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The Philadelphia Live Arts & Philly Fringe Festival and DesignPhiladelphia, are going to light up the Ben Franklin Parkway like never before come September. The best part is that visitors to the Parkway will be the ones controlling the light show through the use of a smartphone app. This will be the world premier of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s "Open Air" art installation, which will provide a web of light over the path many people use to access Center City.

Open Air will consist of 3-D light that is powered by the voices and GPS locations of Parkway visitors through the use of a free smartphone app, says Susan Myers, the Open Air project manager with the Fairmount Park Art Association. Myers makes sure to mention that everyone will be given a chance to participate, as the Art Association will have a station by the Philadelphia Museum of Art parking lot where people can borrow smartphones to use. 

The display will span from 21st to 24th Sts. along the Parkway, with lights mounted to Parktowne Place, the Best Western hotel, and scaffolding on Von Colln Field, according to Myers. In all, there will be 24 robotic searchlights, which will be visible from as far as 15 miles away. While Myers admits a similar presentation was done in Tokyo, this will be considered a world premiere. If Lozano-Hemmer is successful here, he will likely follow suit with similar interactive light shows in cities across the world. 

The Fairmount Park Art Association received  the largest amount awarded through the 2011 Knight Arts Challenge from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, $250,000, and a $45,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to bring Open Air to Philly. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is a Mexican-Canadian artist who works with architecture and high-tech theater, and whose works have been displayed around the world and in prestigious museums, like the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. 

Myers is truly excited to bring "Open Air"to the Parkway. "We feel public art is one of the city’s most overlooked assets," she says. The project manager has reached out to various stakeholders, such as the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). She makes it clear that the searchlights won’t shine in anyone’s window, which is a point that seems to satisfy members of LSNA.    

Source: Susan Myers, Fairmount Park Art Association
Writer: Andy Sharpe

Photo courtesy of the Fairmount Park Art Association 

It is fitting that the upcoming expansion of NextFab Studio, the two year-old "gym for innovators" that features digital fabrication tools and the opportunity for most anyone to create most anything, will bring it to a new flagship location at a former custom ironwork shop run by old-world craftsmen.

NextFab announced last week it will be growing in a big way from its original space in the University City Science Center at 3711 Market Street, where it has doubled membership in the last six months and tripled revenue between 2010 and 2011.

And inside its new facility, expected to open by early July, NextFab2 will look to create the latest edition of the creative economy, just like when slabs of iron were being shaped decades ago at the new site at 2025 Washington Ave.

"As our members increase in number and skill and the reputation of our design, engineering and custom fabrication services has grown, an increasing number of members and clients want to take on projects that fall outside of that size range, or which need more privacy or more intense around-the-clock effort," says NextFab president and founder Evan Malone.

Indeed, the new facility in Southwest Center City/Graduate Hospital should provide ample space: 21,000 square feet of equipment, expert staff, classes, workshops and accessible design, engineering and custom fabrication services.

Media-based architecture and design firm inHabit has reconfigured the building, which will provide private studios with 24/7 access, 14-foot ceilings, CNC water-jet cutter, CNC machining center, CNC router, more advanced 3D printers and a chemistry and micro-fabrication lab.

According to Malone, NextFab2 will have the layout and space for the big tools necessary for massive projects. There will be drive-in loading/unloading, a forklift and crane, a vehicle lift and facilities for car and motorcycle customization and electric-fuel conversion. There are also plenty of lighter touches, like a street-level cafe, space for exhibition and sales of products and art, and dedicated classroom spaces.

NextFab has come a long way in a short time. Revenue in 2011 was almost $500,000 with a membership that numbers 150. Full-time teaching and consulting staff has more than doubled to 17 professional artists, engineers and designers. Classes, of which there are 30 and range from Digital Embroidery to using a CNC Plasma Cutter, often fill up a month in advance.

"Our members are now successfully selling book scanners, laser-cut home decor and fashion products, custom speakers and more that they make at NextFab," says Malone.

Part of NextFab's aim is to reduce the learning curve associated with digital fabrication and foster an environment of innovation that transcends culture and education backgrounds.

"In traditional mass production you build an expensive factory to cheaply make millions of identical products," says Malone. "Digital Fabrication is an economic game changer because each thing you make can be unique for the cost of changing the picture on the computer screen."

Memberships will be available at the current rate until May 1, when rates will go up to help fund the expansion.

Source: Evan Malone, NextFab Studio
Writer: Joe Petrucci

It's simply amazing the juggernaut that Facebook has become, as you can now check into businesses, comment on Flying Kite articles, and reconnect with (or laugh at) long-lost family and friends. Yet, there's even more, especially for university students in Philadelphia. Campus Apartments, which holds properties in University City, now allows its student tenants to pay their rent through Facebook Connect. Campus Apartments unveiled this service in late January, and is excited with the response, albeit a little afraid of being poked.

