In The News

The Inquirer checks in with Oxford Mills, the teacher-targeted development

Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, July 21, 2015

We told you about Oxford Mills back in 2013. This teacher-centric development in Kensington draws a community of like-minded young people.

Oxford Mills is the first development of its kind in the city, billing itself as an "urban oasis for teachers and nonprofits." It features 114 apartments, most of which are rented to teachers at a discount, and just under 40,000 square feet of office space, most of which is leased by education-related companies.

The project originated when Philadelphia developers Greg Hill and Gabe Canuso joined with Baltimore-based Seawall Development, the outfit that in 2009 pioneered teacher housing complexes in that city. Hill and Canuso, who turned their attention from luxury projects to more socially conscious work, loved the idea of a space for educators, they said.

"We've heard so many stories about newer teachers, younger teachers that really struggle," Hill said. "Landing in tough schools without a lot of resources - it's a challenge. But to come home and have colleagues to communicate and share ideas with, they're more energized and supported."

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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In East Kensington, an artist-enlivened empty lot is set for development

Hidden City Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Since 2010, the Little Berlin artist collective has been activating a vacant lot in East Kensington. Now the land has been sold to a developer. It's the urban-gentrification-circle-of-life!

When the arts collective Little Berlin arrived in the neighborhood in 2010 they started hosting events on the site informally at first, before seeking permission from Hirsh, who had purchased the lot in 2008, to develop it as a performance venue and community space. The Little Berlin website describes the agreement with Hirsh as a “partnership.”

The artists took the idea seriously and have been relentless in bringing life to the parcel. A few weeks ago, a Dodge Caravan that had been driven from Ohio was set up with two film projectors replacing the headlights, shining a film on an adjoining wall...

The neighborhood’s vintage housing and soaring former factories have lately become an asset, attractive to developers and young, prospective tenants. The artists are in part responsible.

“There are a lot of houses being built and houses being refurbished too that have been empty for a long time,” says Erickson. While he has only belonged to Little Berlin for two years, the change to the gentrifying neighborhood in just that time became obvious.

“It’s hard to wrap my head around it,” he says, “that in one way we’re making it nicer for people already living there and in other way making it easier for real estate developers to come in and buy property.”

Original source: Hidden City
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Detroit can look to Philadelphia as a model of economic recovery

Bloomberg Tuesday, November 05, 2013

According to Bloomberg, Detroit can look elsewhere for models of recovery, including Philadelphia. In the near northeast, zoning changes paved the way for development.

The city also can promulgate new land-use rules to foster development, an idea demonstrated by Philadelphia, which in 1991 itself teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Take, for instance, once-blighted Frankford Avenue.

Sandy Salzman says that even though she promoted the idea, she doubted the thoroughfare in the New Kensington and Fishtown neighborhoods would become an art corridor when it was proposed in 2000.

“It didn’t even have a coffee shop,” said Salzman, director of the New Kensington Community Development Corp. “Now we have a ton of coffee shops. We have art galleries.”

The transformation will get additional support from the first zoning changes in half a century, which make it easier to convert abandoned industrial areas to residential or commercial uses, urban gardens and farms or allow artists to have a shop next to their homes, said Eva Gladstein, who was the executive director of the commission that developed the changes.

Original source: Bloomberg
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The Atlantic Cities highlights Fishtown's 'Rust Belt Rising Almanac'

The Atlantic Cities Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Atlantic Cities chatted with Nic Esposito, urban farmer and founder of The Head & The Hand Press.

A small publisher and writers' workspace, The Head & the Hand Press, has just published Rust Belt Rising Almanac, a literary quarterly showcasing snapshots and essays on life in industrial American cities (including, of course, Philadelphia). The volume invites "Courteous Readers" to read about escapes, remains, and models of growth, and is at turns cheeky and earnest, with such section titles as "On Reverse Pioneering," "On the Anatomy of Coal-Fired Power Plant," and "On the Collective and the Communal."

