Students bringing Wall Street to Penn

Online trading has made it easier for students to invest in the market. Penn abandoned plans this week to house two academic programs in a large Victorian mansion near 41st and Locust streets in the face of strong community disapproval. In a letter to the president of the Spruce Hill Community Association, Executive Vice President John Fry said that Penn will release the seller of the house from its contract in the hopes that it will be purchased by a family. The University purchased the three-story house at 4106 Locust Street last October for $500,000 from the widow of late Penn Law and Criminology Professor Marvin Wolfgang, with the intent of turning the property into a School of Arts and Sciences facility. Officials had planned to house the Fox Leadership Program and the Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society in 4,500-square foot property. This would have been the first time that an academic center was housed in the West Philadelphia neighborhood. The size of the house made it difficult for Wolfgang's widow to find a family willing to pay for the home. Penn officials have maintained that part of the reason they purchased the estate was to prevent it from being partitioned into several smaller units, which has increasingly become the trend in University City. But the University's decision came in response to an overwhelming reaction by the community to preserve the property as a single family home. "We are choosing this course of action after a reasoned and civilized community discussion with our Spruce Hill neighbors," Fry wrote in the letter. "The perpetuation of the house's single family status is in the broader community's best interest." On Friday, Spruce Hill Community Association delivered a letter to Penn's top real estate official, Tom Lussenhop, stating that they were opposed to the University's plans to use the Wolfgang house for academic purposes. The University Historical Society also delivered a letter voicing their opposition to the University's plans. Last week, University officials met with members of both groups to discuss the effect the project would have on the neighborhood. The two community associations had been opposed to the project from the beginning. "We have no objection to Penn buying the building," said Kathy Dowdell, president of the University City Historical Society. "Our concerns are really for the historic character of that neighborhood." Dowdell voiced her concern that if Penn's plan proceeded, modern constructions such as an elevator and exit stairs would need to be installed in the house. She added that changing the residence from a family home to institutional use was also not something the community relished. "We are an area of a transient community," Spruce Hill Community Association President Barry Grossbach said, echoing Dowdell's sentiments. "We have to encourage as much homeownership as we can." Had University officials decided to pursue using the building for academic purposes, they could have taken their proposal to the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustments, where each side would have argued their case, Grossbach explained. With today's decision, all that is unnecessary. "The Wolfgang house is a one-of-a-kind house. [The University] had every right to take this issue down to the zoning board," Grossbach said. "I really appreciated the tone and the spirit and the general comments in the letter."