Development News

You can't argue with this one: Real estate agents have it tough these days. Buyers do too, of course. But when your very livelihood is dependent upon the whims of a mortgage broker and the all-around insecurity of banks these days, making an honest buck isn't easy.

Consider, as an example, the precarious situation of MM Partners, a small real estate development firm whose business involves the construction, the design, and the sale of modern apartments in Brewerytown, of all places.

"Something we talk about a lot," says Jacob Roller, MM Partners' co-founder, "is that the neighborhood needs more exposure, and in a positive way. People may not know about Brewerytown, or they may have just heard its name in a negative way, and that's not really the case. But perception is reality. So you have to work on that."

And work on that he did. Along with his partner, David Waxman, Roller came up with the idea for BrewerytownLiving.com, a well-designed blog that advertises the free cultural events that Roller and his co-workers are organizing in Brewerytown. Recent events have included a Doggie Yappy Hour, during which dogs and their humans meet in a park for socialization and snacks. There are also jazz concerts, clothing swaps, art shows, and food festivals.

"We'd been doing a little bit of this on our own," says Roller. "So we said, 'Let's do it in a more comprehensive way, and in a more organized way.' And that led us to Brewerytown Living."

Roller, by the way, is insistent that Brewerytown Living isn't a mere marketing ploy. "We don't want to use (the website) to try and sell people a house," he adds. 'It's really all about community building, you know? Getting people together, and having a good time."

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Jacob Roller, MM Partners LLC

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Local bicycle entrepreneur Brian Hackford, refers to his third Keswick Cycle shop as "somewhat of a personal victory." Keswick is a high-end bicycle outpost with locations in both Glenside, Montgomery County, and Cherry Hill, N.J., and Hackford plans to cut the proverbial ribbon on his third retail space sometime this August, at 4040 Locust Street in University City--the former home of Strikes Bowling Lounge.

To hear Hackford himself tell the tale, the fact that he managed to secure the location at all is by far the most dramatic bit. University City and bicycle shops, it seems, have not always gone hand and hand.

"I've been trying to get on Penn's campus for seven years," he insists, In today's economic climate, of course, landlords aren't nearly as picky. (The 4,000-square-foot shop is being rented by Campus Apartments.) And it didn't hurt that Hackford's rental agent was himself a cycling enthusiast.

As for the Keswick Cycle retail philosophy, it tends to take bikes just a touch more seriously than your average cycle shop. Keswick sells and repairs bikes, of course, and all manner of biking gear and apparel is on offer. But you'll also find a 'fit studio' at the new shop, where pros and hobbyists alike can be properly fitted for an appropriately proportioned ride.

A grand opening celebration, Hackford says, will likely be planned for September, once school is back in session.

Source: Brian Hackford, Keswick Cycle
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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You may find it surprising to learn that Habitat for Humanity, one of the best known and most beloved charities in the country, operates a charity of its very own. Appropriately enough, it serves the general contractor community and the DIY home-repair crowd.

And while ReStore, as the business is called, isn't technically a charity in the strictest sense of the word, it's tough to come up with a better way to describe the place. But here's an honest effort: It's a cut-rate, bargain-basement retail shop, where all manner of donated and used home-repair supplies are on offer. It sells everything from door knobs to window panes to penny nails, as well as the pre-loved furniture you'll need in order to properly transform a rehabbed house into a livable home.

Until very recently, the ReStore existed only within the somewhat dim confines of the Habitat for Humanity's 19th Street warehouse in North Philly. Come July 23, however, the ReStore will relocate to a proper retail space at 2930 Jasper Street in Kensington.

"The most successful ReStores are about 18,000 square feet," says Gail Lankford, the store's director. (Habitat for Humanity operates 700 different ReStores across the country.) "We needed to find something that was affordable, and that was a warehouse space." The Kensington shop, she says, clocks in at about 19,000 square feet.

The William Penn Foundation, in fact, helped out in grand style with the new space's affordability, donating a total of $85,000 to the project. Which was certainly an appropriate gesture, given that 100 percent of the ReStore's proceeds are given directly to Habitat for Humanity, which in turns uses those funds to construct houses for the less fortunate.

Following the ReStore's July 23 "soft opening," a grand opening will happen on September 10, says Lankford, complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony, major sales, and prize giveaways.