Original Source: The Atlantic Cities
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Kensington school bets (and wins) on innovative violence-prevention ethos

The Atlantic Cities Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Memphis Street Academy (formerly John Paul Jones Middle School) was one of the most violent schools in the city -- until they removed all their metal detectors.

The police predicted chaos. But instead, new numbers seem to show that in a single year, the number of serious incidents fell by 90 percent.

The school says it wasn't just the humanizing physical makeover of the facility that helped. Memphis Street Academy also credits the Alternatives to Violence Project, a noncoercive, nonviolent conflict resolution regimen originally used in prison settings that was later adapted to violent schools. AVP, when tailored to school settings, emphasizes student empowerment, relationship building and anger management over institutional control and surveillance. There are no aggressive security guards in schools using the AVP model; instead they have engagement coaches, who provide support, encouragement, and a sense of safety.

Original source: The Atlantic Cities
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The New York Times tackles Oxford Mills, housing for teachers

The New York Times Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Like Flying Kite, the New York Times was intrigued by the concept behind Oxford Mills, a mixed-used development dedicated to organizations and people who work in education.

Two redbrick buildings in the up-and-coming but still gritty South Kensington section of Philadelphia are being converted into apartments and offices intended to house teachers and nonprofit educational organizations in what the developers hope will become a cohesive community.

When the renovation is complete, 60 percent of the buildings’ 114 apartments will be reserved for teachers, who will be offered a 25 percent discount on market rent — paying about $1,000 a month for a one-bedroom unit in a neighborhood where they typically rent for $1,300.

Original source: The New York Times
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Inga Saffron chides lack of retail at Soko Lofts

Philadelphia Inquirer Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Inquirer's architecture critic Inga Saffron has a powerful reaction to the lack of retail at the upcoming Soko Lofts project in South Kensington.

For all its effort to replicate the Piazza's first-rate urbanism, Soko Lofts misses the crucial lesson of that project. The Piazza packed its ground floor with shops, galleries, and eateries, especially along its primary frontage on Second Street. Though not all have succeeded, their presence tied the Piazza into the neighborhood. They made what was just another behemoth residential development into a real urban place

At Soko, the buildings - bounded by Second, Thompson, Master, and American Streets - would be punctuated by a few token retail spaces. The rest would be long stretches of dullness. And American Street, which should be Soko's front door, would be the dullest.

Original source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Percy Street Barbecue No. 1 place in America to get a can of craft beer

craftcans.com Monday, July 30, 2012

Memphis Taproom, BAR Philadelphia and Percy Street Barbecue, which earned the top spot, gave craftcans.com a distinctly Philadelphia flavor on its list of America's 15 top places to enjoy beer in a can.

Over the past couple years Aric Ferrell, Manager at Philadelphia's Percy Street Barbecue, has been on a mission. He has been on a campaign to have Percy Street feature the largest selection of canned craft beers in the country and we are proud to say that he has definitely accomplished his goal. But, its not just the vast array of craft cans available (at last count there are over 100) at this South Street eatery that put it at the top of the list. Nope, Percy Street is also home to some of the most amazing barbecue in the northeast. Two words: Turkey Tails. Everything we've had there was delicious and you can even get cans to go now! If it comes in a can and is available in Pennsylvania than Aric has done everything he can to put it on his can menu. Serving up Texas-style BBQ in a clean, modern environment with a ridicu-list of canned craft beers available as well as a serious whiskey list, Percy Street is our top choice for best place to grab a can of beer in America. They've earned it.

Original source: craftcans.com

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A chat with Interface Studio Architects principal Brian Phillips

Jetson Green Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Jetson Green talks shop with Brian Phillips, principal of Philadelphia-based Interface Studio Architects, which gained notoriety for its work on the 100K house.

The 100k house sits in the middle of the timeline for our firm, but serves as the clearest thesis statement. We received a 2011 Pew Fellowship in the Arts allowing us to focus more on experimentation, research, and design competitions. We are beginning to expand geographically while also scaling up the ‘100k thesis’ on bigger projects in Philly. Recent assignments include Net Zero housing in Boston (through the Mayor’s E+ Housing initiative) and a theoretical project for what a 100k house might be for Detroit.