Campus Apartments is able to utilize Facebook through a partnership between their existing online payment system, SmartClick, and the social network. Previously, the only way to access SmartClick was by inputting an e-mail address and password, says John Ailor, senior Director of Web and Wireless Technologies at Campus Apartments. Yet, in a sign of how ubiquitous Facebook has become, Campus Apartments decided it would be easier for many residents to simply remain on Facebook to pay their rent.  

Ailor outlines all that students can do via Facebook. They can "make payments, view (the) tenant ledger and submit service requests easily and more quickly than before,” he remarks. Ailor assures that it's far from a complicated process to sign up for the privilege of Facebook rent payment, as it should drag on no longer than a minute. 

While the Facebook perk came only went live just a couple of weeks ago, Ailor boasts that already a few hundred residents used it to pay their February rent. No word on how many of these social networkers live in Campus Apartments' Philadelphia properties. According to Ailor, these several hundred users are among 27,363 active SmartClickers across the country. SmartClick also allows students to pay rent through their app on Android phones. 

Campus Apartments has over a hundred apartments in University City that house pupils at Penn, Drexel, USciences, the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill, and the JNA Institute of the Culinary Arts. Nationwide, Campus Apartments offers student housing in 23 states, including California, Texas, and Michigan. 

The student housing provider reports no complaints about Facebook Connect among the few hundred who have used it so far. For the student Luddites among us, Campus Apartments still offers residents the chance to pay rent by check. Expect to see other student housing firms follow suit with a Facebook payment option. No dislike button needed for this. 

Writer: Andy Sharpe
Source: John Ailor, Campus Apartments

For those of you who walk down 16th St. in Center City, you may have noticed a change. In fact, Philadelphia's only Pita Pit location is no longer at 16th and Sansom. Yet, the space is not expected to stay empty for long, as a self-serve stir-fry, shake, and salad eatery called Honeygrow is planning on opening its first location in early- to mid-spring.

Honeygrow promises to be a unique dining option in a neighborhood that's filled with diverse restaurants. Justin Rosenberg, who along with David Robkin is responsible for Honeygrow, gloats that his restaurant will offer unique homemade sauces for the stir-fries, including Smoked Oyster, Indonesian Barbeque, and Citrus Wasabi. Along with the sauces, stir-fries will come with a choice of wheat, soba, or gluten-free noodles. Rosenberg also promises "local produce as much as possible." The stir-fries will cost between $8-$10.

Another unique aspect to Honeygrow will be the self-serve ordering and payment. Just like Wawa has self-serve ordering kiosks, Rosenberg has a similar idea in mind. To go a step further, the kiosks will be smart enough to know repeat customers and what they've ordered in the past. Finally, payment will also be handled by machine, which will accept credit and debit cards. Rosenberg is currently unsure how many employees will be hired, although they might be limited with the self-service.

The name "Honeygrow" is another reflection of just how unique the restaurant aims to be. "(We) wanted a name never used and alludes to only one thing- our concept," clarifies Rosenberg. "'Honey' speaks to the warmth, simplicity, and sweeter side of our menu," while "grow" denotes how fulfilling the entrepreneur hopes his restaurant will be.

Rosenberg and Robkin hope to open additional locations in the next couple of years. When it comes to growth, "the sky is the limit," says an ambitious Rosenberg. He quickly adds that Honeygrow will be focusing on just the Philadelphia-area for the time-being. The entrepreneurs' love of the city is evident in that they decided to open their first location right in the middle of the city's Central Business District.

Honeygrow will feature 35 seats, and be designed by local firm DAS Architects. The interior will be bred from New York City eateries Momofuku and Chop't, with a design that Rosenberg describes as "expressive, modern rustic." At the same time, the co-owner promises that his business will have a simple design that caters to customers who are on-the-go.     

Source: Justin Rosenberg, Honeygrow
Writer: Andy Sharpe

2.0 University Place, a new five-story office building is about to spring up at 41st and Filbert St, feeding off of the University City Science Center’s revitalization of Market St. The community won’t have to wait long, as the groundbreaking will likely come in January or February of next year. The real story behind University Place will be its impressive sustainability elements, which combine to make it Philadelphia’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum pre-certified building. Platinum is the highest status in the United States Green Building Council’s LEED program.

Scott Mazo, a partner with the development firm University Place Associates, beams when he discusses his forthcoming building’s green technology. For one thing, all 96,135 square feet of tenant space will stay temperate with a "state of the art heating and air conditioning system called chilled-beam mechanical systems," says Mazo. Very few buildings currently use chilled-beam technology, although NASA and Harvard and Stamford Universities have experimented with it. These innovators found energy savings of 30-45% with a chilled-beam system. 

