Design : Development News

It's hardly a stretch to refer to Philadelphia's Postgreen Homes as one of the most eco-conscious developers in the city, not to mention the most design-literate. After all, this is the group that executed the legendary 100k House in Fishtown, which in 2010 won the LEED for Homes Award from the U.S. Green Building Council.

And although the Postgreen group is now working on two equally impressive minimalist home projects--the Two point Five beta house in East Kensington and the incredibly cool Avant Garage rowhomes in Fishtown--the company is also prepping the details for what may very well be its largest and most ambitious development yet. Currently being referred to as the reNewbold project, it'll feature not only 16 rowhomes and two condos near the intersection of 16th and Moore--that's in the Newbold neighborhood, naturally--but also a corner retail space.

"Of all of South Philly, (Newbold was) one of the areas we were most interested in," says Postgreen's Nic Darling. "It's adjacent to a pretty vibrant and growing neighborhood in the Passyunk Square area, and at the same time, it still has the price point we want to get our stuff in at."

As of now, reNewbold is still a speculative project, and as Darling says, groundbreaking may not happen until early summer due to zoning and permitting issues. In the meantime, potentially interested rowhome and condo buyers can follow reNewbold's progress on the company's website and its 100k House Blog.

Not so interested in South Philly development? Not a problem. Postgreen's next project in the development pipeline is the much-ballyhooed, 14-house Awesome Town, which will be breaking ground this April or May along Fishtown's Moyer Street.

Source: Nic Darling, Postgreen Homes
Writer: Dan Eldridge

When it was announced in 2008 that Philadelphia would be selected as one of the country's 25 Solar America Cities, the mission was relatively straightforward. It involved the city and the U.S. Department of Energy working together in an effort to "rapidly increase the use and integration of solar energy," according to the program's website.

Last month, the city took a major step towards that goal when it broke ground on its very first municipal-owned solar power plant, a project that was the result of an $850,000 grant from the Department of Energy. The solar photovoltaic system is currently under construction at the Philadelphia Water Department's Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant, where it will be ground-mounted on a little more than an acre of formerly unused land. Its construction is expected to be complete sometime this spring.

According to Paul Kohl, the Philadelphia Water Department's Energy Champion, the plant will produce roughly 300,000 kilowatt hours of energy each year, which is enough to power somewhere between 28 and 30 homes in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

And what of the relatively small size of the plant?

"To give a very pedestrian answer," says Kohl, "the amount of money that we were willing to spend--and that the Mayor's Office of Sustainability was willing to give us--was about the size of the site."

According to Kohl, the city does plan to continue moving forward with the installation of other solar plants at sites much larger than that of the Water Department's. Those installations, however, will be operated through what's known as a Solar Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA) model, in which a developer would design, build and run a solar plant, and the city would then promise to purchase the plant's energy for a specified length of time, usually somewhere between 15 and 20 years.

Source: Paul Kohl, Philadelphia Water Department
Writer: Dan Eldridge

Even in a down economy, workers with solid construction skills can generally find decent paying jobs. And if those workers have been trained in environmentally-sustainable green building techniques, they're even more employable still. That's the general idea, at any rate, behind the YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School in North Philly, where for the past 17 years, high school dropouts and at-risk youth have been earning diplomas and picking up valuable green construction skills while building affordable homes in their communities.

YouthBuild Philadelphia's current project kicked off recently at 4620 Greene Street in Germantown, where a dilapidated and crumbling house that has sat vacant for the past two decades will soon be rehabbed by a rotating group of 40 YouthBuild students. After completion of the project, which will be energy efficient and supplied with sustainable appliances, the group plans to apply for LEED Gold or Silver Certification for the house.

Germantown residents can thank Philadelphia Neighborhood Housing Services, a local community development corporation, for the environmentally conscious changes taking place on Greene Street. "I live in the area, and that's how I first became aware of (the house)," says PNHS Executive Director Bernard Hawkins. "The property was in abandoned condition, and it looked to me like it might be a potential site for a renovation project, so we began the process of acquiring the title to the property. That was several years ago now."

In 2006, West Chester University was gearing up for a major renovation of campus residence halls. But when the conversation came to a new heating and cooling system, it seemed foolish to only replace the central steam system in residence hall buildings without looking at the rest of campus. Replacing a historic campus' entire heating and cooling system would not be easy. But last week, West Chester announced a new grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for $4.7 million that will get the ball rolling on making it Greater Philadelphia's first completely geothermal campus.