Original source: Jetson Green

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Kensington artist takes renovation work on the road

Eastern Iowa Life Monday, April 09, 2012

Philadelphia artist Lewis Colburn's exhibition, called "After the Architect Has Gone," is on display in April in Iowa City, reports Eastern Iowa Life.

Colburn places a model of his row house, portrayed in a serious state of renovation, on top of a chest of drawers. Experimenting with new architectural-modeling software, Colburn creates a landscape form in one of the open drawers that represents an afghan or quilt, a sign of comfort. The landscape models appear again on a drawing table, serving as places of rest for coffee mugs. The piece also hints at a dining room table set for dinner, another emblem of domestic comfort. A leaky faucet runs into a china basin; a bowl set in a bathroom vanity that is either being repaired or constructed.

Original source: Eastern Iowa Life

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Kensington's New Paradise Laboratories recreates theater for a connected generation

Mashable Monday, March 26, 2012

Mashable writes about Kensington's New Paradise Laboratories and its incorporation of social networks into the production and presentation of its shows.

This innovative experience takes audiences through a rabbit hole on a visually stimulating online adventure. Stories evolve on social networks with multimedia components from YouTube and Sound Cloud. It can be hard to decipher what’s real and what’s fiction.

Original source: Mashable

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Notes from the urban landscape in Kensington

Paradigm Magazine Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Check out Kensington urban farmer Nic Esposito's Notes From the Urban Homestead series in Paradigm Magazine.

For many people, the concept of farming in any city is strange, let alone in this neighborhood. No matter that there’s a family who lives out of their car, or a heroin addict who sleeps in the park all winter, or a woman who prostitutes herself just for a bed to spend the night and maybe a hot shower: I’m the weird one on the block. But that doesn’t bother me. We all have to fit somewhere in this world.

Original source: Paradigm Magazine
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Rowhome redux: Postgreen plans for biggest year yet

Smart Planet Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Smart Planet brings us up to speed on Postgreen and its new home construction innovations.

With one house sold and three in the works, the Avant Garage project on Memphis Street is among Postgreen’s most expensive undertakings. (The base price of an Avant Garage house is $355,000.) Each home has a roof deck and a two-car garage. To cater to the neighborhood’s artists and professionals, the garage situates vehicles in front of each other, rather than side-by-side, and has a second door opening to the backyard. The idea is to create space suitable for a studio or workshop.

Original source: Smart Planet
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Five from Philly on Draft mag's 100 best beer bars

Draft Magazine Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Eulogy, Memphis Taproom, Monk's, Grey Lodge and Standard Tap made Draft Magazine's list of America's 100 best beer bars. They really love Monk's:

Monk's Café’s place in the upper echelon of watering holes is well-deserved. Its Beer Bible, which covers style guidelines, brewing 101 and an intoxicating list of more than 300 beers, acts as a visitor’s guide for patrons packed into the venue’s two intimate bars. The selection makes ordering tough; have a pint of the house brew Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Red and a pot of award-winning mussels while you sift through the list.

Original source: Draft Magazine
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Meet the guy whose dream is to have a sheep farm in Philly

Metropolis Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Metropolis Magazine tells the story of industrial designer Andrew Dahlgren, his Philadelphia company ADMK and how he is helping revolutionize textile manufacturing and labor.

"Ultimately, what we are talking about is a new way of living," says Dahlgren. Pattern files can be digitally conveyed to satellite knitters in their homes who may, in turn, use the knitting machines to provide for themselves beyond their contracted production.

Dahlgren takes the long view, pointing out that "Stradivarius was still innovating violin making in his 80s, can we as a culture accept, as a way of living, making things?" Dignity, pride, and identity in workmanship seem like quaint yet timeless building blocks for reviving an industry that once boasted some 60,000 employees in Philadelphia and competed globally long before “globalization” was ever coined.

Original source: Metropolis
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