Monday, May 11, 2015

Old-Ass Building: People For People Charter School

800 North Broad Street


Photo by Michael Bixler
               I have a personal connection to this building that y'all need not know about, but I figured it was time to get its awesome history out there. Read all about it at the Hidden City Daily!

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Fill This Front: Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles

1220 Spruce Street


            After nearly 2 decades of straight occupancy by the same tenant, this little storefront on the 1200 block of Spruce Street has been empty for 15 straight months. Its about time we FILL THIS FRONT!
           I'd like to tell you that this storefront has a long and storied history, but the fact is-- this storefront, despite being in an 150+ year old building, has only existed for about 34 years. The building its located in spent many years as a singular row-mansion... during the Civil War the U.S. Marine Corps Quartermaster lived here. Later on, it was known as the Goddard Residence and in the following decades was inhabited by a number of doctor's home-offices. 
         In the mid-20th Century, the neighborhood was one of the worst in the city, as hard as that is to believe, and the entire building became a flop house that held a shitload of tiny apartments. In about 1981, the building's current owner came along and installed larger apartments upstairs and turned the first floor into retail.
        This guy had one hell of a hard time turning that first floor into retail-- the ZBA didn't like any of the possibilities that had to do with food service-- the restaurant, health food store, and caterer all got denied. Even after that, the place became a revolving door of uses-- its hard to pin down them all but at least one was a Art Supply Store and despite all that ZBA stuff in the past there was a coffee shop there in the early 90s. In the mid 1990s, Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles came along and held down the space for nearly 2 decades.

As Uhuru in 2011 via the Google Streetview Time Machine
       Uhuru is a store that fundraises for the African People's Education and Defense Fund-- they have locations all over the country. In February, 2014, Uhuru moved to the long-empty store building at the northwest corner of Broad and Parrish. Ever since, this space has been sitting empty and as depressing-looking as ever. Let's get it filled!
      This space is about 700 square feet with a nice big-ass display window. I'm told that the rent is $3600/mo + utilities but don't hold me to that. This place is on the mini-restaurant row where Vetri, Vallanni, Mercato, and even Toast beef up the area with awesome. Transit-wise, this is a sweet spot considering the Broad Street Line's concourse is a block away, as is the PATCO's. A bike lane runs right in front of the place. On top of all that, a whole dorm full of UArts students stands just down the street.
       What the fuck are you waiting for? Call the number on that window and tell them that you want to FILL THIS FRONT!!




Monday, May 4, 2015

Butt-Fugly Building: Seaman's Church Institute

475 North 5th Street


             Jesus Christ, what an ugly piece of shit. I understand that its in the Franklin-Callowhill Industrial District so I'm not supposed to expect greatness, but if you're gonna obliterate an entire neighborhood to build industrial garbage with huge surface parking lots in between, at least try to make it look nice!
           Before this building was here, the southern part of the original version of Northern Liberties was an actual neighborhood. York Avenue, the diagonal main street of the district, ran right through the middle of where this building is now.

The area just north of this shitty building, mid 19th Century or so. Library Company of Phila via PhillyHistory.org
           Around 1970, the Franklin-Callowhill Industrial District was created in order to create a manufacturing/warehousing district in the middle of city and supposedly create all kinds of jobs for nearby residents. It was a failure in almost every respect-- urban planning-wise, revitalization-wise, manufacturing-wise... there's not much else to say about it.
          In 1983, the construction of crappy short industrial buildings there wasn't done yet. In that year, Altman Brothers Inc out of Glenside, PA proposed a 23,000 Sq Ft juggernaut of ugly called the East Callowhill Industrial Building (real creative). The unfortunate design was by Theodore Brandow of Brandow Design Associates.
         The facade appears to be that corduroy pants-looking cladding used on all of the worst buildings I've ever seen. The openings in the facade are big and round with some kind of brown stone trim. Its not visible in the pic above but the facade rounds out at the north and south corners. It was 1984, people. Even I have to give them some leeway for that.
         After the building was finished in 1984, its first tenant was COFCO Group, a.k.a. the Commercial Office Furniture Company. They eventually added to the building and installed a mezzanine/2nd floor office space. In 2002, they sold the place for $2.4 Million to the Seaman's Church Institute of Philadelphia, an ancient organization that deals with support of seafarer's and maritime-related crap. They started in Philly way back in 1843 in a goddamn floating chapel!
          Today, the Seaman's Church Institute shares the building with Color Reflections, a digital imaging company that printed out large images of a fish and some water to cover those big-ass round windows. I guess they didn't want any sun coming in and fucking their shit up.
            As ugly as this pile of shit is, I wish I could say it was the worst-looking building in the shitbag Franklin-Callowhill Industrial District. If you ever have a chance, take a walk around there and check out what a real urban planning mistake looks like up close. You can check out Silk City when you're done, but be careful to put the ugliness of the neighborhood out of your mind before macking on their incredible Silk Cakes.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Old-Ass Building: 320 Race Street

320 Race Street


            You've never even noticed this old bastard, have you? Well, its pretty dang cool. Check out its story at the Hidden City Daily! Also, there are still some spots open on this Saturday's Forgotten NORTH Broad Street Tour! Click here to sign up.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Update!! More Fronts Filled!