"Our renovation plan gave us the opportunity to ask the question 'what is the most efficient way to heat and cool our buildings,'" says WCU Executive Director of Facilities Management Greg Cuprak. "We realized that, over a 10 year period of time, we had planned to renovate over 65 percent of our campus so we had to take it all the way."

Never one to miss a teachable moment, West Chester's Geology Department will be doing experiments as the digging of geothermal wells begins this spring. Students will be researching the differences between the WCU geoexchange system and other types of energy systems to ensure the campus is as efficient as it can be going forward.

"We expect to see a reduction in heating costs by 40 percent and a reduction in cooling by 20 percent," says Cuprak. "Before we started this thing, we were spending $2.6 million heating our campus and around $600,000 a year cooling our campus. So while this is not a short-term process but many years from now, when the last building is no longer being heated with fossil fuels, that is the type of savings you can expect."

Source: Greg Cuprak, West Chester University
Writer: John Steele

Architect Frank Gehry is known for his shiny, curvaceous designs like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. His latest project is decidedly less glamorous but still adds his name to a piece of architectural history. Gehry is working with the Philadelphia Museum of Art to add an underground wing complete with loading dock and art handling facility. After hiring Gehry in 2006, the Museum has secured his services for a 10-year master plan, which will add underground gallery spaces for the museum's Contemporary American Art and Asian art sections, as well as rotating exhibitions. The project will add 80,000 sq. ft. of space to the historic Philadelphia landmark.

"Some may see this first phase of the project as simply practical, yet it is a critical component to the entire design, which really will transform the museum," says Museum President and COO Gail Harrity.

For architecture buffs, the more important feature of Gehry's design may not come from where he is building but where he is not. The new loading dock and art handling area will return the old loading zone--a vaulted walkway that runs through the length of the museum and has been used for shipping and receiving since the 1970s--to its original purpose as a street-level visitor entrance, adding yet another touchstone to Philadelphia's most famous architectural landmark.

"By creating a new art handling facility, we are not only bringing our museum up to state-of-the-art, best-practice standards, we also free up this historic space that will be reopened and restored as another entrance to the museum," says Harrity.

Source: Gail Harrity, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Writer: John Steele

As one of the first businesses to establish a presence at the University City Science Center's Port Business Incubator, Integral Molecular built relationships with nearby universities and received instruction from experienced entrepreneurs that helped them stay afloat in the company's pivotal, early years. Now that Integral Molecular is an established company with a 10-year track record of protein and drug discovery research, they are returning the favor with an investment of their own.

This month, Integral Molecular announced a 10,000 sq. ft. expansion to the Science Center that will add new laboratory and office space to 3711 Market Street. Since launching in 2001, Integral Molecular has grown to inhabit nearly half of the incubator space at 3701 Market Street. This build-out comes on the heels of a 10-year lease with the Science Center, keeping biotech jobs in Philadelphia and adding 10 new positions to this growing firm.

"We have been able to customize the features we wanted here all along," says Integral Molecular President and CSO Benjamin Doranz. "The building itself is designed to house lab-based biotech companies like ourselves so putting in the kinds of features we need--like chemical hoods, required ventilation--those kinds of features are already designed into the building, making things easier for us."

The addition, which is 60 percent new lab space, will bring features like sterile tissue-culture rooms, lab glass washers, purified water systems and improved ventilation systems. But the main feature of the addition is space, allowing Integral Molecular to meet the demands of many pharma projects it hopes to pursue in 2011. The addition is currently under construction and expected to open in March.

"We have labs at 3701 but we are really outgrowing them," says Doranz. "This will give us lab space that is not necessarily better in general but better for us because they are customized for exactly what we do."

Source: Benjamin Doranz, Integral Molecular
Writer: John Steele

When the planners of Penn Praxis designed the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware, they envisioned a bustling commercial waterfront loaded with restaurants, shopping, and, above all, green space. As development plans have begun, projects like the Race Street Pier and Pier 53 have brought parks to areas previously disconnected from green space, raising property values and public health in the process. Penn Praxis returns this week with its latest plan, Green 2015, an action plan designed to add 500 acres of open space to Philadelphia by 2015.

Green 2015 is a response to the Greenworks Sustainability Plan, issued by the Nutter Administration, to add 500 acres to the equity of the city, giving special focus to those areas without proper park access. Penn Praxis unveils this plan at the today's Urban Sustainability Forum at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

"In the report, we try to address people who might ask why we would invest in something like this during such tough economic times," says Penn Praxis Executive Director Harris Steinberg. "How do we serve those areas who are underserved? By adding those economic as well as social, environmental and public health benefits of green space."

