Northern Liberties : Development News

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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When Microsoft's $63 million School of the Future opened in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park in September 2006, expectations among area parents--some of whom nearly battled in order to secure a spot for their children--couldn't have possibly been higher. But by the time that first class of students was preparing to graduate, attitudes surrounding the school--which didn't require textbooks, and where many of the core subjects required for university admission weren't offered--had shifted considerably.

Today, many of the school's educational kinks have been duly worked out. But if such a project was proposed within the city today--that is, if a public development project was proposed to take place within Philadelphia's public park land--the eventual outcome would almost certainly be different. That's because on April 15, Mayor Michael Nutter signed an ordinance to amend the approval process that takes place when the city's public park land is transferred to some sort of non-park use, as was the case with the Microsoft high school.

"It's an effort that's really been spearheaded by the Parks and Recreation Commission," explains Patrick Morgan, who works underneath Commissioner Mike DiBerardinis. "What it does," he says, "is it establishes a process that's predictable and transparent for all the parties: for City Council, for citizens, and for the (Parks and Recreation) Commission."

And while there aren't currently any plans in place to change usage of city parkland, this new ordinance, which is set to take effect with the change of the fiscal year (July 1), will set in motion that new process of transparency.

"Right now, all (city) parkland is being used for its intended purpose," says Morgan. "But if someone proposes changing the use for whatever reason, then this process kicks in."

Source: Patrick Morgan, Department of Parks and Recreation
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Close your eyes and picture this scene: Swanky poolside cabanas with flat-screen TVs. Tanned, twenty-something women stretched out on Balinese lounge chairs. A DJ spinning trip hop next to a roaring fire pit. It probably sounds like a setting straight out of coastal Florida or Southern California. And yet come this May, that's exactly the spectacle you'll find at the corner of West Allen Street and Germantown Avenue in Northern Liberties, right behind the artisanal retail complex known as The Piazza at Schmidt's.

Arrow Swim Club is the name of this long-awaited project, which is being overseen by Tower Investments' Bart Blatstein, who was almost entirely responsible for the redevelopment of the Northern Liberties neighborhood. In a somewhat unusual twist, Blatstein is partnering on the project with Nicole A. Cashman, CEO of the Cashman & Associates PR firm, which specializes in representing luxury brands.

Of course, there's a fairly decent chance that the 21-and-over swim club will, in fact, grow to become one of the best-known luxury brands in NoLibs. That's because aside from the poolside food and beverage service, the private spa, the swinging hammocks, the uber-chic cabana boys, and the upper-level sundeck, this inner-city oasis will be coming with one more surprise: $1,000 annual memberships.

This week, according to Jacklin Rhoads of Cashman & Associates, "One-thousand hand-selected, prospective members will receive invitations to a sneak-peek party, and an invitation to join the swim club." Memberships will be available to the public on March 7, but as Rhoads explains, "Everyone will have to fill out an application, pending management approval, with a background and credit check."

Chris Sheffield of the nearby SL Design firm is designing the project, which will feature a 1,380-square-foot pool. An open-to-the-public restaurant will reside next door to the swim club, and the first season runs through Sept. 30.

Source: Jacklin Rhoads, Cashman & Associates
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Juliet Whelan, Jibe Design
Writer: John Steele

With the Race Street connector streetscape project already underway, city officials gathered with Mayor Michael Nutter and Delaware River Waterfront Corporation president Tom Corcoran last week to break ground on the Race Street Pier park project. The pier is to act as a pilot project for waterfront greenways that feature heavily in the Master Plan for the Central Delaware.

"With this park, we have created a public space that we hope will leverage private investment along the waterfront," says DRWC VP of Operations Joe Forkin.

The park features a rising, boardwalk-style platform, allowing for views across the river, next to greenspace and tree-lined pathways. Park designers secured mature trees left over from the World Trade Center building project, giving the park an aged look from the start. The pathways and railings are all lit with solar-powered LED lighting to give the pier a modern feel during the day and at night. The project is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2011.

"It's day and night enjoyment," says Forkin. "During the day, you can sunbathe, you can walk, you can complete the circuit from Old City, down the connector to the waterfront. And then at night, we've added a lighting component in a random pattern through the pavers and then the bridge above you, creating a spectacular light show at night to play off the location under the Ben Franklin Bridge."

