Entrepreneurship : Development News

If you should find yourself in a conversation about development with someone involved in the urban real estate industry, it's fairly safe to assume that the topic of agriculture won't carry much weight. But out in the rural expanse of Chester County, where farming is still an active way of life, the situation is actually quite complicated. "You often hear that buying a farm is really difficult," says Sue Milshaw, of the Chester County Economic Development Council. "And it is," she adds. "But it is possible."

Milshaw should certainly know, especially since it was her work, and that of her colleagues, that recently led to the Council being presented with an award from the state's Department of Agriculture. The award recognized the council's dedication to the agriculture industry, and especially its ability to secure loans for farmers interested in developing.

The Chester County Cheese Artisans, for instance, is a group that recently developed property with the help of the Council; they renovated a barn that's now used for cheese processing and aging, as well as goat-milking.

The Council also works to help finance people buying their first farm. And as Milshaw explains, some of the economic development programs that are now open to the farming industry--thanks to the CCEDC's work--are now being used by the area's Amish community as well.

"I think there was a mindset for a long time that agriculture was a business that could take care of itself," says Milshaw, when asked why so many financing programs have long been closed to would-be farmers. "And that's in spite of the fact that in a county like Chester or Lancaster or Berks, agriculture is a significant part of the economic picture there."

Source: Sue Milshaw, Chester County Economic Development Council
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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One of the most consistently exciting aspects of the Philadelphia's current dining scene is its propensity to never slow down or grow stale. Here's our regularly occurring rundown of restaurant opening buzz:

Native Philadelphia chef Joshua Lawler, along with his wife, Colleen Lawler, will be debuting what will certainly be one of the city's most talked about new farm-to-table restaurants, The Farm and Fisherman, at 1120 Pine Street. Most recently the chef de cuisine for Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York State, Lawler's first solo venture will be sustainably sourced, as he plans to develop relationships with area farmers and New Jersey fisherman.

Other new area cafes and eateries worth investigating include Plenty, a Tim McGinnis-helmed prepared-foods deli that will feature cold cuts and both lunch and dinner options to-go. It's scheduled to open Feb. 1 on the ever-evolving East Passyunk strip.

Meanwhile, the recently opened Elixr Coffee, in Center City, is the newest entrant to Philly's community of coffee shops that take the sourcing and preparation of espresso beans incredibly seriously. Elixr's drop-dead gorgeous interior design makes a visit worthwhile all by itself, as does the PT's Coffee and Marathon Grill sandwiches currently on offer.

Source: Profile Public Relations
Writer: Dan Eldridge

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighborhood? Please send your Development News tips here.

It can often be difficult for responsible consumers to think of retail chains as anything other than evil, monolithic entities. But a new annual competition sponsored in part by the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) is proving that some chain retailers are in fact among the most responsible members of their respective communities. And although a wide range of chains throughout the country were nominated for the contest, known as Best Chain on Main, a number of Philadelphia-based companies ended up practically sweeping the awards.

The purpose of the competition was to recognize those chains whose very presence assists commercial revitalization. As LISC MetroEdge Director Jake Cowan points out, "If you want to bring new business into a neighborhood, that starts with the storefronts themselves looking good, and looking healthy." According to Larisa Ortiz, a commercial district planner who helped organize the contest, the winners were also partially chosen "based on their investment in underserved urban markets."

Indeed, the Philadelphia-based apparel company Villa, which took home this year's top prize, is probably best known among retail insiders for its incredibly strong commitment to the low- and moderate-income communities where its 26 stores are located. "One of the reasons (Villa) won, in fact, is that they partner with the local community development corporations," says Cowan. "They hire almost exclusively from the community, and they sponsor things like clean-up days."

Also representing Philadelphia was the contest's third place winner, The Fresh Grocer, and Mugshots Coffee House and Cafe, which received an honorable mention.

"Chains have a large presence on our corridors, and (companies with) more than one store can have a greater impact in terms of helping with commercial revitalization," explains Cowan, when asked why the contest focused exclusively on chains. "The goal was to lift up the chains that are doing good work."

Source: Jake Cowan, LISC MetroEdge
Writer: Dan Eldridge

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighborhood? Please send your Development News tips here.

You've got to give attorney David Orphanides a lot of credit. He's come up with an alternative to "artisanal," one of the more awkward-sounding terms in the English language. Jettisoning the word, but not the concept, Orphanides uses the more classic "crafted" when describing the four tenets that make up the philosophy of Fairmount's soon-to-open Fare restaurant, which also relies on local, organic and sustainable practices.