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


          Hello, this is Robert Stack, and you are now reading this in my voice. Fill This Front has been an attempt by GroJLart, somewhat in vain, to identify chronically empty Center City storefronts and maybe bring enough attention to them to get them filled. Back in January, we updated with a bunch of amazing storefront rebirths-- and now there's more! Could Fill This Front be having some effect? That will have to remain an Unsolved Mystery. Play the Youtube video below for the appropriate background music.



Update!

        The old Stereo City spot now has a tenant! Johnny Manana's of East Falls is expanding out into the city with two new locations, one of which will be located at the circa 1924 Llewellyn's Drug Store. Good luck, its nice to see that part of Chestnut rise!

Update!

        The old Society Hill Furniture space has finally been filled! Though the new occupant might just be a Gallery leftover, they've managed to get a spot that hasn't been in use since 2008. Now all they have to do is remove the old Society Hill Furniture sign. Whatever-- Chestnut Beast can always use another friend.

From the day they opened.
 Update!

          After six long years, the old General Accident space will become the Center City location of City Fitness. This is will be their 4th location, adding to their Northern Liberties, Grad Hospital, and South Philly jawns.

Update!

           After 13 years of disappointments, the old Warner Bros Studio Store space at the Shops at Liberty Place will finally get a permanent lessee! Its been recently reported that the huge spot will hold a Bloomingdale's Outlet! This is great news and another sign that Center City's retail potential is getting even more popular. Rumor has it that Bloomie's is looking for another larger space for a regular large format version somewhere in the city as well.

Update!

            The NYC blightlords that own the remains of the Hamilton and Diesinger Building have now finally put it up for sale. They are asking for a rather outlandish $2.15 Million for the single-story building with 2 small sealed-off upper floors, but I guess they are banking on the greatness of Chestnut Beast and the fact that the building faces both Chestnut and Sansom for someone to come along and buy it for that price. Don't be surprised if it ends up being a tear-down.

Shhhh! One of Philaphilia's clandestine rumor sources has informed me that not only has an offer been put in for the building, but that said offer is well above the asking price!!! More info incoming!!

Update!

             You've probably heard about this but we'll tell you anyway: Wawa will be opening a new and gigantic location at the Robinson's Luggage space at Broad and Walnut! Though some people new about it already, GroJLart was informed by a participant of my March 21st Forgotten Broad Street Tour that this was taking place. GroJLart tweeted about it later that day:

           That Monday, Michael Klein wrote about it and the whole goddamn city went wild! Countless news outlets carried the news while every area discussion board and comment section became the center of heated debate. Some were ecstatic that a new Wawa would be available so close to their homes and workplaces, seeing positivity in the fact that Wawa was making a triumphant return to Center City after declaring itself nearly fully suburban a few years ago (btw, the 11th and Arch Wawa is still closing) and that they were taking up a prominent storefront that's been empty.
           Others saw the news as wholly negative, and for a whole bunch of different reasons. Some said it was another nail in the Avenue of the Arts retail coffin, seeing as how Walgreen's came in two blocks away, FYE is closing, and so is Ruth's Chris Steak House. Other people were worried about the amazing ability Wawa has of attracting bums to its locations, perhaps thinking that a larger 24 hour location will attract more and/or larger bums. A whole other subset of detractors saw this as a negative because of Wawa's status as a chain and not an independent sustainable organic spelt flour puppy underwear boutique.
          Oh well-- Wawa is coming and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Might as well enjoy it while its there.

Other tidbits worth mentioning:

-The Walnut Nails space doesn't seem to be acting as storage for another store anymore. I know there was at least one 311 request about it. The building and the one next door are still up for sale as a package deal.

-The Champions space is actually up for lease now. Assuming you have $225,000/yr to burn, snap this shit up. Remember, the DNC is coming.

-Something new is coming to 1725 Chestnut and 1835 Arch, but I don't know what.

-Five Below is moving to somewhere near 15th and Chestnut.

-Lastly, construction seems to be in full swing at the Southside Cleaners & Shirt Laundry building.