Source: Joe Forkin, DRWC
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

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Since adopting the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware plan in 2008, city planners have considered mixed use development and even new transit options to draw visitors to the Delaware waterfront. But according to a new study released October 25 by Penn Future and the Coalition for Philadelphia's Waterfronts, all they need to do is add green space. If they do, the study claims, the city will see $30-$40 million in annual health care savings, $800 million in aggregate household wealth gains and up to $24 million annually in new tax revenues from increased tourism activities and higher property values. This report will help shape city planning decisions as various city agencies look to complete waterfront plans in the next year.

"We were not playing the role of advocate with this report and, if anything, erred on the side of conservatism so as not to be seen as overstating," says Lee Huang, a report consultant from University City's EConsult. "We see this report as useful as city planners weigh the costs and benefits of building the waterfront greenway. As you can see, there is a long list of beneficiaries to this project."

Health care savings from people using bike lanes and pedestrian trails are significant. But the largest increase would come from what the report calls the "equity of access," whereby properties in waterfront-adjacent neighborhoods would now be within walking distance of parks and waterfront activities, increasing home values. This benefit has been observed in cities like Atlanta, Ga. and helps legitimize projects, like the Race Street Pier greenway, that are already underway.

"The universe of people that are not currently near an outdoor amenity is about 98,000 individuals representing 44,000 households," says Huang. "That is a very important consideration to keep in mind."

Source: Lee Huang, EConsult
Writer: John Steele

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

Being a 'green' web design firm is something Yikes! Inc. owners Mia and Tracy Levesque take very seriously. Founded as a triple bottom line business in 1996, the company has collected a slew of green business awards and certifications. Yikes is a member of the Sustainable Business Network, a Certified B Corporation, owners of a Green America's Business Seal of Approval, and even provide discounts for businesses with similar commitments.

This week, the company takes its environmental mission one step further as construction began on Yikes' new headquarters. Rehabbing a vacant building on the 200 block of Girard Avenue, the Yikes team is creating a LEED Platinum office with attached residential units, hoping to add sustainable real estate to their list of green achievements.

"I have always loved these vacant, run-down, but architecturally beautiful buildings so when I made the decision to buy a building for our business, I come across these buildings and they look terrible but I think they look beautiful," says Tracy. "I decided then that I wanted to do this renovation project even though I know it would be a lot easier to just move in somewhere that was ready to go."

To get to LEED Platinum, there is a lot of planning involved. The HVAC system has to be tested and retested for efficiency, all the materials used have to be reclaimed through Greensaw, and all electricity will be purchased from the Energy Co-Op. But as much as they are doing, Tracy says they wish they could do more.

"Unfortunately solar had to be taken out of the budget but my goal is, within the next few years, to find the money to get solar put back on," says Tracy. "Being able to go beyond our own consumption to create our own electricity would just be the best."

Source: Tracy Levesque, Yikes Inc.
Writer: John Steele

Once a fixture of Philadelphia's transit system, the original streetcar has disappeared from routes once well-tread on 11th and 12th Streets and on Market Street. But while the trolley's lack of maneuverability got it removed from Center City, the Route 15 Trolley, that runs the length of Girard Avenue, has become a fixture of one of the city's most eclectic neighborhood corridors. So when SEPTA announced that it would be closing the Route 15 Trolley because it interfered with PennDOT's renovation of I-95, something had to be done.

This week, SEPTA began construction on a turnaround: a looped section of track at the corner of Frankford and Delaware Avenues. This turnaround would allow continued service on the Route 15 through the two-year PennDOT project. For the time being, SEPTA is running buses until the new track work is complete. The turnaround is scheduled for completion on Feb. 13, 2011. Unfortunately for Fishtown residents, the easternmost section of the route--between Frankford Avenue and Richmond and Westmoreland streets--will remain on bussed routes for the duration of the construction, scheduled to be completed in early 2013.
 
"The Route 15 trolley is a part of the community," says SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch. "There would have to be a much stronger reason to discontinue trolley service than a small construction project."

Many community members have posited that the reason for the turnaround placement was to provide access to the newly-built SugarHouse casino. SEPTA has announced that the trolley will stop at the turnaround to unload passengers. The plan now, Busch says, is to have an additional option for the direction of this historic trolley in the future.

"The loop will be there when we get the full line back," says Busch. "It's good to have the option to add this turnaround to the line if we need it."

Source: Andrew Busch, SEPTA
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

When Mayor Nutter endorsed Penn Praxis' Civic Vision for the Central Delaware waterfront plan in 2008, he sent the City Planning Commission and other organizations on some early action projects to get things rolling. Just two years later, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation is making the rounds with local community groups presenting renovation plans for connecting streetscapes. It turns out a waterfront proposal doesn't get very far without a way to get to the waterfront.

