Sustainability : Development News

As an alum of Yards and the creator of the brewery's famous tasting room, Johnny Della Polla is no stranger to a good bar. So when he moved to Queen Village a few years back and stopped in to neighborhood mainstay the Lyons Den, he knew it was a great spot in need of an upgrade. While the Den was good for a shot and a beer, Queens Villagers were starting to expect a little more. So when it became available, Della Polla got his chance. Along with partner Ashley Bohan, Della Polla created Kennett, a LEED-certified, artisanal-style eatery complete with burgers, wood-oven pizzas and, of course, a dynamite beer list. The restaurant opened for business this Saturday.

"Over the last ten years, the neighborhood has kind of changed where families moved in and people started having kids," says Managing Partner Johnny Della Polla. "The Lyons Den deserves a lot of credit. They were here for ten years and when they came in, they were exactly what the neighborhood wanted. But For Pete's Sake is right down the street, the New Wave is right up the street. We wanted to do something different."

After deciding on a sustainable, craft tap-room feel, Della Polla explored the building and saw that the name Kennett was carved into the keystone out front and decided it would be the namesake of his new venture. Soon after announcing the restaurant, Ted Kennett reached out, saying his grandfather, a Ukrainian immigrant, had owned the building in 1924 as a boarding house where he brewed moonshine in the basement. That speakeasy theme informs the cocktail list, developed by Noble bartender Christian Gaal. Della Polla hopes touches like these will endear him to this evolving neighborhood.

"We tried to tie everything together," Della Polla says. "It's this green certified restaurant that also has this prohibition-era cocktail theme and this local food, craft beer theme. They all sort of just stuck."

Source: Johnny Della Polla, Kennett
Writer: John Steele

With Temple University in the midst of its 20/20 vision plan--an ambitious development proposal that will bring renovations across the North Philadelphia campus and renew North Broad Street's commercial corridor--it is easy to forget about the neighborhoods surrounding Temple. But while Temple prepares for millions of dollars in student housing and resident services centers, one nearby corridor was quietly getting a facelift of its own.

This week, Columbus Property Management announced completion of Temple 1, a LEED-certified rehab of 22 town homes on N. 16th Street between Cecil B. Moore and Montgomery. The renovation converts 58 low-income rental units with features like low-flow bath fixtures, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, energy-saving windows and new insulation. The project has been given the LEED Gold certification and will re-open later this month.

"There is a lot of construction going on in this immediate area of North Philadelphia," says Columbus Director of Construction David Hahn. "All of these projects are working together to restore some of the blighted areas across this part of North Philadelphia."

The all-union, local construction continues as Columbus begins Temple 2, bringing energy efficiency to an other 40 units on the 1500 block. Beyond the new construction bringing more people to the developing area, Hahn hopes this project will generate revenue for nearby commercial corridors.

"By lowering living expenses, it gives our tenants a few more dollars in their pocket, which they can then in turn spend in the neighborhood," says Hahn. "More than just a stable building, we want to create a stable neighborhood. So when people go spend that money at the laundromat or the pizzeria, they are adding to that stability."

Source: Dave Hahn, Columbus Property Management
Writer: John Steele

When it comes to trees, the folks at Center City District don't mess around. The group maintains about 750 street trees and, with their redesign of Dilworth Plaza set to get rolling after the first of the year, that number is about to get a whole lot bigger. But that hasn't slowed them down one bit. This week, the group announced the first event in the Plant! Philadelphia series, a planting initiative designed to increase green space and involve Philadelphians in creating it.

On Thursday, Dec. 2, a group of students from Abraham Lincoln Academy's Environmental Academy program met with CCD officials to help plant two new trees. The first set down in front of Thomas Jefferson's famous Graff House, where he wrote the Declaration of Independence. The other went on a treeless block at 6th and Chestnut. Along the way, the students learned some history of the area as well as the value of tree planting.

"There can never be enough trees because they do so much for our urban environment," says CCD VP of Planning Nancy Goldenberg. "But beyond what private developers do, this program is specifically for street trees. Those are something that every tourist, every visitor, every resident, every employee benefits from."