Even with these considerations, cost is a concern. So the plan focuses first on using city-owned land to reduce acquisition costs, focusing on school yards, rec centers and vacant lands in under-greened neighborhoods, giving planners more than 1,000 acres to work with. The plan also examines storm water management goals set forth by the EPA, adding funding to these initiatives. Mayor Nutter and Parks and Recreation Commissioner Michael DiBerardinis will be on hand Tuesday to mark the official start of this action plan.

"There is a lot of collaboration across many different agencies, which I think bodes very well," says Steinberg. "It is always hard during tough economic times because you have to strike a balance between existing resources and getting the most out of your work but we expect a positive response overall."

Source: Harris Steinberg, Penn Praxis
Writer: John Steele

As an alum of Yards and the creator of the brewery's famous tasting room, Johnny Della Polla is no stranger to a good bar. So when he moved to Queen Village a few years back and stopped in to neighborhood mainstay the Lyons Den, he knew it was a great spot in need of an upgrade. While the Den was good for a shot and a beer, Queens Villagers were starting to expect a little more. So when it became available, Della Polla got his chance. Along with partner Ashley Bohan, Della Polla created Kennett, a LEED-certified, artisanal-style eatery complete with burgers, wood-oven pizzas and, of course, a dynamite beer list. The restaurant opened for business this Saturday.

"Over the last ten years, the neighborhood has kind of changed where families moved in and people started having kids," says Managing Partner Johnny Della Polla. "The Lyons Den deserves a lot of credit. They were here for ten years and when they came in, they were exactly what the neighborhood wanted. But For Pete's Sake is right down the street, the New Wave is right up the street. We wanted to do something different."

After deciding on a sustainable, craft tap-room feel, Della Polla explored the building and saw that the name Kennett was carved into the keystone out front and decided it would be the namesake of his new venture. Soon after announcing the restaurant, Ted Kennett reached out, saying his grandfather, a Ukrainian immigrant, had owned the building in 1924 as a boarding house where he brewed moonshine in the basement. That speakeasy theme informs the cocktail list, developed by Noble bartender Christian Gaal. Della Polla hopes touches like these will endear him to this evolving neighborhood.

"We tried to tie everything together," Della Polla says. "It's this green certified restaurant that also has this prohibition-era cocktail theme and this local food, craft beer theme. They all sort of just stuck."

Source: Johnny Della Polla, Kennett
Writer: John Steele

With Temple University in the midst of its 20/20 vision plan--an ambitious development proposal that will bring renovations across the North Philadelphia campus and renew North Broad Street's commercial corridor--it is easy to forget about the neighborhoods surrounding Temple. But while Temple prepares for millions of dollars in student housing and resident services centers, one nearby corridor was quietly getting a facelift of its own.

This week, Columbus Property Management announced completion of Temple 1, a LEED-certified rehab of 22 town homes on N. 16th Street between Cecil B. Moore and Montgomery. The renovation converts 58 low-income rental units with features like low-flow bath fixtures, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, energy-saving windows and new insulation. The project has been given the LEED Gold certification and will re-open later this month.

"There is a lot of construction going on in this immediate area of North Philadelphia," says Columbus Director of Construction David Hahn. "All of these projects are working together to restore some of the blighted areas across this part of North Philadelphia."

The all-union, local construction continues as Columbus begins Temple 2, bringing energy efficiency to an other 40 units on the 1500 block. Beyond the new construction bringing more people to the developing area, Hahn hopes this project will generate revenue for nearby commercial corridors.

"By lowering living expenses, it gives our tenants a few more dollars in their pocket, which they can then in turn spend in the neighborhood," says Hahn. "More than just a stable building, we want to create a stable neighborhood. So when people go spend that money at the laundromat or the pizzeria, they are adding to that stability."

Source: Dave Hahn, Columbus Property Management
Writer: John Steele

When it comes to trees, the folks at Center City District don't mess around. The group maintains about 750 street trees and, with their redesign of Dilworth Plaza set to get rolling after the first of the year, that number is about to get a whole lot bigger. But that hasn't slowed them down one bit. This week, the group announced the first event in the Plant! Philadelphia series, a planting initiative designed to increase green space and involve Philadelphians in creating it.