Source: Gail Lankford, ReStore
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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There's certainly nothing new or unusual about major universities that seem to insatiably gobble up various plots of real estate surrounding their respective campuses. And while it may appear that Drexel, the country's 14th-largest private university, is no different, the reality of the school's most recent real estate acquisition may come as a surprise. That's because Drexel's latest $21.8 million land purchase--a 3.6 acre former public parking lot that sits just east of the school--promises to take the campus in a whole new direction, quite literally.

The thin but long track of land--sandwiched between JFK Boulevard to the south, and the 30th Street Station train tracks to the north--was purchased by the university with the intention of creating a new eastern gateway-style entrance to the Drexel campus, says Bob Francis, Drexel's head of university facilities.

The purchase certainly reflects Drexel's current mission of continuing to grow and expand. But as Francis explains, the strategic purchase was actually much more community-minded than it might have at first appeared.

"When (a school) grows," Francis says, "you don't just grow academics. And it turns out that the direction Drexel has traditionally gone, which is to the north, pressing up against the Powelton Village and Mantua communities, is probably not the way to go in the future, because we've put a lot of stress on those neighborhoods."

It was with exactly that sort of community-focused attitude in mind that the eastward-facing lot was purchased. And what's more, Drexel intends to rely heavily on community input during the year-long planning phase for the new eastern campus entrance.

The school's current plans for the land include developing a number of residential, retail, and mixed use spaces. "We plan to consult with all the partners who have an interest in this," adds Francis, and bring them and the community along with us."

Source: Bob Francis, Drexel University
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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It's probably safe to say that most of the regular Flying Kite readers among you are by now familiar with Philadelphia2035--the comprehensive plan to create a blueprint for the city's future development. But you're probably not yet familiar with the recent plan to do something relatively similar--albeit on a much smaller scale, and without a catchy name--in five different West Philly neighborhoods.

Early last week, the People's Emergency Center held a kick-off event to celebrate the upcoming year-long process, which is known simply as the Neighborhood Plan, and which will focus on the Belmont, Mantua, Mill Creek, Saunders Park, and West Powelton neighborhoods. "Make Your Mark," as the party was called, was organized as a way to give area residents a chance to do just that: West Philly locals, for instance, scribbled various suggestions for area development and community-growth facilitation on a giant banner. ("More affordable housing!" "Jobs!") According to the PEC's Kira Strong, the banner will be traveling to all the planning meetings and public events that the PEC plans to host over the course of the year.

As for the $100,000 that will actually fund the year-long planning process, it came from the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, whose mission involves improving the quality of life for those living in low-income areas.

And now? The real work of urban planning begins: There will be door-to-door resident surveys, Strong says, but also a listening booth where residents can leave audio comments and feedback for the planners. (Look for it at the Lancaster Avenue Jazz and Arts Festival on July 16.)

Once the year of planning is over, of course, a significantly larger chunk of funds will be needed to actually implement the plan. But in the meantime, says Strong, "We're really trying to engage residents and other stakeholders, to make sure this is an exciting planning process with some real energy."

Source: Kira Strong, People's Emergency Center CDC
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at least, those of us who care deeply about things like regional bicycle trails have been talking (and talking, and talking for years) about someday completing a trail -- or perhaps even a series of trails -- which connect one part of our region to another. And on June 23, as it happens, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the DVRPC joined forces here in Philadelphia to host the Active Transportation Summit, a day-long conference during which the ultimate goal of creating a regional trail network for the Delaware Valley was discussed and debated by a seriously impressive group of both local and out-of-town trail enthusiasts.

One of the main goals of the summit, says the Pennsylvania Environmental Council's Spencer Finch, was to "reinforce the partnerships" among the various agencies that have the power to make a regional trail network a reality. "The picture of the jurisdictions is so fragmented," Finch explains. "There's so many different state, federal, and county agencies just here in the metropolitan Philadelphia region, so completing a regional trail network is a challenge."

A number of guests who've successfully tackled that challenge elsewhere, however -- including the former Portland, Ore., Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator Mia Birk -- shared stories about how they managed to complete regional trail networks in their own section of the country.

The second major goal of the summit, Finch adds, was to celebrate and promote the good news that regional cyclists may not be aware of.

"There's over $76 million of funding already dedicated to construction of multiple trail segments around the region," he says. "In the next two years, you're going to start seeing groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings (for new regional trail segments) almost every month. You're going to start seeing the city and the region transformed before your eyes."