Orphanides eats organic and shops sustainably at home, so it makes total sense, he says, that Fare mirrors that lifestyle. "It's second nature for us. We couldn't see doing it any other way." Also on board are Savvas Navrosidis, who owns Fairmount Pizza, and attorney Andy Siegel.

Fare, which opens to the public in "early spring," eschews heavy creams and sauces for "food that's still very satisfying and filling." The projected 85-seat bar and restaurant located at 2028 Fairmount Avenue, across from Eastern State Penitentiary, is fit out with completely green, locally sourced furnishings. The black walnut bar comes from Pennsylvania trees. Wine, beer, and liquor served on that lovely expanse of local wood aims to be "biodynamic and organic, from local vineyards and distilleries," according to Orphanides.

Fare's menu evolved from an original concept of smaller snacks to include dishes for all appetites. Small plates and snacks range in price from $2-$8; salads are $6-$9, and main dishes range from $11-$18. Fare "started out more as a place for people to have a drink and socialize, more of a lounge" for Fairmount locals, but when chef Tim Bellew signed on, the menu expanded. Bellew's previous engagements include Fire in Cherry Hill, Black Eyed Susan in Long Beach Island, and MANNA catering in New York.

Source: David Orphanides, Fare Restaurant
Writer: Sue Spolan

While it's true that the financial travails of the Tasty Baking Company have been hogging the local financial headlines this past week, there's also a fair bit of good news brewing at the Navy Yard in South Philly. During the first week of January, the Liberty Property Trust development company along with Synterra Partners, a small minority-owned landscaping firm, broke ground on two new flex buildings located just north of the two-year-old Tasty Baking factory. And there's a good chance that a third flex building will eventually be added to the mix. Together, the new buildings and the factory will comprise a 40 acre mini-campus known as the Navy Yard Commerce Center.

The project signifies not only good things for the Navy Yard's commercial real estate situation, but also a financial sea change for Liberty, which hadn't broken ground on a previous project since May 2009. And as for whether or not the two new flex buildings will prove to be successful enterprises, that's practically a given, according to Brian Cohen, Liberty Property Trust's VP of Development & Leasing. "Demand has been extremely robust, especially since the ground-breaking," he says. "And we're very hopeful that we'll be able to make more lease announcements in the coming months."

Potentially interested companies will certainly want to act soon, however, as a whopping 21 percent of the space has already been leased by The Fretz Corp., a wholesaler of high-end kitchen appliances that plans to use part of their new space for manufacturing.

"This is what we hope is the start of the flex product within the city of Philadelphia," says Cohen. "We hope it'll help attract and retain those growing companies that otherwise--for lab space or light manufacturing or assembly--needed to go to the suburbs to find the right type of real estate."

Source: Brian Cohen, Liberty Property Trust
Writer: Dan Eldridge

For quite some time now, hardcore coffee lovers living in certain reaches of South Philly have had to suffer the indignity of traveling slightly outside the neighborhood--to Bodhi Coffee, for instance, or to Ultimo Coffee or Spruce Street Espresso--to score a high-quality, fair trade Americano. But that all changed about three weeks ago, when Shot Tower Coffee opened for business inside a beautifully refurbished space near the corner of South 6th and Christian streets.

The shop's two owners, Mariel Freeman and Matthew Derago, met while working at Rojo's Roastery, a small batch artisan coffee roaster located in Lambertville, N.J. "And after working there, we kind of had an idea about what we wanted in a cafe," says Derago, a trained biologist who previously co-owned the South Street-area sneaker and street-wear shop Afficial.

Without a doubt, Shot Tower is a coffee obsessive's paradise. (Portland's Stumptown Coffee Roasters, for instance, is currently its main supplier.) And as Freeman is quick to point out, the ethical considerations that go into the shop's purchasing decisions extended to its architecture, as well. "Everything is recycled and reused," she says. "Everything."

Which is pretty much true: The backsplash tiles came from a 1920s Trenton subway station. The white pine holding up the front counter is recycled barn wood from Lancaster. And the table frames were snatched up from the old Tastykake factory.

"Our coffee is mostly certified direct trade," says Freeman, when asked to describe what makes her cafe special. "It's all about encouraging sustainability and transparency, on every step of the path that coffee makes, from seed to cup."

