Back in November, we told you about a large, eponymous project in the Spring Arts (as it’s listed in the MLS TREND system) neighborhood. Or is it the West Poplar (as it so listed in the Phila2035 publications), or the Spring Garden (the name many of our readers seem to support) neighborhood?

As that discussion evolves, neighborhood politics and marketing will be at play like hungry hippos chasing valuable marbles. Meanwhile, we have an update for you about Spring Arts Point.

Phase 1 of Spring Arts Point

Developer and realtor Lawrence Rust, one of the leading voices advocating the Spring Arts nomenclature, and understandably so, given the name of his project, has informed us that he tentatively plans to move forward with Phase II of his large-scale Spring Arts Point development this April. That means Phase I must have been a success, right?

To this point, three homes along the 900 block of Mt. Vernon St. have already gone up. Next, six more are on tap for this block, at which point both sides of the street will features either brand new or newish Spring Arts Point homes. When complete, Phase II will include 24 new construction units.

The first three homes of Phase 2

With more on the way

So many more

With the staggering amount of development that’s taken place in this neighborhood in the past few years, we think it is safe to say, whatever the name of this neighborhood may be, or whatever the dispute may or may not be, a name that everyone agrees on will eventually emerge (wouldn’t you agree, Graduate Hospital/G-Ho/South of South/Marian Anderson Heritage Village/Schuylkill people?). With all this development, we can envision perhaps the introduction of new restaurants, bars and retailers over the next decade.

In fact, we may have a tidbit on something like that next week…

–Lou Mancinelli