Mt. Airy : Development News

Unless you're a local history buff or an architecture enthusiast, you've probably never heard of the building now known as Presser Senior Apartments, an historic structure at 101 West Johnson Street in Mt. Airy. It was commissioned in 1914 by the sheet music publisher Theodore Presser, and interestingly enough, it was developed as a home for retired music teachers.

Constructed of brick, limestone and terra cotta, the structure was one of only two in the world built specifically for retired music teachers. The other was Milan's Casa di Riposo per Musicisti; following a trip to Italy, it inspired Presser to create something similar in Philadelphia.

In 2002, however, the 52,248 square-foot building became vacant, and although it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, it nevertheless turned into something of a crumbling eyesore. Certainly, if not for its historic status, it would have been a perfect candidate for demolition. Instead, the building was acquired by the locally-based Nolen Properties in 2006. Working with the architecture firm JKR Partners, Nolen's resulting historic restoration was such a huge success that it won a 2011 Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

"The biggest challenge we had," said Rick Sudall, Nolen's director of operations, involved "converting 86 single rooms into 45 apartments." In the Presser Building's original form, its rooms contained only a closet and a sink; shared bathrooms were located down the hall. Following the year-long, multimillion dollar renovation, however, the new apartments now come complete with all mod cons.

Even better, historic preservation societies clearly aren't the only interested entities: As of this writing, Nolen has received some 300 applications for Presser's 45 units. And while new residents certainly don't have to be former music teachers, they do have to be median-income senior citizens. The lucky few will be moving in sometime over the next few months.

Source: Rick Sudall, Nolen Properties
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey announced last Tuesday that Pennsylvania would receive $47 million in federal transit and infrastructure grants as part of the Federal Transit Administration's State of Good Repair program. As SEPTA updated its hybrid bus fleet two years ago, the lion's share of the funding went to Pittsburgh's Allegheny County Port Authority for a clean diesel fleet of their own. But SEPTA didn't come away empty handed, receiving $8.1 million for two infrastructure improvements a long time coming.

The first grant will revamp SEPTA's Parkside Bus Loop, helping reconnect this West Philly neighborhood. But the second, more universal improvement will aid in future upgrades. Using $6.4 million, SEPTA will install an asset management system to aid in record-keeping as many of Philadelphia's transit assets come up for repairs.

"A lot of our infrastructure dates back to the early 1900's and were taken over from other private companies," says SEPTA CFO Richard Burnfield. "What the FTA was trying to focus on is knowing what you have out there in the field before you can make an assessment as to what your overall needs are, coming up with a plan for when things should be replaced."

The system will help SEPTA keep better records so when funding is available, the authority can make a more organized, more compelling case for further federal dollars as the fleet is upgraded.

"Right now, we do a very good job of managing our assets so while the records are not as computerized as we'd like them to be, we have so much knowledge within our engineering staff that I feel we make excellent decisions," says Burnfield. "But I think this will help us going forward so we can do a second check on things as our staff reaches retirement."

Source: Richard Burnfield, SEPTA
Writer: John Steele

In science fiction novels and books about the future, a few technologies are boilerplate: flying cars, meals in pill form and the ability to teleport instantly from place to place. National commuter rail company Amtrak took another step toward teleportation on Tuesday with its announcement of a high-speed rail vision plan. In Tuesday's news conference from University City's 30th Street Station, with Governor Ed Rendell on hand, Amtrak officials laid out their goal to create a line with average speeds well over 130 mph, saving passengers between one and two hours on average.

"Amtrak is putting forward a bold vision of a realistic and attainable future that can revolutionize transportation, travel patterns and economic development in the Northeast for generations," says Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman.

The plan, entitled A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor, proposes a full build-out to be completed by 2040. Its construction, Amtrak says, would create more than 40,000 full-time jobs annually over a 25-year period, building new track, tunnels, bridges, stations, and other infrastructure. Predictably, the cost for such a project is high, $4.7 billion annually over 25 years. But Amtrak's feasibility studies peg the Northeast as a "mega-region" capable of drawing the type of rail traffic to make such an investment profitable. And with some premier legislative voices like New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg and Massachusetts' John Kerry already voicing their support, we may be teleporting out of 30th Street Station sooner than we think.

"Amtrak's High Speed Rail plan will create jobs, cut pollution and help us move towards a modern and reliable transportation system network in the Northeast," said Kerry in a recent statement. "As countries around the world continue to build out their transportation systems, we
cannot afford to fall further behind. This is an important down payment on the massive commitment necessary to bridge our infrastructure gap." 

Source: Joseph Boardman, Amtrak
Writer: John Steele