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Why Indy Hall and Postgreen are bringing cohousing to Philadelphia

The concept of cohousing--a collaborative style of living in which a number of different families participate in each others' lives, and may even bunk underneath the same roof--certainly isn't anything new. The idea originated in Denmark, and today, in some of the more liberal corners of the U.S., cohousing is practically considered mainstream. There are websites, annual conferences, and even cross-country tours promoting the lifestyle.

And yet in a hardscrabble city like Philadelphia, cohousing is just about as edgy as it gets. So it makes sense that one of Philly's edgiest home designers, Postgreen Homes, has announced plans to build a six-unit cohousing space in Kensington. And while each of the units will have its own kitchen and living area, large common areas--including a commercial kitchen, a dining room, and a roof deck--will be shared.

Postgreen is joining forces in the venture with the team from Independents Hall, the Old City coworking space. Indy Hall co-founder Alex Hillman says that he and his business partner, Geoff DiMasi, have long talked about the idea of "reinventing some other elements of life" in the same way they reinvented their work lives after Indy Hall was opened. Those very conversations, in fact, eventually led to the idea of creating a cohousing village. But as Hillman is quick to point out, "Cohousing is more than just providing common areas for renters. The cool thing about it," he says, "is that the communities are designed by the members of the communities."

Currently, Hillman and his team are searching hard for those members, as a fairly steep amount of money needs to be raised by June in order to secure the preferred plot of land. To learn more about joining the community, visit village.indyhall.org.

Source: Alex Hillman, Independents Hall
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Roberto Clemente Playground getting much needed overhaul

When Sara Hirschler was driving around Spring Garden a few years back on a house-hunting mission, it was her real estate agent who pointed out the embarrassing eyesore that was Roberto Clemente Park, at 19th and Wallace streets. "He was like, 'Don't look at this park--it's not a good place!'" Hirschler recalls. And at the time, that was certainly an accurate assessment. Roberto Clemente Park has long been seen as a hotbed of illicit drug and gang activity, regardless of the fact that much of the surrounding community is relatively upscale.

Hirschler nevertheless ended up purchasing a condo around the corner from the park, and she soon came to know Roberto Clemente as "this really amazing, central spot in the neighborhood," she says. "I definitely saw it as an opportunity, where I could have a place to get to know my neighbors."

At first, Hirschler organized a series of kickball games in the park, but they soon evolved into something bigger and better. "I went through the park," she says, "and created an action plan of all the needs the park had--basic things, like painting the playground equipment, and the field needing some grass."

Along with Justino Navarro, a Spring Garden CDC board member, Hirschler also launched Friends of Clemente, which has been working to revitalize the park since 2008. (The group is largely funded by donations.) The organization's latest initiative involves a complete overhaul of the park, which should be finished by the end of May. A fence that wraps around the park's field is also being painted, and on May 14 the group will be hosting the second installment of Clemente Fest, a sort of neighborhood get-together featuring food, music, and a handball tournament.

"It's such a beautiful neighborhood," Hirschler adds. "And (Clemente Fest) is a great opportunity to start to get to know everybody, and to really feel like a community."

Source: Sara Hirschler, Friends of Clemente
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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At long last, SEPTA's renovation of historic Allen Lane station is nearly complete

Regularly maintaining the entire network of SEPTA's regional rail stations is certainly no simple task. It's also far from affordable, and with a total of 280 separate stations, there's nearly always some sort of renovation happening somewhere in the system. But there's little doubt that the Allen Lane Station, which is located on SEPTA's Chestnut Hill West Line in Mount Airy, has been the cause of one of the biggest ongoing frustrations for the public transportation agency. SEPTA officials spent nearly 10 long years in the planning phase of the station's upgrade, which didn't officially get under way until early 2009. And yet according to SEPTA officials, the $8.1 million project is finally nearing its end.

Once renovations are finished at the end of May, this registered historic site--which was designed by the prominent architect Frank Furness in the 19th century--will be nothing less than a gleaming SEPTA showpiece; a brag-worthy destination, even, for a public agency that has drawn its share of consternation in recent years.

That's partially due to the fact that the station, according to SEPTA's Wendy Green-Harvey, "was renovated not only because it was in a state of disrepair, but also to make the station fully ADA-compliant." An ADA-accessible path, for instance, along with wheelchair ramps leading directly to train platforms, has been constructed. A new audio-visual PA system has been installed. And passenger amenities, such as benches and shelters, have been improved. As Green-Harvey explains, there are just a few minor items that still need to be completed, such as landscaping, painting, and installing handrails.

