“Spring Arts.” It’s a maturing neighborhood in the southern part of West Poplar. It’s recognized enough to be listed in real estate Multiple Listings Service as a neighborhood, while West Poplar, a long-standing name for the area, isn’t listed. Will Philly folks begin to call this burgeoning locale by this name? And just where is it, exactly?

Spring Arts Point developer Lawrence Rust thinks that the time for the Spring Arts neighborhood is fast approaching. Also a neighbor in the area he says is bordered in the south by Spring Garden Street, the east by the tracks at Percy Street between N. 9th and N. 10th Streets, the west by Broad Street and the north by Fairmount Ave., Rust has been waiting. He believes that the northern border might eventually run as far as Girard Ave. (encompassing almost all of the West Poplar neighborhood).

“We’ll see how it shakes out,” Rust said. “It’s all kind of growing organically.”

Before the market “went weird” a few years ago, Rust poured 21 foundations, 18 of which sold. Since then, he’s been testing his patience, wanting to build and looking for the right opportunity.

Phase 1

Spring Arts Point is a three-phased development of 55 single family homes, all with parking, and six live and work units, with residential units above ground floor commercial spaces. Phase One included those 18 units, built on N. 10th St. between Mt. Vernon, Wallace and Percy Sts. Phase Two includes 21 units that will also be built along N. 10th St., but are bordered by Mt. Vernon, Green and Percy Sts. Three have been built so far, two of which have been sold. Phase Three includes plans for ten more homes on the 1000 block of Mt. Vernon St., plus six live/work structures on the corner of 11th and Wallace Sts.

Future Phase 2

Phase 3, Someday

Rust says he’s “following the pattern in Northern Liberties with what Bart Blatstein did. He bought the Schmidts Brewery and wanted to develop it commercially… But he had the vision and patience to see the neighborhood develop residentially first. Commercial density comes with residents.”

We’re not at all suggesting that Rust is Blatstein, Spring Arts Point is the next Piazza, or that the neighborhood is the next Northern Liberties. Not at all. But with lots of recent construction, seen here and here, and several other places, the recent opening of Union Transfer and evolving ventures like Underground Arts, well, you know the trend, first artists come to a neighborhood and then…

–Lou Mancinelli