On Thursday, Dec. 2, a group of students from Abraham Lincoln Academy's Environmental Academy program met with CCD officials to help plant two new trees. The first set down in front of Thomas Jefferson's famous Graff House, where he wrote the Declaration of Independence. The other went on a treeless block at 6th and Chestnut. Along the way, the students learned some history of the area as well as the value of tree planting.

"There can never be enough trees because they do so much for our urban environment," says CCD VP of Planning Nancy Goldenberg. "But beyond what private developers do, this program is specifically for street trees. Those are something that every tourist, every visitor, every resident, every employee benefits from."

The program came through a donation from the Dow Chemical Company, helping CCD buy, plant and maintain the two young Hackberry trees. Goldenberg hopes other businesses follow suit to help improve on CCD's current planting schedule and get the city to more healthy green levels.

"We plant about 60 new trees each year because of drought or they get hit by trucks or whatever," says CCD VP of Planning Nancy Goldenberg. "Plant! Philadelphia is an effort to involve Philadelphia people and businesses in that effort and help the city reach its goal of planting 300,000 trees by 2015."

Source: Nancy Goldenberg, Center City District
Writer: John Steele

While the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) remains hard at work on the Philadelphia 2035 plan--a strategic, long-term document focused on creating a stronger future for Philadelphia's transit and development--another group of planners have gotten in on the act. What these planners lack in knowledge, they more than make up for in experience living in Philadelphia and observing the functionality of city design and services.

These concerned community members are part of a pilot program called the Citizen's Planning Institute (CPI), an educational program working to empower citizens to make their voices heard in the planning process. Funded by the William Penn Foundation, CPI offers basic lessons in everything from land use to zoning issues, placing extra emphasis on under-represented communities around Philadelphia, in the hopes of creating more dynamic, city-wide development.

"We targeted specifically neighborhoods not as experienced with the process to be more active and effective with a focus on a "planning 101 approach," says CPI Director Donna Carney. "So they could see that they have the power to change their neighborhoods through this process."

The pilot program attracted 100 applicants, of which 30 were chosen to represent their neighborhoods. The resulting panel contained over 850 years of Philadelphia residency and helped shape a planned expansion to the program in 2011. The current students "graduate" when the courses conclude on Dec. 6 but plans are already in the works to add elective topics such as urban design, historic preservation, marketing and finance.

"As we expand on the program going forward, a whole variety of outreach activities could be handled by the Citizen's Planning Institute in the future," says PCPC Director of Planning and Policy Alan Urek.  "We would look to it to help inform some of the recommendations on the comprehensive plan."

Source: Donna Carney, Citizen's Planning Institute
Writer: John Steele

Every Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles bring green power to Lincoln Financial Field with a crushing defense and a youthful, high-powered offense. But a new proposal is set to bring green power off the field and spread it to the rest of the Linc. On Nov. 18, the Philadelphia Eagles announced plans to create a $30 million, on-site energy generation system complete with wind turbines and solar panels that will instantly transfer 15-20 percent of the Linc's output to renewable energy, while an on-site co-generation power plant will take care of the rest.Through a partnership with Orlando, Fla. firm Solar Blue, Lincoln Financial Field becomes the world's first major sports stadium to convert to self-generated renewable energy.

"Pennsylvania has been a regulated state with rate caps and those rate caps are expected to expire at the end of this year," says Lincoln Financial Field COO Don Smolenski. "The information we were getting was that electricity costs were going to go up 30-40 percent. With electricity being our biggest line item for the stadium, we started exploring our options."

The installation, with an expected completion date of September 2011, contains 80 spiral-shaped wind turbines along the roof of the structure, affixes 2,500 solar panels to the facade and brings an on-site, co-generation power plant to the parking lot. The plant, which will handle the majority of the energy load, runs on biodiesel or natural gas. SolarBlue will  own and operate the stadium's power system for the next 20 years, selling the power to the Eagles at a fixed rate. The proposal is expected to save the team an estimated $60 million in energy costs.

"The vertical-shaped turbines appealed to us aesthetically and are less noisy than traditional turbines," says Smolenski. "Not only is it good for our electricity rates, we feel these turbines really enhance the look of the stadium."