So by the time spring weather gets around to showing itself in Philly, SEPTA's Chestnut Hill West Line riders, at least, will have something clean and new to look forward to: an historically significant rail station that is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

Source: Wendy Green-Harvey and Heather Redfern, SEPTA
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Rutgers-Camden to build city's first new student housing complex in over 20 years

If the announcement had been made in just about any other university town in the nation, the news probably wouldn't have raised more than an eyebrow or two. But regardless of the fact that a branch campus of Rutgers University resides there, Camden, N.J., is certainly not thought of as a university town. On the contrary, this struggling urban area located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia has been consistently ranked as one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country.

And that's essentially why the latest announcement from Rutgers-Camden was so surprising: On Feb. 8, the school's Board of Governors approved the construction of a 12-story, $55 million facility where 300 graduate students will be housed. The 161,653-square-foot building will be home to 102 separate units, many of which will be three- and four-bedroom apartments. Roughly 7,000 square feet of retail space will exist on the ground floor of the building, which will be fully owned by Rutgers. This will be the first student housing built on the Camden campus since 1989, when the Rutgers-Camden Tower was constructed specifically for undergrads.

According to Rutgers-Camden publicist Mike Sepanic, the project was a direct result of the campus' increasing enrollment numbers; 6,337 students enrolled during the fall 2010 semester, a record high for the school, where the majority of students live off-campus. And as the school's chancellor, Wendell Pritchett, explains, "These new housing facilities will allow New Jersey to retain some of its brightest graduate students, while attracting other students to our state, where they will be more likely to remain and contribute to our economy upon earning their degrees."

The building, which will be constructed on the 300 block of Cooper Street, and which is being designed by Northern Liberties-based Erdy McHenry Architecture LLC, is scheduled to be occupancy-ready by August, 2012.

Source: Mike Sepanic, Rutgers-Camden University
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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High-rise down, LEED-certified up: PHA remakes North Philly's Norris Apartments

The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) has most certainly had its fair share of self-imposed problems and struggles recently. March 25, however, was an especially positive and exciting day for the organization, thanks largely to the implosion-by-wrecking ball of a high-rise at North Philadelphia's Norris Apartments, a public-housing facility that is now in the process of being fully replaced with a LEED-certified housing complex.

Located just outside Temple University's campus in North Philadelphia, the Norris Apartments were constructed in the 1950s, and as one area resident rightly commented during a video that was posted on Philly.com, "That building's been there too long. It looks like it's gonna fall anyway!"

Indeed. And according to the stunning architectural renderings produced by Blackney Hayes, the Center City East firm responsible for building the complex that will replace the high-rise, the new Norris Apartments will be quite unlike anything else in the immediate area. The development's 51 units, for instance--a mixture of two-story and three-story walkups and townhomes--will be arranged in the shape of a square. A small pocket park will sit in the center of the development, and with the help of a new Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) pilot program, the park will also be specially designed to keep excess rainwater from entering the city's sewer system.

What's more, the new units will come complete with all the trappings of green development: low-flow plumbing, Energy Star appliances and windows, and solar roof panels, to mention just a few. These apartments are modern, sustainable and affordable, says Michael Kelly, the PHA's Administrative Receiver. "That makes it a win-win for the residents and the environment."

The new Norris Apartments are scheduled to be complete by spring 2012, at which point the PHA will consider the feasibility of constructing more new units on or near the site.

Source: Philadelphia Housing Authority
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Major improvements coming to Manayunk's Venice Island Rec Center

Although it was once an economically booming section of Philadelphia's Manayunk neighborhood, the thin strip of land known as Venice Island, which sits between the Manayunk Canal and the Schuylkill River, is today something of a desolate place. And yet according to representatives from the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) and the Manayunk Development Corporation (MDC), things are about to change on Venice Island, thanks to a $45 million improvement project that is being paid for by the PWD, and that will transform the now-crumbling Venice Island Recreation Center into a place where creativity, the arts, and good old fashioned child's play will be taken very seriously.

According to Kay Sykora of Destination Schuylkill River, the project to improve and partially remake the recreation center came about due to the fact that "the Water Department is (federally) mandated to rectify a situation which currently allows sewage to get dumped into the river. So they're building a tank." But as Sykora explains, "the community wasn't wildly enthusiastic about having a (sewage) tank," and so the two organizations began discussing ways in which the PWD could contribute to the community. A vastly improved recreation center was the compromise they settled on.