To complement the heating and air conditioning technology, 2.0 University Place will also feature other energy saving techniques. Mazo is proud that the building will be cloaked in energy efficient glass, which will block the sun’s radiant heat in the summer, but attract radiant heat in the winter. This will abate the need for heating and air conditioning. Mazo also reveals that the building will utilize environmentally intelligent elevators, which will capture and re-use energy.

Rainwater filtration and transportation are two other important sustainability components for University Place. The space will be accentuated with a garden on the roof, which will collect rainwater that will eventually be recycled as graywater for the building’s toilets. Mazo lauds the building’s location as a perk to workers who ride mass transit. This development is the "epitome of transit-oriented development," says Mazo. The building is convenient to the Market-Frankford Line’s 40th St. Station and SEPTA buses. The building should also contain shower facilities for bicyclists.

While University Place Associates bared their aspirations for the currently empty lot at 41st and Filbert Sts. a couple of years ago, the stagnant economy delayed any hope of construction. Yet, plans to break ground on 2.0 University Place jolted into motion a few weeks ago when the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced they would relocate to the building. This gave Mazo the anchor tenant that he and his associates needed to proceed. "The USCIS was the catalyst that made groundbreaking possible," says the developer.

In terms of attracting other tenants, Mazo says his firm is in talks with two prospective companies. While he’s bound by confidentiality in discussing who’s interested in moving into University Place, he does say that he’s interested in drawing in technology and life science companies, along with socially responsible start-ups. They would fit right in with the expanding Science Center and universities nearby. 

Source: Scott Mazo, University Place Associates
Writer: Andy Sharpe

Viridity Energy joined with Mayor Nutter to cut the ribbon on its new Center City office last week, located on the top floor of 10 Penn Center. Viridity is an up-and-coming renewable energy company most notable for working with SEPTA on rail regenerative braking and Jefferson Hospital on wind energy storage. Before the opening of the new office, Viridity was located in Conshohocken, about 14 miles from Center City.

The innovative energy firm is excited to now be located downtown. H.G. Chissell, Viridity’s strategic development director, is convinced that his company made a good decision in moving. He points out that employees, clients, and partners can get to and from New York and Washington D.C. much more quickly and easily from Center City. This improves the lines of communication between Viridity and its growing list of clients and partners. Along with this, Chissell says that many talented, skilled people are attracted to companies with a downtown address.

Another impetus to Viridity’s move is its expansion. "We needed more space because we expanded so quickly," says Chissell. The firm now employs forty people, and continues to make headlines. Chissell is especially eager to point out his company’s increased program development and network operations space at the new location. The office also offers ample conference, cubicle, and technology room.

"The management of the building has a commitment to sustainability in line with ours," praises Chissell. As a matter of fact, the high-rise was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold status. Below LEED Platinum, LEED Gold is the second highest sustainability designation. Some of the strategic development director’s favorite sustainable features of the skyscraper include its abundance of recycled content and outside air flow.

Some of the most notable clients include Drexel University, SEPTA, Jefferson Hospital, Con-Ed Electricity, and the U.S. Army’s Fort Meade. When Chissell mentioned ease and speed of traveling to New York and Washington, he may have been thinking about Con-Ed, which is New York City’s energy provider, and Fort Meade, which is located in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Chissell summarizes Viridity’s mission as a company that strives to make its clients and partners more aware of the electricity they use. "Viridity is taking consumers and turning them into prosumers," sums up Chissell. "Prosumers" are professional consumers who are knowledgeable about the production of the energy they utilize. As electricity continues to become more in demand, and Viridity continues its growth pattern, expect to see many more prosumers. 

Source: H.G. Chissell, Viridity Energy
Writer: Andy Sharpe

One Tuesday every month, a bunch of techies, wannabe techies, and people who freely admit they don’t know much about current online trends get together to discuss and learn how to use social networking for social good. This is Philly Net Squared’s Net Tuesday, which has been gaining more and more steam since its inception in May 2008, not to mention bringing an ever growing number of community groups, non-profits, and businesses into the same room.

While it’s difficult to pin down a precise mission for Net Tuesday, founder Seth Horwitz has a general mission for his monthly meetings. “I think of our mission as helping Philly area folks to share our knowledge, passion and concerns around using emerging social web tools for making the world a better place,” explained Horwitz.

Some of Horwitz’s favorite Net Tuesdays have been the “social web samplers,” which consist of informal audience presentations on any on-line social media topic they feel is germane. This leads to fifteen short periods where audience members can elaborate on noteworthy aspects of the audience presentations.

For community groups, non-profits, and businesses, the “crowdsourcing change” Net Tuesdays are especially pertinent. During these meetings, two or three area groups present their on-line social media strategy to the audience, and then receive feedback on what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong, and what they’re realty doing wrong. Groups that have volunteered to crowdsource their on-line presence include the Philadelphia Police Athletic League, The Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Painted Bride Art Center.