Delaware Avenue's dividing barrier I-95 separates Front Street from the Delaware River. But as urban decay has struck the river lands, it has also hit 47 connecting blocks, leaving pathways to the waterfront dark and uninhabitable for pedestrians. This week, DRWC held a meeting with the Old City Civic Association, unveiling improvement plans for a new Race Street, and creating a model for the 46 other blocks in need of repair.

"These improvements make Race Street an interesting place to go, not just a normal street that you walk on to get to the waterfront," says DRWC master planner Sarah Thorp. "The Race Street Connector is a perfect pilot project. We wanted to add some things that we might be able to replicate in other areas of the waterfront."

The proposal calls for painted bike lanes, lit underpasses, and an LED-illuminated pixel array, allowing for announcements and public art. The project will lead pedestrians to the Race Street Pier, a park project slated for May 2011. Tonight, DRWC hosts their second community meeting for the Delaware River master plan. With a pathway design in place, the future looks bright on the Delaware.

"One of the reasons we chose this park is because it is pretty close to the center and to areas with a ton of foot traffic, rather than starting at the ends, which are more isolated," says Thorp. "Its location toward the center of the waterfront, we feel, is a great place to start."

Source: Sarah Thorp, DRWC
Writer: John Steele

When Community Design Collaborative (CDC) Executive Director Beth Miller ran into volunteer Scott Page at Reading Terminal Market two years ago, a chat about their favorite Amish pastries turned to what was next in industrial redevelopment. Page mentioned a partnership between Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and the City Planning Commission to create an industrial reuse strategy. CDC's Infill Philadelphia project was already on the lookout for opportunities to lend a hand and this project seemed like a perfect fit.

In February, Infill Philadelphia launched its Industrial Sites initiative, a design proposal contest searching for three types of industrial redevelopment. The Neighborhood anchor focused on creating an incubator for new industry. Mixed-use focused on creating new industry side-by-side with housing. And the Making Connections challenge coupled industry with environment to create an industrial campus and riverfront amenity in one. Three volunteer design firms unveiled redevelopment proposals to the design community in May. On Tuesday, CDC released a publication to show off the projects to the rest of the city.

"Industrial redevelopment is one of those problems that seems unsolvable," says Miller. "There are so many older buildings out there and nobody quite knows what to do with them. We thought this was a good strategy to showcase a new generation of urban industry."

The Industrial Sites initiative is the third phase for Infill, an ongoing redevelopment advisory project that has worked on affordable housing, commercial corridors and food access. With their new publication showing what they can do, Miller hopes to draw inspiration for her next project.

"We hope to make this an ongoing thing through our service grants, so non-profits can apply to us to address an industrial site in their neighborhood," says Miller. "We've already gotten two or three applications like that so we hope to continue that work on a case-by-case basis."

Source: Beth Miller, Infill Philadelphia
Writer: John Steele

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey announced last Tuesday that Pennsylvania would receive $47 million in federal transit and infrastructure grants as part of the Federal Transit Administration's State of Good Repair program. As SEPTA updated its hybrid bus fleet two years ago, the lion's share of the funding went to Pittsburgh's Allegheny County Port Authority for a clean diesel fleet of their own. But SEPTA didn't come away empty handed, receiving $8.1 million for two infrastructure improvements a long time coming.

The first grant will revamp SEPTA's Parkside Bus Loop, helping reconnect this West Philly neighborhood. But the second, more universal improvement will aid in future upgrades. Using $6.4 million, SEPTA will install an asset management system to aid in record-keeping as many of Philadelphia's transit assets come up for repairs.

"A lot of our infrastructure dates back to the early 1900's and were taken over from other private companies," says SEPTA CFO Richard Burnfield. "What the FTA was trying to focus on is knowing what you have out there in the field before you can make an assessment as to what your overall needs are, coming up with a plan for when things should be replaced."

The system will help SEPTA keep better records so when funding is available, the authority can make a more organized, more compelling case for further federal dollars as the fleet is upgraded.

"Right now, we do a very good job of managing our assets so while the records are not as computerized as we'd like them to be, we have so much knowledge within our engineering staff that I feel we make excellent decisions," says Burnfield. "But I think this will help us going forward so we can do a second check on things as our staff reaches retirement."

Source: Richard Burnfield, SEPTA
Writer: John Steele