A 250-seat performing arts theater will likely be the jewel of the island's new recreation center, which will also house a multi-purpose recreation building where community meetings and after-school events for children will be held. The area will also house athletic fields; a kid's spray pool; small stations that will educate visitors about rainwater recycling; an all-green pumping station; and a 25,000-square-foot park that's being designed by the Manayunk-based Andropogon, an ecological landscape architecture firm. "All of this," says Sykora, "because we'll have a tank."

The project is expected to break ground this July.

Source: Kay Sykora, Destination Schuylkill River
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Two new commercial developments coming to Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy

"If you were to walk down Germantown Avenue between Mt. Pleasant Street and Allens Lane, you'll see a thriving downtown area," says Anuj Gupta, the executive director of Mt. Airy USA, a community development organization. Gupta was hired to lead the group last November, and as he explains it, one of his major goals is to capture the explosive growth taking place along Germantown Avenue's northern stretch ("that energy, that momentum," he says), and to push it further south.

The process of creating new commercial life, of course, is no small feat. But Gupta and his colleagues recently learned that they've been given a considerable head start in the form of a Community Development Block Grant. Mt. Airy USA was awarded $249,600, all of which has been earmarked for a city-sponsored project known as the Mixed-Use Development Pilot Program. The funds will be used to rehabilitate two small and dilapidated Germantown Avenue buildings--one on the 6500 block and another on the 6600 block--into commercial spaces with affordable apartments on top.

Gupta's hope is that by properly repairing and then leasing the two spaces, which are both located just south of the booming strip in Mt. Airy, community revitalization will continue its forward march south along the avenue. And while he does have other neighborhood-improvement plans in place--talks are underway to start an outdoor summer movie series, for instance--Gupta ultimately hopes the upcoming projects will help "ignite the next resurgence of Germantown Avenue" by enticing private investors to seriously consider the underutilized and less trendy stretches of the street.

"Small business owners are climbing on top of one another to try and get in there," Gupta says, referring to the stretch of the avenue between Mt. Pleasant Street and Allens Lane. "And we want to try and get to the same tipping point further south."

Source: Anuj Gupta, Mt. Airy USA
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Fabric Horse relocates to a newly spruced-up East Passyunk Ave.

There's no doubt that South Philadelphia's East Passyunk Avenue commercial corridor--not to mention the various residential communities surrounding it--has grown, changed and become considerably gentrified over the past few years. And along with that growth and change, of course, comes a litany of fairly standard urban issues, such as the litter that seems to spout along the avenue at the conclusion of each weekend.

Thankfully, a new community group--Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation--has sprouted in the area as well. Along with various neighborhood greening initiatives, its duties also include renovating and maintaining both commercial and non-commercial properties in the area. One of those properties, at 1737 East Passyunk Avenue, will soon be the new retail home of Fabric Horse, the bicycle accessories shop that was formerly located in Northern Liberties. The shop is scheduled to open within the next two weeks.

And although Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation, or PARC, is in fact the same Vincent Fumo-founded organization formerly known as Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, PARC is being led by a newly installed executive director, Sam Sherman Jr., a dedicated New Urbanist who previously served on Mayor Nutter's sustainable development committee. PARC is also building five loft-style apartments in the former Citizens Alliance office space, at 1137 Wharton Street; PARC's offices will then move to the building's first floor.

Last Tuesday, the group held a press conference at the Passyunk fountain to announce its many greening initiatives, which have already included the planting of 17 trees along the avenue. The fountain square itself, says Sherman, will be spruced up with "Central Park-style benches on the perimeter, and a permanent chess table." At night, says Sherman, the fountain will be illuminated by lights affixed to the roofs of the buildings surrounding it; a lighting ceremony will take place sometime in June.

Source: Sam Sherman Jr., Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Fairmount Bikeway Trail keeps getting better

Bicyclists in the Philadelphia area have been buzzing for ages about the continued development of the ultra-popular Schuylkill River Trail, which in about five years time should be a fully accessible and continuous trail running all the way from Bartram's Garden to Schuylkill County. To be sure, the eventual completion of the 130 mile trail is a goal that is both ambitious and high-reaching. But on a chilly and overcast day in mid-March, Mayor Nutter and various members of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia were on-hand at a groundbreaking ceremony that marked the beginning of yet another small step towards the successful completion of that goal.