The program came through a donation from the Dow Chemical Company, helping CCD buy, plant and maintain the two young Hackberry trees. Goldenberg hopes other businesses follow suit to help improve on CCD's current planting schedule and get the city to more healthy green levels.

"We plant about 60 new trees each year because of drought or they get hit by trucks or whatever," says CCD VP of Planning Nancy Goldenberg. "Plant! Philadelphia is an effort to involve Philadelphia people and businesses in that effort and help the city reach its goal of planting 300,000 trees by 2015."

Source: Nancy Goldenberg, Center City District
Writer: John Steele

While the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) remains hard at work on the Philadelphia 2035 plan--a strategic, long-term document focused on creating a stronger future for Philadelphia's transit and development--another group of planners have gotten in on the act. What these planners lack in knowledge, they more than make up for in experience living in Philadelphia and observing the functionality of city design and services.

These concerned community members are part of a pilot program called the Citizen's Planning Institute (CPI), an educational program working to empower citizens to make their voices heard in the planning process. Funded by the William Penn Foundation, CPI offers basic lessons in everything from land use to zoning issues, placing extra emphasis on under-represented communities around Philadelphia, in the hopes of creating more dynamic, city-wide development.

"We targeted specifically neighborhoods not as experienced with the process to be more active and effective with a focus on a "planning 101 approach," says CPI Director Donna Carney. "So they could see that they have the power to change their neighborhoods through this process."

The pilot program attracted 100 applicants, of which 30 were chosen to represent their neighborhoods. The resulting panel contained over 850 years of Philadelphia residency and helped shape a planned expansion to the program in 2011. The current students "graduate" when the courses conclude on Dec. 6 but plans are already in the works to add elective topics such as urban design, historic preservation, marketing and finance.

"As we expand on the program going forward, a whole variety of outreach activities could be handled by the Citizen's Planning Institute in the future," says PCPC Director of Planning and Policy Alan Urek.  "We would look to it to help inform some of the recommendations on the comprehensive plan."

Source: Donna Carney, Citizen's Planning Institute
Writer: John Steele

Every Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles bring green power to Lincoln Financial Field with a crushing defense and a youthful, high-powered offense. But a new proposal is set to bring green power off the field and spread it to the rest of the Linc. On Nov. 18, the Philadelphia Eagles announced plans to create a $30 million, on-site energy generation system complete with wind turbines and solar panels that will instantly transfer 15-20 percent of the Linc's output to renewable energy, while an on-site co-generation power plant will take care of the rest.Through a partnership with Orlando, Fla. firm Solar Blue, Lincoln Financial Field becomes the world's first major sports stadium to convert to self-generated renewable energy.

"Pennsylvania has been a regulated state with rate caps and those rate caps are expected to expire at the end of this year," says Lincoln Financial Field COO Don Smolenski. "The information we were getting was that electricity costs were going to go up 30-40 percent. With electricity being our biggest line item for the stadium, we started exploring our options."

The installation, with an expected completion date of September 2011, contains 80 spiral-shaped wind turbines along the roof of the structure, affixes 2,500 solar panels to the facade and brings an on-site, co-generation power plant to the parking lot. The plant, which will handle the majority of the energy load, runs on biodiesel or natural gas. SolarBlue will  own and operate the stadium's power system for the next 20 years, selling the power to the Eagles at a fixed rate. The proposal is expected to save the team an estimated $60 million in energy costs.

"The vertical-shaped turbines appealed to us aesthetically and are less noisy than traditional turbines," says Smolenski. "Not only is it good for our electricity rates, we feel these turbines really enhance the look of the stadium."

Source: Don Smolenski, Lincoln Financial Field
Writer: John Steele

Built in 1929, Skippack's Graterford State Prison has housed hundreds of thousands of inmates. And like many prisoners past and present at this maximum security facility, the proposal to rebuild Graterford to its former glory looked like it might be locked up in litigation or even facing a death sentence as recently as last week. After entering bids for the $365 million project, a group of builders successfully sued the state Department of General Services on Sept. 1, alleging that the Department violated state law by limiting the number of construction companies considered. But this week, after nearly a year of court battles, the Department selected Walsh Construction and Heery International as principal builders, keeping the tentative opening date of March 2014.