Source: Mariel Freeman and Matthew Derago, Shot Tower Coffee
Writer: Dan Eldridge

Photo Courtesy of Drew Lazor

It's unlikely that anyone who spent a significant amount of time hanging around the South Street commercial corridor of the 1970s will have forgotten about Paper Moon, which served as both an indoor newsstand and a countercultural institution during its heyday. While news of the shop's Thanksgiving weekend reopening at 520 South 4th Street by its original owner, Bill Curry, came as a welcome surprise to the shop's former customers, it has also been considered a touch curious, what with the unfortunate economic state of the print publishing world today (not to mention that of the retail industry in general).

"This all came about because we had a 40th reunion of the people that had the [South Street] Renaissance," explains Curry, who also owns the nearby Copabanana restaurant, referring to the economic revival of the area that took place during the late 1960s and early 70s.

At the reunion, which happened at Isaiah Zagar's Magic Gardens last October, someone suggested to Curry that he reopen the old shop. And since Curry is currently in the process of transferring the management of Copabanana to his nephew, he decided to give it a go.

As Curry points out, though, "magazines are only about 20 percent of my business." Paper Moon also stocks obscure greeting cards, a selection of high-end candies and snacks, and a number of cookbooks and New York Times-bestsellers that can even be rented, library-style, for $3 a week.

Curry has a wide range of future plans for the shop, including wireless Internet access and printing capabilities. "I'm still feeling my way (in terms of) how the store will evolve," he says. "But I know it has to be a 21st-century version of what I did in the '70s and '80s."

Source: Bill Curry, Paper Moon
Writer: Dan Eldridge

When the Obama administration announced the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act two years ago, Philadelphia Housing Authority General Manager of Community Development and Design Michael Johns set to work getting applications in for as many projects as he could. From fixing blight in Mill Creek to the construction of the Mantua Square development in West Philadelphia, many of PHA's wishes have since been answered. This week, PHA cut the ribbon on 340 rehabbed housing units scattered across the city. The development is PHA's largest stimulus-funded project to date and provides homes for people once living in shelters or on the street.

"PHA has over 1000 vacant properties so in terms of that inventory, this is a significant step forward in addressing our scattered sites portfolio," says Johns. "In addition to that, this project makes a statement to the city and to the communities that we are in that we are committed to addressing their concerns about public housing."

Not only were the homes substantially rehabbed, 71 of the homes were made handicap-accessible, complete with ramped entrances and chair-lifts, allowing handicapped residents the opportunity to live on their own. In accordance with the Stimulus funding they received, PHA brought all homes to greater energy efficiency through sustainable improvements including improved insulation, energy efficient air and water heaters, doors, windows and Energy Star appliances and fixtures.

"In these older homes, energy is always a concern and we were ready to meet the energy criteria outlined in the stimulus funding," says Johns. "We worked with caulking, insulation, and weather stripping to seal those leaks and reduce the amount of energy lost in these new units."

Source: Michael Johns, Philadelphia Housing Authority
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

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

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

As a sustainable homes designer, G8 CEO Dor Berkovitz is no stranger to green living. Open floor plans, prefabricated materials and affordable simplicity have always been a part of the G8 philosophy. This month, G8 takes this commitment one step further with two additions to the company resume.

On October 22, Berkovitz announced the launch of G8 Solar, a service his home buying clients had long been clamoring for. Since then, he launched G8-Solar.com and has gotten a number of requests. The company began its first solar photovoltaic install this week, but making solar affordable for his already-frugal clients (average G8 home costs $300,000) has been a challenge.

"Even with the incentives, you still have to pay $20,000-$30,000  for solar but with PECO raising their rates, people are going to start seeing the value of this in the long run," says Berkovitz. "Today, most people's equity is so limited so we are trying to come up with creative ideas to get more affordable prices for people who want to put solar on the roof."

G8's newest project, located at 2300 Amber Street in Fishtown, is the first home in Philadelphia made entirely of recycled shipping containers. Working with a company from New York that specializes in shipping container homes, G8 is retrofitting shipping containers to act as the frame for this experimental single-family home. The three-level structure will feature a 3kW solar array and water system, a garage and a backyard. It begins construction this month.

"The shipping business is so bad today, you can go on the Turnpike and see shipping containers rusting at the side of the road," says Berkovitz. "We figured we could use them like we would with a wooden frame, it will last for a long time and they are cheap. And we are recycling materials, which is part of our mission."

Source: Dor Berkovitz, G8
Writer: John Steele

For months you couldn't miss it. With its 40-foot mahogany fa�ade stretching across two former retail spaces in Northern Liberties' Piazza at Schmidts, Chef Shola Olunloyo's forthcoming Speck Food and Wine has had the foodie blogs buzzing since January. Once rumored to be opening in Washington Square, Olunloyo announced in August that the Piazza would be the place. Now, with construction near completion, only the health inspection remains for this "new American" modernist palace. Management anticipates a mid-December opening.

