the federal historic register as part of the Wayne Junction National Historic District established earlier this year. But any help the federal designation might have provided in the way of historic tax credits came too late–much of the roof had caved in years before, and the city deemed the building too hazardous to remain standing. The mill was last used to produce textiles in the 1940s and 1950s when it was No Mend Hosiery, Inc. An apparently defunct charity, the Eddie Francis Cancer Foundation, has owned the building since the 1980s, and accumulated $135,453 in City of Philadelphia real estate taxes, along with a number of property code violations for not maintaining the building.

L.H. Parke | Photo: Peter Woodall

L.H. Parke, 1100 block of N. Front St. 
This small complex of vacant industrial buildings destroyed by fire in July had seen an extraordinarily rich variety of uses over more than 150 years. Manufacturing on the site began in 1843 with the Hope Mill, a maker of textiles. By the late 1850s, it had been replaced by Dougherty’s, a rye whiskey distillery, which thrived until Prohibition forced the company to close in 1919. Coffee roaster L.H. Parke moved in the next year, and the company’s faded, hand painted signs could still be seen on several walls. In recent decades the complex housed an appliance wholesaler and a cabinet maker.  The buildings were badly deteriorated, and if they didn’t burn were probably destined for the wrecking ball. Still, nothing had been done to take care of the buildings, and the complex was often left unsecured, making fire all too likely.

Willys-Overland building | Photo: Peter Woodall

Willys-Overland Building, 325 N. Broad St.
Built in 1910 for the Willys-Overland Motor Co., at the time the second largest auto maker in America, this colonial revival building was torn down to make way for the Pennsylvania Ballet’s new $17.5 million dance center. Part of North Broad Street’s “Auto Row” that developed in the 1910s and 1920s, the building had recently been placed on the national historic register as part of the Callowhill National Industrial Historic District. The demolition generated some controversy, not only because the building was on the federal register, but also because the project was funded in part by state and federal money.

Union Traction Company, Substation #2 | Photo: Mike Szilagyi

Union Traction Company Substation #2, 123 E. Chelten Ave.
Described in 1990 in Workshop of the World as a “beautiful little system [that] has been operating reliably for over 80 years,” Substation No. 2 was taken off-line when SEPTA converted the Route 23 trolley to “temporary bus” in 1992. It had “a classic open-front switchboard of ebony asbestos, with gleaming copper knife switches and Weston meters with cast iron cases. Facing the switchboard are three rotary synchronous convertors, alleged to be among the last station sets in Philadelphia.” The substation was built in 1900 to provide 600 volts direct current to northwest Philadelphia’s trolley system. Deferred maintenance over the next twenty years allowed the building to deteriorate. With the restoration of trolley service on Route 23 still on indefinite hold, dismantling began late last year and was completed in 2012.