Source: Spencer Finch, Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Pop-up retail is a trend that doesn't seem to be losing any steam whatsoever, but recently, in a formerly vacant lot at the corner of 20th and Market streets, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) unveiled a temporary pop-up concept of its own: PHS is referring to it as a pop-up garden, and although it was a year in the making, the garden is already slated to close with a celebration on October 24, which is also this year's National Food Day.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of partners like the William Penn Foundation and Independence Blue Cross, the 32,000-square-foot garden has become an example of the reuse of urban green space at its finest. PHS hopes the garden will raise awareness of its City Harvest program, which grows fresh produce for neighborhoods that don't have much access to fresh vegetables, as Alan Jaffe of the PHS puts it.

In addition to providing locals with a serene environment in which to enjoy a quiet respite from city life, the new garden offers workshops on topics ranging from organic pest control to container gardening, as well as scientific programming by the Franklin Institute, outdoor fitness classes, and more. Visitors to the temporary garden will also have a final chance to experience "�colibrium," Temple University-Ambler's sustainable building and gardening exhibit that was created for the Philadelphia International Flower Show.

What's more, PHS has big plans for all those veggies grown in the new garden: They've partnered with six well-known local chefs of popular nearby restaurants, who are "going to be getting the vegetables and herbs from the garden and creating signature dishes with them," says Jaffe. Proceeds from those dishes will benefit the City Harvest program.

Open to visitors every Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 2 p.m., a complete listing of all pop-up garden happenings is available online. 

Source: Alan Jaffe, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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According to Ori Feibush, a local real estate entrepreneur and the founder of South Street's OCF Realty, the process of finding a house to buy in Philadelphia--or anywhere else in the country, for that matter--is exponentially harder and more complicated than it actually needs to be. Partially, says Feibush, that's due to the fact that for most prospective buyers these days, the process generally begins with a search on a website that is incredibly difficult to navigate. "I liken them to Craigslist," Feibush adds. "They're often used, but they generally just create frustration for the end-user."

As it happens, Feibush thinks he's come up with a viable solution: An animated real estate-listings website that he likens to "a SimCity map of Philadelphia, and one that really tells the story of Philadelphia."

While that may indeed sound like a decidedly odd concept, consider the details: The website's map will feature precise boundaries for the city's neighborhoods, which will discourage crafty real estate agents from referring to a Strawberry Mansion property, for instance, as being located in the Art Museum District. As for the listings themselves, says Feibush, they'll be limited to price, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms. "You don't need to have a thousand options," he insists.

And yet on the other hand, the city-specific real estate map will come complete with copious details in the form of content from Naked Philly, the real estate blog maintained by OCF. "We'll have certain bars highlighted, certain restaurants highlighted," says Feibush. "We're really just trying to simplify the process (of home-buying) in an almost fundamentally stupid kind of way."

Feibush also insists that the new website and its attendant map won't be used to give preference to his company's listings. The site, which will be located at http://nakedphilly.com/map, is scheduled to launch at the end of June.

Source: Ori Feibush, OCF Realty
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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In Center City Philadelphia, it wouldn't normally be much of a surprise to stumble upon a public bus shelter that had been modified--with graffiti, for instance--by someone other than a SEPTA employee. But visitors who passed by one particular bus shelter across from City Hall on June 14 were privy to a truly unusual spectacle: They had a front-row seat for the installation of the city's first green-roof bus shelter, which was designed and donated by a local green roof provider known as Roofmeadow.

The now-permanent green roof was installed "as sort of a small symbol of a larger effort in the city," says Roofmeadow's Jane Winkel, referring to Philly's Green City, Clean Waters plan. The plan is a series of municipal-led initiatives that are aiming to remove pollution from the city's creeks, rivers and urban landscape.

According to Winkel, the first goal of the bus shelter project is nothing more than pure education. The idea, she says, is to familiarize average citizens with green roof technology, which is quite a bit simpler than you'd probably figure: The modern aluminum design, for instance, is actually a prefab kit of parts that can be assembled to replace the roof of any standard bus shelter. What's more, in addition to creating something of a mini-environment for urban wildlife, the design also aids in the management of rain water--the roof actually limits the amount of pollution that would otherwise find its way into streams and rivers.

While the green roof installed on the bus shelter across from City Hall was Philadelphia's first, Roofmeadow plans to continue teaming up with the city to roll out approximately twenty more within the next year. "We were very happy to offer our services pro bono," adds Winkler, "and we will definitely remain involved in the installation of the others."