           With all of this great news, let's not forget the Fronts that are still empty and haven't done shit since they were mentioned here. John C. Clark Legal Stationers is still sitting there doing nothing. The owner probably doesn't give shit about the place, its just one of his many beat-up properties in the area. Across the street, the Witherspoon Building space is still vacant as fuck. 833 Chestnut changed up the signage but is still up for lease and will soon be going on 5 years empty. The Sprucy Storefronts are looking even worse, but this permit hopefully explains why.
          Kaufmann's Event Hall is still sitting there looking like shit while its blightlord owner still works down the street. 13th and Spruce is still shamefully vacant as fuck despite its makeover. The Ashe Building is still sealed up. Mexican Post is still unable to fill up, now on its 13th empty month. The Thomas Lofts space on Market East is still vacant as fuck. The South Broad KFC is getting even worse looking while serving primarily as a surface parking lot. 31 South 2nd is an ongoingly-blighted piece of shit. The VOG spot is still a fog spot. 2108 Walnut is looking worse than ever and the retail still isn't available. Enough of this!
          For every empty lot, effed-up building, new development, or empty storefront, there's someone, somewhere, who knows the truth. Perhaps that someone is reading this. Perhaps... it's you. If you have any new or extra information relating to articles posted at Philaphilia, write to us at rhaandarite@gmail.com. You need not give your name.

"Now get the fuck out of here"
Programming note: Philaphilia will be on hiatus for a couple of weeks while GroJLart celebrates the fourth anniversary of the blog and some other stuff he can't tell you schlubs about. He'll probably write some crap on his Twitter once in awhile so keep track of that for the latest updates. Check Hidden City Philadelphia for more tour dates and watch out for a new blog post here about the upcoming all new North Broad Street Tour!!

Monday, March 30, 2015

Old-Ass Building: Finnegan's Wake

537-541 North 3rd Street

Photo by Michael Bixler
              Yeah, that's right! I wrote about the history of the Finnegan's Wake building! Read all about it at the Hidden City Daily, ya drunk bastid!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Fill This Front: Bridals by Danielle

203 South 13th Street


               Ok, so its only been 1 year since this place has had an occupant-- but on 13th Street, other shit can't stay vacant for more than a months before someone else comes along (anyone know what's going on at the now papered-up Mamou?). The spot is not just on the 13th Street corridor across next to and across from some nice shit, its got 50 feet of street frontage, big ass windows on the front AND side, and is in a nice-looking building! What the fuck is wrong with this place? Why can't we Fill This Front!?! Well, from what I can tell, it might already be spoken-for.
       First of all, what a nice-looking building. Its an old office building that was built on spec in about 1915-1916. It later became a Stenography School and then, during World War II, a dormitory for servicemen working at the Navy Yard and stuff. The ground floor wasn't a storefront until about 1958, when a jewelry store moved in and stuck around for a couple of decades.
      In 1980, the place was vacant and looking like shit, just like the rest of 13th Street back then. The Redevelopment Authority took control of the place and had it renovated under the designs of architect William E. Cox, who would later become part owner of the place. The retail space became a laundromat and stayed that way after the building's current owner, the Daedalus Group Limited Partnership, took ownership in 1984.
       In 1989, the laundromat peaced-out and Speedy Sign-a-Rama moved in. They left 4 years later and the space then became the Both Ways leather shop, which evolved into a bagel/coffee shop called Franny's Place, which was a well-regarded Gayborhood hang-out spot run by Fran Price, who currently is the executive director of Philly Pride.
Photo of the interior of Franny's Place by Julia Lehman for a 1997 citypaper article
           In the 21st Century, the whole Tony Goldman renaissance of 13th Street was taking place and Bridals by Danielle moved in from around the corner, replacing a pharmacy that had briefly occupied the front after Franny's. In March 2014, they moved to 304 Walnut and the space has been empty ever since.

As it appeared in 2009 via the Google Streetview Time Machine
                 I get pissed off when such a nice-looking storefront in an awesome building has trouble getting filled... let me talk about it a little bit. This place is ~1,850 square feet with roughly 30-50 feet of storefront window out front and a whole bunch of other windows along the Chancellor Street side (ok, so they face a bunch of dumpsters). Its right in the midst of kick-ass Midtown Village 13th Streetness, right where lots of positive changes are finally coming to fruition. You have Green Eggs, Host, a new building under construction at the old Dewey's site, a hair salon that's been on the block for like 20 years, Woody's, and and even the kick-ass awesome Franky Bradley's further down the Chancellor Street. On its own block, it has Indeblue right next door, Bellevue Nails, 13th street Pizza, and the new Cappelli Brother Cigar Company which was packed as shit when I walked by it last Thursday night. THAT'S WITHIN ON FUCKING HALF BLOCK, I don't even have to mention the rest of the stuff that's even one block further. The area gets motherfucking assloads of foot traffic, has tons of residents and daytime workers nearby, and is accessible by multiple modes of public transport, including the Broad Street Line, Market Frankford Line, AND the goddamn PATCO!!!
          Sounds great, right!?!? Well, guess what? The listing for the space (which still calls this area B3 like its 2005), says "Off Market" and was last updated on July 4th, 2014. So is it even fucking available? The guy who's name it is on the RENT sign could not be reached for comment. If not, who picked it up? There aren't any permits in for alterations or anything like that, so is someone just paying the rent and sitting on it?
          Well, whoever you are, get your shit together and open something up here. Its about time we FILL THIS FRONT!!

Pretty decent-looking building too.