"The need for the prison was based on inmate population exceeding available capacity, as determined by the State Department of Corrections," says PA Department of General Services Secretary Elizabeth O'Reilly. "This is not a recent development. It has been going on for at least several years."

The Graterford project is part of a state-wide initiative to add 9,000 beds to the overcrowded state prison system. The Walsh/Heery proposal calls for a maximum security ward, as well as a smaller, medium-security facility, with a total capacity of just over 4,000 male inmates. If successful, Graterford will become Pennsylvania's first LEED-certified prison, utilizing storm water runoff and local, low-impact materials.  

"It is a prison so there can't be many design initiatives but it will be a LEED-certified prison, which is not typical, especially in the commonwealth," says O'Reilly. "It's pretty exciting."

Source: Elizabeth O'Reilly, PA Department of General Services
Writer: John Steele

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

When Disney's California Adventure unveiled 'World of Color,' the park's massive water-and-light animation show, officials hoped to create a focal point for nightly visitors to end their evening on a high note. The Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas has a similar show, where synchronized fountains create an aquatic ballet for visitors. But those are tourist destinations, where spectacle and showmanship are included in the experience. How would such a show be greeted in a highly-trafficked urban center like Philadelphia?

The principals at Philadelphia-based WaterMagic LLC hope the city will appreciate a little showmanship as they attempt to bring a similar fountain show to the Schuylkill Banks area by 30th Street Station. The installation, created by 'World of Color' designer Robert Nonemaker, would include a 70-foot water screen displaying digital images and a solar array to power all fountains and lights. WaterMagic has received $3.5 million that it must match with private funding in order to move forward. With support from city officials like Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler and former Governor Ed Rendell, principals John Randolph and Rob Stuart started the push for private financing this week.

"We hope this will extend the hours of useful life along the Schuylkill to include the nighttime hours," says Randolph. "And it will add to the image of the river as a gateway between Center City and West Philadelphia."

After talking to park users and residents, the most common complaint about the area was the noise level of traffic from nearby highway entrances and thoroughfares. WaterMagic hopes its installation will provide a noise barrier and a distraction from automotive noise.

"The water screen acts as a noise blocker and the plumes act as a masking with pleasant noise of falling water, that people find relaxing," Stuart says. "Our sense is that this will be something that will bring people to Philadelphia and keep them here at night to witness this phenomenon."

Source: Rob Stuart, WaterMagic LLC
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

The property at 4726 Baltimore Avenue in West Philly was made to be a bank. With its stone columns and regal marblework, the building has housed many community banks and even a church over the years. But with community support, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation funding and city grants, this big-business stalwart will soon be home to another neighborhood staple, Mariposa Food Co-Op.

Since the early 1970's, Mariposa has been selling organic, locally-grown food to neighborhood residents, employing a cast of regulars as volunteer grocers, and educating the community about food. But recent spikes in sales--the co-op is currently doing $1 million in annual sales from a 500 square-foot retail space) called for an expansion.

"The sheer size of our store is something that has limited us in our ability to stock a broader selection of inventory as well as a larger amount of the things that we do stock," says Mariposa Director of Development Esteban Kelly. "A wider variety of inventory will allow us to appeal to different cultural groups and the space will allow us to expand certain departments that are now smaller in the current space."

Beyond expanding inventory on the shopping floor, the second level will house a community center and classrooms in what was once boardrooms and offices. What once were vaults will now be cold storage and preparation rooms. With Phase 2, Mariposa hopes to build a green roof, and a beehive. And in the future, Phase 3 will feature a second-floor caf� with prepared foods, creating a neighborhood social center that is right on the money.

"This expansion is driven by our mission to provide healthy food to a neighborhood that doesn't have that," says Kelly. "We were driven by the pragmatics of the situation. Our growth has been explosive and we completely ran out of space. This should help with that."

Source: Esteban Kelly, Mariposa Food Co-Op
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.

There are a few things every neighborhood needs close by; a grocery store for food, a bar for nightlife and, for the caffeine-addicted among us, a local coffee shop. So when Mugshots owner Angie Vendetti went looking for her third location, she knew it had to be a neighborhood seriously jonesing for java. She settled on Brewerytown, Girard Avenue's west end that has seen strong development in the last two years. As Brewerytown's main commercial corridor begins to take shape, Mugshots hopes to be there to add a little cream and sugar. The shop, located at 2831 Girard Ave., celebrated it's grand opening on Halloween and served its first customers this week.