Source: Don Smolenski, Lincoln Financial Field
Writer: John Steele

Built in 1929, Skippack's Graterford State Prison has housed hundreds of thousands of inmates. And like many prisoners past and present at this maximum security facility, the proposal to rebuild Graterford to its former glory looked like it might be locked up in litigation or even facing a death sentence as recently as last week. After entering bids for the $365 million project, a group of builders successfully sued the state Department of General Services on Sept. 1, alleging that the Department violated state law by limiting the number of construction companies considered. But this week, after nearly a year of court battles, the Department selected Walsh Construction and Heery International as principal builders, keeping the tentative opening date of March 2014.

"The need for the prison was based on inmate population exceeding available capacity, as determined by the State Department of Corrections," says PA Department of General Services Secretary Elizabeth O'Reilly. "This is not a recent development. It has been going on for at least several years."

The Graterford project is part of a state-wide initiative to add 9,000 beds to the overcrowded state prison system. The Walsh/Heery proposal calls for a maximum security ward, as well as a smaller, medium-security facility, with a total capacity of just over 4,000 male inmates. If successful, Graterford will become Pennsylvania's first LEED-certified prison, utilizing storm water runoff and local, low-impact materials.  

"It is a prison so there can't be many design initiatives but it will be a LEED-certified prison, which is not typical, especially in the commonwealth," says O'Reilly. "It's pretty exciting."

Source: Elizabeth O'Reilly, PA Department of General Services
Writer: John Steele

For architects like Jibe Design Principal Juliet Whelan, sometimes the most innovative work is better enjoyed as a work of art. So for her most recent design--a completely energy independent house retrofitted into recycled shipping containers--she made artistry the focus, enlisting photographer Stu Goldenberg of Goldenberg Photography and frequent collaborator Naquib Hossain to design a model for a photo retrospective.

After buying a Fishtown lot at an auction, craftsman Martin Lautz enlisted Jibe to design a sustainable, off-the-grid oasis built out of shipping containers. The house, Lautz said, would test the limits of sustainable living in a modern, urban setting. Meanwhile, Goldenberg was looking for his latest muse. When Whelan brought them all together with builders Allison Carafa and Jason Flax, the team created a scaled model called Free Agent House, a test center for sustainable design elements and the subject of a unique photo collection.

"Most un-built architecture projects are only viewed as two-dimensional computer renderings and many iconic completed buildings are only seen by the masses as photos," says Whelan. "I liked the idea of Stu playing with the intersection of a real photo of a real model and a rendered image of an un-built project."

Complete with solar panels, vacuum-insulated wall panels, efficient natural lighting design, passive heating and cooling systems and a solar-thermal water heater, the model creates a complete home without the aid of outside energy producers--a model that may become popular as Pennsylvania rate caps expire at the end of this year. Lautz recently requested a larger home design and Jibe is working to keep the efficiency measures in tact for a larger structure.

"Every project I design belongs on a continuum of my development as an architect," says Whelan. "The Free Agent House fixes some mistakes I've made on other projects, particularly in regards to separating floors vertically for heating efficiency. The innovations in this home will certainly inform my future work."

Source: Juliet Whelan, Jibe Design
Writer: John Steele

It may seem ironic for a brand like Mitchell and Ness to relocate its flagship store at 1318 Chestnut Street to a more modern location. After all, the brand is rooted in nostalgia, offering fans all the old-school apparel money can buy, celebrating the history of teams both local and national. But sure enough, M&N announced that they will be opening a new store at 1201 Chestnut Street this week, in time for the holidays. The original flagship store will remain open through the first of the year as well. President Sean McKinney believes that, while they are not moving far, the new store will signal a "rebirth for the brand."

"Our products are great but when you go into our current location, the layout and the customer experience is really not that much different than most sporting goods stores out there, and I think it does our product a disservice," says Mitchell and Ness president Sean McKinney. "In the new space, you can understand the relationship between an old, wool baseball jersey hanging in an old wooden locker. The product will be displayed and showcased much better, connecting the Mitchell and Ness history with sports history and our vintage products."

Artistically designed with wood accents and exposed brick, 1201 Chestnut will feature antique-style clubhouse lockers as display cases and, on the second floor, features a repurposed basketball court. But McKinney assures us that they have not lost nostalgia completely. The building was once a bank, complete with regal latticework in the ceilings and polished railings that fit nicely in the refurbished Mitchell and Ness. McKinney believes the combination of history and modernity is what Mitchell and Ness is all about.

"With our brand being around since 1904, we definitely wanted a building with some history to it," says McKinney. "A lot of the architecture and the character of the building is going to remain. We have refurbished in some cases but we loved the history that the building had."

Source: Sean McKinney, Mitchell and Ness
Writer: John Steele