The Fairmount Bikeway Improvement Project was the enterprise being celebrated at the groundbreaking; the project's aim is to make a series of major improvements to the Fairmount Bikeway trail, which is the section of the Schuylkill River Trail between Falls Bridge and Ridge Avenue. As Mark Focht of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation says, "I'm not sure when this section was originally built, but it really doesn't meet the standards of the trails as we construct them today."

The plan, says Focht, essentially involves making the trail both wider and safer. Currently, the width of the trail varies between roughly six and 10 feet, and that'll be expanded to a width of between eight and 12 feet when the project is complete. As for the portion of the path that runs alongside the roadway - Focht describes it as little more than a glorified sidewalk - it'll be made considerably safer by the addition of a guiderail, which will be smartly positioned between the widened trail and the nearby traffic. Portions of the trail will also be sloped to allow for proper water drainage. The project is expected to be complete this June.

Source: Mark A. Focht, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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At an open house gathering, Philadelphia2035 gets truly interactive

The initial draft version of Philadelphia2035, the prodigious, 216-page guide to the next 25 years of the city's physical development, was first made available to the public (as a downloadable PDF) back in mid-February. But for four hours throughout the afternoon of March 23, members of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission hosted an informal gathering at the Center for Architecture, where physical copies of the draft were presented to the public. More than 100 Philadelphians stopped by during the course of the day.

The purpose of the open house, according to the PCPC's Alan Urek, who acted as one of the event's hosts, was to put the draft recommendations of the plan's citywide component on exhibit for literally anyone who was interested in reviewing it, or leaving comments of their own. Five different stations, each displaying a blown-up portion of the plan, were arranged in a semi-circle in a small room behind the AIA Bookstore. And next to each station was a large flipchart, upon which visitors were encouraged to comment.

"Philadelphia is very friendly to senior citizens," read one such comment. "We choose to live here because of the walkability and activity occurring in metro-center."

"Survival of the fittest," read another note. "Deannex [the Northeast]."

"Did we reach all corners of Philadelphia (during the open house)?" Urek asks. "Probably not. But I was quite encouraged that of the people that came, virtually everyone I talked to had a positive perspective [of the plan]."

Urek also emphasized that for approximately one more week, even those when didn't attend are welcome to post comments and suggestions online. All of those comments, Urek says, will be seriously considered before the revised draft is presented to the City Planning commission in about three weeks. The plan's citywide version will then be finalized in May, and a release party will be held in early June.

Source: Alan Urek, Philadelphia City Planning Commission
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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A boundless playground for disabled and able-bodied children to share is set for Cherry Hill

In October 2007, 2 year-old Jacob Myles Nasto, who was born with a rare heart defect, passed away from complications following his fourth open-heart surgery. Jacob's mother "was so stricken with grief that she was walking in a fog," says Lynn Cummings, who is Jacob's grandmother.

Lynn Cummings is also one of the founders of a Camden County nonprofit, Build Jake's Place, which was created as a memorial to Jacob's life after a family friend made a financial donation in the child's name. Currently, the nonprofit is busy raising funds to develop Camden County's first-ever Boundless Playground, a fully-accessible and integrated play area where children and adults of any physical ability - disabled or abled - can play and learn together. "My daughter, that moment, woke up," says Cummings, referring to the decision to build the memorial playground.

Jake's Place, as the playground will be known, is being constructed at Challenge Grove Park in Cherry Hill, N.J. And because there are only about 130 Boundless Playgrounds in the entire nation, it's being expressly designed as a major destination park, with 100 on-site parking spaces. Naturally, the park will also be rich in special amenities; Jake's Place will include a wheelchair-accessible glider, specially-secured swings, and double-wide sliding boards. "This is a playground for everybody," says Cummings, "whether your body is in a wheelchair, or on crutches, or you're disabled and you want to follow your child around on the playground."

Boundless Playgrounds, of course, don't come cheap. According to Cummings, construction and equipment costs can run as high as $500,000, and Build Jake's Place still needs to raise another $100,000 before breaking ground this July, and then opening in October. The nonprofit has a number of upcoming fundraising efforts planned; click here to learn more.

Source: Lynn Cummings, Build Jake's Place
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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South Philly's Hawthorne Park brings city another step closer to Green 2015

When Penn Praxis and the City of Philadelphia launched the ambitious Green2015 plan back in December 2010, it was announced that one of the program's main goals would include the transforming of 500 city acres of underused land into green spaces accessible by any member of the public. This month, ground was finally broken at the new Hawthorne Park, the first park to be constructed since the announcement. Construction of the three-quarter acre green space, which is located at the corner of 12th and Catherine streets in South Philadelphia, will cost $2.2 million, with $1.1 million coming in the form of a grant from the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

"We've got a 9,200-acre park in the city," says Mayor Nutter's Press Secretary, Mark McDonald, referring to Fairmount Park. "But we've also got a lot of neighborhoods that are quite a ways from any kind of a green space. And this Hawthorne Park is a wonderful reclamation of what had been a housing area, but now is going to be transformed into a really beautiful place where people in an urban environment can walk in, and just chill."