Source: Jane Winkel, Roofmeadow
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Even if you don't happen to be a skateboarding enthusiast, there's still a decent chance--assuming you've lived in Philly for any amount of time--that you're familiar with our city's legendary status among skateboarders worldwide. What you might not be aware of, however, is that a local nonprofit organization known as Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund (FPSF) is currently in the process of reviving and growing the skateboarding scene here, and in a very major way.

Near the end of May, FPSF, which is "dedicated to the advancement of skateboarding in the Greater Philadelphia region," according to a recent press release, made public an ambitious 31-page master plan for the future of Philadelphia's skatepark development.

The plan was created in partnership with the city's Parks and Recreation Department, and was completed by the Center City-based Friday Architects/Planners. According to FPSF's Claire Laver and Josh Nims, it's only the first phase of a study that will eventually see $11 million spent on the planning and construction of somewhere between 30 and 40 skateboarding spots throughout the city and the surrounding region.

"It's our goal to continue working on this, and to eventually create a plan that covers every corner of the city," says Laver. "But we have a lot of projects on our plate with this first phase."

The master plan's first phase focuses exclusively on sites in the west and southwest regions of the city, and according to Nims, one of the first projects involves the skatepark at McCreesh Playground, which will see further development this summer. The Miles Mack Playground is also mentioned in the master plan, as is the Rose Playground in Overbrook.

In the meantime, FPSF is sponsoring the international Go Skateboarding Day on June 21; among other area skate spots, both Miles Mack and McCreesh will host events.

Source: Claire Laver and Josh Nims, Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Located in Bucks County's Doylestown for nearly a century now, the Mercer Museum is so highly regarded as a cultural and historic institution that it was registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1985. For decades, schoolchildren, amateur anthropologists and tourists from throughout the Philadelphia area and beyond have studied the many thousands of handmade tools and cultural artifacts on display there--all of them objects that were created prior to the Industrial Revolution.

But because the museum has literally run out of space, and has no room for traveling exhibits, the Mercer has seemingly always had the unfortunate reputation of being the sort of place visitors experience only once in a lifetime.

"A lot of people would say, 'Oh, I visited you in fourth grade, and I haven't been back since,'" says Gayle Shupack, a museum spokesperson. "So we really needed to give people a reason to come back again and again, to visit us," she adds.

That reason, it turns out, is a new $12.5 million, 13,000-square-foot wing that is being unveiled to the museum-going public on June 18. And although a series of traveling exhibitions have already been booked to appear in the new addition, the wing's inaugural show will actually be a rare exhibit featuring items from the Mercer's own 40,000-piece collection. Some of them have never before been publicly shown.

The new wing is also a green-friendly space. Recycled blue jeans were used as insulation, for instance, and the restrooms feature water-conserving fixtures. "It was our chance to come up to the 21st century," Shupack says.

A 1,000-square-foot education space known as the Learning Center will also be located in the new wing, and the changing exhibition gallery clocks in at 3,500 square feet. During the wing's opening day, the first 100 visitors to the museum, says Shupack, will be admitted free-of-charge.

Source: Gayle Shupack, Mercer Museum
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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There's certainly nothing unusual about a thrift store that also operates as a charitable organization. The second-hand shops of St. Vincent de Paul, Goodwill and the Salvation Army, for instance, all donate large chunks of their profits to various causes, including homelessness and hunger-battling initiatives.

But here in Philadelphia, an unusually well-curated and partly volunteer-run shop know as Philly AIDS Thrift has been doing business at 514 Bainbridge Street for six years now. And although it looks and feels more like a trendy vintage clothing shop than a dusty thrift store, Philly AIDS Thrift nevertheless donates the vast majority of the money it generates--about $8,000 a month--to the AIDS Fund, "which then gets distributed to about 30 AIDS organizations in Philly," explains Christina Kallas-Saritsoglou, one of the store's co-founders.

Which is all well and good, says Kallas-Saritsoglou. But throughout its six year history, Philly AIDS Thrift has had to deal with one slightly inconvenient hassle: The processing of its donated clothing has always had to take place in a second location across the street, where electronics are also sold. For convenience sake, the staff has always wanted to join the two locations, and now, with a new and slightly expanded location right around the corner at 710 South 5th Street, they've finally managed to consolidate their operations.

"The move happened," says Kallas-Saritsoglou, "because we hit the limit of what we could fit in here, because people are just really, really kind. We just have so many donations that we thought it would be best to try to find a new space."

That new space, she explains, which is already open, features 10,000 square feet of selling space, and a full three floors. The top floor will be dedicated to the processing of clothing donations, and a grand opening is scheduled for July 15-17.
 