"The art of Speck is the food and the people so it is very elegant and understated," says Speck's Chef de Cuisine Akiko Moorman. "There is a lot of woodwork. We have been working with these local carpenters, Papajohn Woodworking. They are incredibly talented. It is absolutely stunning."

Philly food aficionados may know Olunloyo for his oft-referenced StudioKitchen blog and his members-only StudioKitchen program where the chef cooks a prix fixe menu for a select group in a studio--Moorman calls it his laboratory--down the hall from his home. StudioKitchen became a safe environment to try out new dishes on friends. It was here that many Speck dishes were born. This tradition continues at Speck with the Chef's tasting table, an eight-person, reservation-only elevated table allowing guests to watch their food being prepared. The tasting table builds on StudioKitchen's concept of the kitchen staff "cooking for you" as opposed to you choosing something from a menu. This nine-course experience is already taking reservations. With construction complete, reservations for the rest of the restaurant will begin as soon as final inspection is completed. The staff is as anxious as Philadelphia's foodie community to bring this long-awaited establishment to the Piazza.

"If I could personally check the floors myself, I would," says Moorman. "Shola has completely taken over this project. He is in there now with a diamond bit drilling holes in the ceramic tile to put up the shelves in the kitchen. Everything we can do ourselves, we have been to move this project forward."

Source: Akiko Moorman, Speck Food and Wine
Writer: John Steele

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighborhood? Please send your development news tips here.

When Greensaw Design And Build founder Brendan Jones was building a kitchen backsplash a few months ago, he tried to sell a client on using old wood and tile scraps set into the wall. It sounded a little out there, but with years of professional experience under his belt, Jones was confident he could make it beautiful. The client wasn't so sure. So he did what any craftsman would: he made it anyway in his own kitchen.

This week, Jones and his team unveil 1205 S. 8th Street, a rehabbed South Philly rowhome where the reclaimed materials designers installed innovations either too risky for clients to take a chance on or with materials leftover from a job. Old radiators, freezer doors, and molding can all become something new in what has become the Greensaw show home.

"We had a countertop that we installed for a client and it was all reclaimed wood but for some of the wood, the moisture content was too high and the countertop ended up warping so we had to replace that but that wood became doors for my house," says Jones. "It's an opportunity to reuse material that has already been reused."

Founded in 2006, Greensaw started as a salvage company, installing doors and designing bathrooms using reclaimed tile. After building a complete house from discarded concrete, baseboard wood and sconces restored in his Northern Liberties woodshop, Jones set to work on the design innovations that would become 1205 S. 8th Street. He hopes the home's unveiling on Nov. 4 will show all those skittish clients the power of reclaimed materials.

"The house is for sale but that is really an aside," says Jones. "We are really trying to use it as an example of the slow-build philosophy, which has a lot of legs to it. The idea is to make Philadelphia the center for reclaimed materials because there is just so much here."

Source: Brendan Jones, Greensaw Design And Build
Writer: John Steele

In certain circles, hybrid cars are cool. But among most car enthusiasts and auto mechanics, saving the planet takes a backseat to speed, torque and good, old-fashioned muscle. Al Rivera wants to change all that as he opens H3 Hybrids this week. The garage at 1221 Frankford Ave. in Northern Liberties will be the first non-dealer hybrid garage in Philadelphia and will carry a small inventory of used hybrids. With a background in engineering, Rivera says he began researching the technology when his wife bought a hybrid and became fascinated. He says the cars for sale will display innovations in hybrid technology that you won't find at your local Toyota dealer.

"I only have space for about five cars on the lot so I am going to have one or two conventional ones," says Rivera. "But I'd like to showcase a car with a 100-mile-per-gallon conversion, with a plug that plugs into your house with any extension cord."

The space was run as a garage and forklift repair shop with few customers in the past, so Rivera had the neighborhood on his side and, now that he has passed the Zoning Board, he hopes to show his friends and neighbors that hybrids can be just as appealing to motorheads as tree-huggers.

"If you are stuck on the Schuylkill or in city traffic for two hours, you are only getting two to three miles per gallon," says Rivera. "But with a hybrid, we can get you 40-50 miles per gallon, no matter what the traffic looks like. And when you are driving in a city, a gas motor is very inefficient."

Source: Al Rivera, H3 Hybrids
Writer: John Steele