Northeast : Development News

Consider it crowdsourced city planning. The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation's Master Plan is open for public comment until August 26. Since June 13, when the summary report was released, Master Planning Manager Sarah Thorpe says about a hundred comments have come in, and the entire effort has been a significant public process. "Urban planning has changed a lot over last 30 years," says Thorpe. "Today, people are very interested in how the environment develops. We are addressing different problems and a different demographic."

Essential to the new master plan is access. It's not your 18th century waterfront model. When I-95 was built, the Philadelphia stretch of the Delaware river was an aesthetically bereft industrial zone best left to longshoremen. Interstate 95 is a huge barrier, says Thorpe of the 1960s era public works project that was once considered a beneficial rampart. "People didn't want to live next to a sugar factory or a coal yard." Now, she says, the highway keeps residents from what they want. The main point of the DRWC's master plan is to make 95 less of an impedance.

Philadelphia 2035, the citywide planning effort, is underway, but Thorpe says the waterfront couldn't wait. While there are actually 47 streets that cross over or under the interstate, "it's more of a perceived barrier in peoples' minds."

The new plan creates connections in two ways, says Thorpe: by adding destinations to  the riverbank, and by making connections more attractive through lighting and landscaping. Several early action projects, the Race Street Pier and Washington Avenue Green, were completed during the Master Plan design phase as a way to give the public a glimpse of the future.

As far as feedback, Thorpe says comments have ranged from overarching issues like density, boat access and parking, to small problems like typos in the document. After the August 26 deadline, Thorpe and team will compile public input, make judgement calls on priority, and expect to release the final revised version in October. But, stresses Thorpe, it will be a living document, subject to accommodation and change.

Source: Sarah Thorpe, Delaware River Waterfront Corporation
Writer: Sue Spolan

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

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.

No matter where in the country you live, you've almost certainly seen the green-and-mustard colored logo of the Houston, Texas-based Waste Management corporation plastered onto the side of a Dumpster, or perhaps a garbage truck. Here in Philadelphia, at least, we'll certainly be seeing a lot more of that familiar logo now that the company has opened a hugely innovative, 60,000-square-foot single-stream recycling facility in the Northeast; it's known as the Philadelphia Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

The LEED Silver-certified facility, which opened in late 2010, held its official grand opening ceremony on April 11. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was on hand, as were a number of residential and commercial WM customers, who were invited to tour the $20 million facility, which was constructed atop a former brownfield site.

"In general," says George McGrath of McGrath Matter Associates, a public relations firm, "Waste Management has been one of the leading industry leaders in adopting and promoting single-stream recycling. We've got over 30 of these facilities around the country."

Single-stream recycling, he explains, is the process whereby residential and commercial customers alike can place all their recyclables in a single container for pickup, including paper. At the MRF, which is capable of processing more than 20,000 tons of recyclables each month, the materials are almost entirely separated not by human hands, but by advanced technological methods.

McGrath also says that once the facility is fully staffed, roughly 70 new jobs will have been created, with the vast majority of new employees coming from nearby neighborhoods.

"Waste Management built this facility because we really are committed to helping cities and businesses recycle more," McGrath adds. "And in fact, on average, recycling rates go up about 30 percent with the single-stream program. If you make it easier for people to do, they'll do more of it.

Source: George McGrath, McGrath Matter Associates 
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.

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.

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

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

Along the post-industrial corridor of Northern Delaware Avenue sits an abandoned trolley garage where Philadelphia's oldest transit assets were once serviced. So when architectural salvage firm Provenance decided to relocate to accommodate more retail customers, they couldn't think of a better location than a garage that once restored rolling symbols of Philadelphia's past.

"We feel that a lot of the material that is pulled out of the city is part of the fabric that makes this city cool," says Provenance partner Scott Lash. "We're hoping that people will start looking at stuff that was probably put in other buildings at the time their buildings were built."

The team at Provenance has expanded in the last year, offering flooring and many salvaged items for home and garden projects. While the floor is still concrete and the showroom still has a warehouse feel, Lash believes the place has a much more retail feel, with more organization and better lighting, allowing easier browsing.

With the new space, Provenance hopes to offer home improvement classes and First Friday events, like the Happy Hour they hosted on October 1. Making connections in the tight-knit Northern Liberties neighborhood, Lash believes, will stimulate foot traffic and draw not only DIY weekend warriors but also artists and designers looking for vintage pieces and custom home projects.

"We hope to be doing art work in our space on a permanent basis," says Lash. "We want to display painting, old architecture and elements from buildings we've torn down because we feel like that brings out some interesting ideas."

Source: Scott Lash, Provenance
Writer: John Steele

In science fiction novels and books about the future, a few technologies are boilerplate: flying cars, meals in pill form and the ability to teleport instantly from place to place. National commuter rail company Amtrak took another step toward teleportation on Tuesday with its announcement of a high-speed rail vision plan. In Tuesday's news conference from University City's 30th Street Station, with Governor Ed Rendell on hand, Amtrak officials laid out their goal to create a line with average speeds well over 130 mph, saving passengers between one and two hours on average.

"Amtrak is putting forward a bold vision of a realistic and attainable future that can revolutionize transportation, travel patterns and economic development in the Northeast for generations," says Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman.

The plan, entitled A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor, proposes a full build-out to be completed by 2040. Its construction, Amtrak says, would create more than 40,000 full-time jobs annually over a 25-year period, building new track, tunnels, bridges, stations, and other infrastructure. Predictably, the cost for such a project is high, $4.7 billion annually over 25 years. But Amtrak's feasibility studies peg the Northeast as a "mega-region" capable of drawing the type of rail traffic to make such an investment profitable. And with some premier legislative voices like New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg and Massachusetts' John Kerry already voicing their support, we may be teleporting out of 30th Street Station sooner than we think.

"Amtrak's High Speed Rail plan will create jobs, cut pollution and help us move towards a modern and reliable transportation system network in the Northeast," said Kerry in a recent statement. "As countries around the world continue to build out their transportation systems, we
cannot afford to fall further behind. This is an important down payment on the massive commitment necessary to bridge our infrastructure gap." 

Source: Joseph Boardman, Amtrak
Writer: John Steele