Source: Christina Kallas-Saritsoglou, Philly AIDS Thrift
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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When it comes to historic Philadelphia museums that take seriously their mission of historical accuracy and preservation, perhaps none is quite as accomplished as the Wagner Free Institute of Science, a self-described Victorian natural science and history museum that has been serving the city in North Philadelphia, not far from Temple University, since 1855.

On May 17, for instance, the museum became the recipient of three separate prestigious awards, one of which was the result of a restoration project that managed to update the museum's century-old heating system without sacrificing the historic or the aesthetic integrity of the building.

Ironically, the award--a 2011 Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia--was essentially the result of a 2009 boiler room fire that destroyed the Wagner's ancient Broomell Vapor heating system. Most modern museums, of course, would have simply updated the ruined system, which was installed in 1907, with something new and advanced. But at the quirky Wagner Free Institute, where "little has changed but the century," according to a blurb on its website, "modern" is very rarely equated with "better." And so a series of "green design principles and sustainable practices" were instituted instead, according to a press release. And thanks in large part to an engineering firm known as the Landmark Facilities Group, the Broomell Vapor was saved.

Coincidentally, the Wagner now has another renovation coming its way, thanks to recent funding from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage's Heritage Philadelphia program. Those funds will be used to update the museum's aged electrical system, and to install new lighting. The Wagner was also recently recognized for the strength of its science programming by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and by City Council through its Councilman David Cohen Award.

Source: Abby Sullivan, Wagner Free Institute of Science
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) has been working for quite some time now on what it's referring to as a "master plan" for the future of development along a six-mile stretch of the Central Delaware Riverfront, from Oregon to Allegheny avenues.

And now -- finally, after months of waiting -- the public is being invited to experience the final presentation of the plan at 6:30 p.m. on June 13, in the Pavilion at Festival Pier. "What we're going to be showing," says DRWC president Tom Corcoran, "is a plan that makes parcel-by-parcel recommendations as to what our consultants believe would be the best use of all that land."

Along with comments by Mayor Nutter and Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Alan Greenberger, a 45-minute Power Point presentation will be revealing a host of hugely exciting potential plans for the riverfront, including a wetlands park with marshes and aquatic life in South Philly, somewhere between Mifflin Street and Washington Avenue. Other possibilities include an aquatic theme park at Penn's Landing, as well as a longer-term plan to complete a deck over I-95 from Front Street to the waterfront, in between Walnut and Chestnut streets.

"Part of what will make this plan achievable," says Corcoran," is that it's had a tremendous amount of citizen input, and it's not being done by a group of planners working in a vacuum."

This presentation, by the way, will be the last chance for the public to provide feedback. So in other words, if you have any interest whatsoever in the development that will soon be taking place along the Delaware -- and especially if you'd like your voice to be heard -- this is an event you really shouldn't miss.

Source: Tom Corcoran, Delaware River Waterfront Corporation
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Not long after some members of the creative class in Philadelphia began referring to the city as the sixth borough of New York, a crackerjack New York real estate developer by the name of Dawanna Williams decided to enter the market here. If her name sounds familiar, that may be because her inaugural Philadelphia project, a seven-story low-rise condo building in Northern Liberties known as L'eau (pronounced "low"), was so unusually high-profile.

The rapper Jay-Z was the project's solitary financer, but as the Cityspace agent Michael Garden explains, "It hit the market right when everything was tanking." And although some of the 1,400-square-foot 2BR/2BA units came on the market in the $600,000 range, says Garden, "everyone referred to the building as 'Lou.' Which is not the French word you want on your new building!" he adds, with a laugh.

Once the market slowly began to right itself, however, Williams and Jay-Z chose to give NoLibs real estate another shot. They changed the name of their $8 million building, which sits at 603 N. American St., and which now has FHA financing, to the Lighthaus. They made a few minor upgrades, including a concierge desk in the lobby. And this time, they seem to be succeeding, thanks in large part to the price-downgrade: The 24 units -- each with soaring floor-to-ceiling windows that reveal either the city or the Delaware River--are now listed between $377,000 and $488,000. Which isn't an unreasonable price, especially considering that Erdy McHenry--the same group responsible for the nearby Piazza at Schmidts--was the building's architect.

The Lighthaus, says Garden, "makes a statement in terms of contemporary architecture" in the city. "We're starting to turn towards an architectural challenge (in Philadelphia)," Garden adds. "We should encourage that."

Source: Michael Garden, Cityspace
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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