Philly Net Squared thrives in its use of Facebook, Twitter, and Meetup.com. Horwitz sees two ways in which Facebook enables the Net Tuesdays, which are disseminating information about events to a broad audience and allowing attendees to RSVP. “Twitter also helps to promote the events, and it also enables us to maintain a backchannel during the events, which- combined with our Internet stream- enables us to engage with people not in Philly,” said Horwitz. Finally, Meetup.com has been a reliable RSVP source, as well as a means for members to better connect with each other.

Source: Seth Horwitz
Writer: Andy Sharpe

Right around this time last year, relations between the University City Science Center and Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (RDA)--which is responsible for encouraging development in the city--were slightly strained, to say the least. In May, the Science Center filed a lawsuit against the RDA in an attempt to stop the seizure of a portion of its University City research park. The undeveloped lots, which had fallen into default due to the financial crisis, were meant to become future additions to the Science Center's campus.

But thanks in part to a clause in the original agreement between the two agencies which disallowed foreclosure in the instance of "unforeseeable causes," the Science Center managed to hang onto its property. The two entities have also shaken hands and made up, metaphorically speaking. And on April 29, the Science Center published a press release announcing that the "longstanding redevelopment agreement" had been amended.

That's certainly good news for anyone who believes in the technology-based economic development happening at the Science Center. And according to Saul Behar, the Science Center's Vice President and General Counsel, the center now has the buffer of an additional 10 years to develop the four parcels on its campus that are still vacant. If the center is willing to shell out for additional fees, Behar says, that decade can legally be extended to 13.

As for what may or may not eventually be developed on the space over the next decade, the Science Center isn't quite sure--or isn't telling. "There's nothing solid right now," says Behar. "But we're continuing to market the parcels, and we're always looking for opportunities."

Source: Saul Behar, University City Science Center
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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It's certainly no secret, at least to those of us who call Philadelphia home, that the University City district has for many years now been the proverbial nucleus of an incredibly well-connected and highly knowledgeable cluster of medical, science and academic professionals. But unfortunately, the area's so-called 'Eds and Meds' leaders have never fully succeeded in branding their community as one of the nation's most important research centers. That perception--or rather, the lack thereof--may soon be changing, thanks to the work of a newly-formed group calling itself the University City Innovation Collaborative.

The group is being headed by the University City Science Center; the nonprofit University City District; and the Science Center's development partner, a Baltimore company known as Wexford Science and Technology.

The aim of the group, according to Stephen Tang, the Science Center's CEO, involves making University City a world-class innovation center along the lines of similar regions like Cambridge, Mass., and San Francisco's Mission Bay district. And yet what sort of development that will actually entail still remains to be seen, because as Tang explains, "This is all a work in progress; the project doesn't really finish until April."

Part of what the project will almost certainly involve, however, aside from more spaces where innovation can take place, are recreational facilities. "You have to have amenities that allow creative people to be with like-minded people for extended periods of time," Tang says. "So that means retail, it means entertainment, it means after-hours places. All those things need to come together."

Tang is also quick to point out, however, that while "it's important that we have facilities, it's more important who's in those facilities, and for what reason. We need to foster better collaboration between organizations and institutions," he offers. "And that's not only to tell the story, but to build a better story as well."

Source: Stephen Tang, University City Science Center
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Even for those of you who give only cursory attention to local media outlets, it was nearly impossible over the past week to miss the bevy of economic development-related news coming out of the Navy Yard. Perhaps the most visible had to do with the forthcoming expansion of Urban Outfitters, Inc.; on Feb. 9, Mayor Nutter's office announced that the company will soon occupy two new structures on the campus. According to the Mayor's office, Urban's investment in those two buildings, one of which is the former Navy Yard Cruise Ship Terminal, and which together clock in at slightly more than 100,000 square feet, will total roughly $30 million. What's more, Urban Outfitters says it hopes to add roughly 1,000 new permanent jobs and three additional buildings over the next three years.

The pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline had similar news to share last week: Working with Liberty Property Trust, it plans to build a LEED Platinum Certified building near the Navy Yard's front entrance. It's referring to the structure, which will occupy 205,000 square feet, as "the workplace for the 21st century." Construction of the project, which is being estimated as an $81 million investment, could be complete as early as late summer. GSK will be moving all its 1,300 employees currently working in Center City to the Navy Yard, and according to the Navy Yard's Williams J. Agate Jr., "as part of that move, (GSK is) calling this their North American headquarters."

The recent developments underscore the importance of the major piece tying them all together--the $150 million Clean Energy Campus. "It's a hard topic for people to really understand the significance of," says Agate, "but it very firmly puts Philadelphia in the center of the energy efficiency conversation. And that is right where you want to be."

To learn more about the Clean Energy Campus, click here and here.

Source: Williams J. Agate Jr., Vice President of Navy Yard Management and Development
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.