In Spring Garden

You've probably never been to the 1500 block of Melon St. in the Spring Garden neighborhood. Half a block south of Fairmount Ave., Melon St. and N Sydenham St. dead-end into each other, creating an area where development has thrived in the past few years.

As recently as 2005, the 1500

"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

A few months ago, we wrote about the anticipated reopening of the Trestle Inn, a former go-go bar at the southeast corner 11th and Callowhill Sts. The bar opened a couple of weeks ago, keeping the old name and the go-go dancers, too. The new place, owned by Ian Cross

The past few weeks, we've been presenting you with lots of development action in the Spring Garden and West Poplar neighborhoods. For example, the new Spring Arts condos, the church that recently went under contract, and new homes on Mt. Vernon St. And we're not done yet.

Four new single family

Back in August, Spring Arts Condo LLC purchased 603 & 605 N. 12th St. for $230K.

These two properties sit on a short block of N. 12th St. between Green St. and Clay St., and are surrounded on both sides, inexplicably, by city owned lots. On the plus side, the wonderful

According to the Inquirer, the Pennsylvania Ballet will soon have a new home at 321 N. Broad St., once it completes a serious renovation of an existing building and a reconstruction of another. The two buildings in question, a former garage and halfway house, respectively, will turn into dance studios,

On the way home from a warm cup of Pho late Monday afternoon, we came upon yet another church with a 'for sale' sign. This time, it's the ornate stone Ruffin Nichols Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church and school on 11th Street between Mt. Vernon and Wallace Streets, listed for

There's an empty lot on the southwest corner of 13th and Buttonwood Sts. that's currently on the market. The property measures nearly 30K sqft, and the asking price is $10M. Yikes.

According to the listing, the current owners applied for and received the necessary zoning variance to construct two residential towers

So let's say you're a talented artist looking for a venue with a built-in crowd to perform before or exhibit your work? What’s this? You want to live in a space rent-free while you prepare for and host the show? Hold the phone, there’s a bar and food too?

If Cornell-,

Last week, we wrote about a couple of new homes going up on Mount Vernon St. in the West Poplar neighborhood. Things are really hopping in this area, and another residential building is going up at 622 N. 12th St., right around the corner.

The developer, Carmel Developments Inc. acquired the