What's more, Hawthorne Park is being designed as a sustainable green space, and will be part of a two-year sustainable construction and landscape design program known as SITES. According to Parks and Recreation Commissioner Michael DiBerardinis, the majority of the park's sustainable aspects will revolve around stormwater runoff issues. The Philadelphia Water Department, he explains, is "trying to manage all stormwater naturally, so (Hawthorne Park) will capture stormwater from around the [park's] immediate area, and naturally manage it, and not run it into holding tanks."

According to the mayor's office, Hawthorne Park will also feature low-energy lighting. A variety of plants will also be introduced to the park, which is expected to be complete by spring 2012

Source: Michael DiBerardinis, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Up-and-coming Phoenixville stands to grow even more with massive mixed-use development

Those of you who've lived in Greater Philadelphia for more than six or seven years will almost certainly be able to remember when the Chester County suburb of Phoenixville, which sits about 30 miles northwest of Center City, was anything but hip. The collapse of the steel industry in the mid-1970s, of course, seemed to be the beginning of the end for Phoenixville. But sometime around 2005, the town's main drag, Bridge Street, began sprouting with the signs of economic growth, including a wealth of boutiques, cafes and restaurants and the revitalized Colonial Theater.

"In six years, (Phoenixville) has gone 180 (degrees)," says Barry Cassidy, a project manager for The DeMutis Group, which wants to build a seven-acre mixed use development on a portion of the former Phoenix Steel site. "It went from nobody being down there except the drug dealers and prostitutes, to everybody (being) here. Even the drug dealers and prostitutes!"

According to Cassidy, the project, which is tentatively scheduled for an August groundbreaking, will include a 30,000 square-foot standalone office building, as well as 80,000 square-feet of retail space. Sitting atop the retail, meanwhile, will be 275 apartments. Cassidy also hopes to build an onsite parking garage and a series of condos he's referring to as work-life units, where a glassblower or a painter, for instance, could work in a street-level studio while also living in the back. "We're going to market those to craftsmen and artists," he says.

As for the specific types of businesses that might be occupying the site, Cassidy claims his group has adopted something of an arts and entertainment economic development strategy, and will be actively recruiting galleries, artists and craftsmen. All of them, no doubt, the sorts of businesses that will only serve to improve Phoenixville's artsy, up-and-coming reputation.

"We're like the crown jewel of sustainability here," Cassidy says of his development partners. "We're a lot different than the others."

Source: Barry Cassidy, The DeMutis Group
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Renovation of historic Presser Home in Mt. Airy earns renters, recognition

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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North 28 is Brewerytown�s first construction north of Girard in five years

Regardless of whether or not you believe that the current real estate crisis is finally coming to a close, the fact remains that there will probably always be neighborhoods in Philadelphia that are optimally ripe for renewal. According to Jacob Roller of MM Partners LLC, a real estate development and management company with offices on West Girard Avenue, Brewerytown may very well the next ideal neighborhood in line for something of an aesthetic and cultural transformation.

Already, MM Partners has been responsible for bringing an outpost of the local Mugshots CoffeeHouse & Cafe chain to Brewerytown; they've also rehabbed countless residential and retail properties up and down the main drag of West Girard. The company's current residential project, however, is its most ambitious yet in the neighborhood.

Known as North 28, and located just north of the Fairmount neighborhood at 1238 North 28th Street, the project is a "15 unit building with 15 gated parking spaces," according to the MM Partners website. It's also the first residential development to be built north of Girard in the past five years; the last was the Westrum Development Company's 144-unit Brewerytown Square project. Interestingly enough, North 28 is being built as a modular construction project, and the units have been approved for both sale and rental.

But as Roller explains it, the focus of his company, which he co-owns with business partner David Waxman, doesn't actually begin and end with residential construction. Rather, it's concerned with the overall revival of the Brewerytown neighborhood because, as Roller says, "We think retail drives residential growth."

The company plans to break ground on the 14,500 square-foot lot where North 28 will sit in roughly a month or two. Rental units, which will run from $900 to $1,450 per month, should be available for viewing this May.

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

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