"We decided to have a grand opening on Halloween because of the timing, so we could get the kids to come in," says Vendetti. "It was actually a really good turnout. There were probably 150 people there, most of whom I didn't know so that's awesome. It wasn't all my friends and family."

Rehabbed by local development group MM Partners, the space was previously a hat shop that relocated to the other end of the block. Vendetti kept the original stained glass along the top of the facade but updated the lighting and the appliances for sustainability standards. Mugshots has long been a sustainable business focusing on fair trade coffee and reducing waste. But for now, Vendetti says, she will settle for being accepted into the Brewerytown community.

"Ever since we opened in Fairmount, we have been on that fence of trying to educate people without shoving it down their throats," says Vendetti. "We don't want people to feel like they are being preached at so we always make these options available--we offer 10 percent off for people with travel mugs, we don't give bags automatically if you only order one thing, things like that--so that they might catch on."

Source: Angie Vendetti, Mugshots Coffeehouse
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.

University of Pennsylvania's board of trustees this week gave the go-ahead for Shoemaker Green, the sustainable landscape project unveiled in May that will connect the Palestra and Franklin Field. After being chosen in May as one of more than 150 pilot projects to test a new LEED-based ratings system for landscape design, Shoemaker Green's design plan, created by local architects Andropogon Associates, received a budget of $8 million to complete the park, which officials hope will provide a more pleasing pathway between the Penn campus and the new Penn Park at S. 31st Street.

"The design of Shoemaker Green continues Penn's open space tradition," says Penn's VP of Facilities and Real Estate Services Anne Papageorge. "By linking College Green via Smith Walk to Penn Park, Shoemaker Green incorporates numerous sustainable features, providing a passive recreational landscape surrounded by the iconic historic buildings of the Palestra and Franklin Field."

Shoemaker Green hopes to address serious stormwater runoff issues present on the underutilized former greyfield parcel at 33rd Street. By adding three rain gardens, porous pavers, a cistern for rainwater reuse and tree trenches, architects and Penn officials hope to absorb some of the rainwater known to flood local buildings. The land will also be used to test innovative new storm water management technologies.

The open center of the project is adaptable to a variety of special events, like commencement and the Penn Relays. The lawn can accommodate large groups as well as those looking for a secluded area to hold an outdoor class or have a quiet lunch.

Source: University of Pennsylvania
Writer: John Steele

Anyone who has ever braved the long walk underground from City Hall to the transit lines has entered a concrete expanse known for low lighting and poor signage. So despite early skepticism, when local residents and business owners saw Center City District's plan to redesign Dilworth Plaza--the ledges, pavers and stairwells to the north and west of City Hall--at a community meeting in September, 2009, trepidation turned to excitement. Earlier this month, Rep. Chaka Fattah announced $15 million in federal TIGER grant funding would go towards the ambitious, $50 million project.

"Currently, Dilworth Plaza is a rabbit hole of underground corridors and this project is one that it is sitting on top of the very centerpoint where all transit in the region comes together so we need new entrances, alerting people where to go," says CCD executive director Paul Levy. "At the surface level, it has been a hodgepodge of different elevations, walls that don't allow clear lines of sight so we will be adding a large lawn to the south with generous landscaping around it to create a park environment."

Along with the lawn, glass-enclosed subway entrances and digital signage, the new Dilworth Plaza will feature a large fountain that will double as an ice rink in the winter, a cafe, and seating areas to accommodate concerts and events. With funding in place, construction is set to begin immediately to coincide with a $200 million SEPTA renovation, and will be complete by 2013.

"This will be a park, it will be a great place to gather to appreciate City Hall but also a highly identifiable gateway to the regional transit system," says Levy. "Want to go to a baseball game? Enter here to go to South Philly. Want to go to the universities in West Philadelphia? Enter here. Want to get to the regional rail lines? Enter here. Really highlighting transit."

Source: Paul Levy, Center City District
Writer: John Steele

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