on the ground : Development News

In 25 years of business, commercial real estate developer Ken Weinstein of Philly Office Retail has mentored plenty of wannabe real estate developers. Recently, two such novices approached him after a community meeting and asked him to mentor them. He offered to sit down with them together and spend three hours teaching them the basics of development.

From this three hour session came the inspiration for Jumpstart Germantown, an initiative Weinstein is spearheading to drive investment in the Northwest Philadelphia neighborhood where he's been investing and working his entire career. This new organization looks to "jumpstart" the neighborhood by mentoring inexperienced developers, connecting them with each other and more experienced developers, and providing loans to spur development. 

"There is great enthusiasm for doing more in Germantown," explains Weinstein. "We totally did not expect this much energy and enthusiasm this quickly. It's clear that what we're offering has struck a nerve."

One of those original novices who approached Weinstein is Nancy Deephouse. He has tapped her to lead the Developers' Network, bringing together inexperienced and experienced developers alike. On May 28, more than 100 people showed up to the first meeting of Jumpstart Germantown's Developers Network at the newly renovated Greatness is in You! Drama School and Performing Arts Center (4811 Germantown Avenue).

Weinstein has also received 79 applications from developers who want to be part of the nine-hour program he's created about development. Only eight at a time will go through the course; the next cycle starts in July. He says he'll make sure each of those 79 get through.  

Jumpstart Germantown will also provide loans of up to 95 percent of the cost of a residential development project. These short-term loans are funded by a $2 million line of credit, which means they could service up to 30 loans at a time. What makes this loan program different from others is that the organization does not have the same loan requirements as a bank. But the hope is that recipients will be able to sell the property or finance it through a bank at the end of 9-to-12 months so that Jumpstart Germantown can exit the loan.

So far they've received five applications and signed deals to provide two loans of approximately $75,000 each. These loans are going to developers who have two and four development projects behind them, respectively.

Weinstein, who got his start in residential real estate, says he could've gotten back into that business but he'd rather help others. 

"I always push mentees strongly to start in residential," says Weinstein. "I'd rather empower others to [revive Germantown's residential real estate]. This is a great, grassroots way to give people the knowledge and funding."

Writer: Rosella LaFevre
Source: Ken Weinstein, Philly Office Retail
 

A major upgrade is coming for Germantown Avenue's Vernon Park -- and it should be completed by this summer. On Friday, March 20, 8th District Councilwoman Cindy Bass will join Deputy Major Michael Diberardinis and representatives from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Philadelphia Water Department, and the Fairmount Park Conservancy to break ground on the renovations.

Green 2015 (which launched in 2012), the project’s umbrella, is "an initiative to upgrade the quality of the public environment at our smaller neighborhood parks and recreation centers," explains Mark Focht, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation’s first deputy commissioner for parks and facilities. "We’ve worked really closely with members of [City] Council to have them select sites in their districts that have great citizen involvement, but needed some help or support."

Improvements to Vernon Park will include better walkways, new play equipment and the addition of adult fitness equipment so parents or grandparents can work out while the youngsters play. The make-over will also feature new benches and picnic tables.

"The other significant thing is we’re completely upgrading the lighting in the entire park, so all the paths will be re-lit with very high-quality lighting," says Focht. And compared to other Green 2015 participants (including Grays Ferry’s Stinger Square Park, another renovation currently underway), "Vernon is a little unique because we have these three major monuments in it…they’re great architectural and sculptural features in the park."

The current upgrade will include cleaning and new lighting for these landmarks.

The $1.2 million dollars for the project came mostly from the 8th District council office, to the tune of $850,000, with Parks and Recreation furnishing the remaining $350,000. The work will take place throughout April, May and June, and will not restrict access to Center in the Park or Vernon House. Only about half of the park will need to be closed completely, around the northern and western edges where the current playground is.

"We’ve committed to the Councilwoman and the neighbors that it’ll be done in time for their jazz concert series" in July, Focht insists.

The Vernon Park groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Friday, March 20 from 2 - 3 p.m.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Mark Focht, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation

In January, all eyes were on the old YWCA at 5820 Germantown Avenue, bordering Vernon Park in Germantown. Despite a wealth of local affection for the building, whose use as a YWCA facility dates back to 1914, it may face demolition, and residents are anxiously asking what can be done to save it.

Despite its important place in the neighborhood's 20th century history, the building has been left to languish empty for years, damaged by vandalism and fires. The YMCA owned the building until 2006; then Germantown Settlement purchased the site, but no plans materialized. With the structure in steep decline, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) brought the building to sheriff’s sale and acquired it in 2013.

Last fall, a request for proposals for the site drew a plan from just one interested developer: the Philly-based Mission First Housing Group, which would partner with Philly Office Retail to convert the building into 50 independent senior-living units, pending a state-administered federal tax subsidy (Mission First would retain sole ownership of the site.) But the PRA rejected the proposal last month.

"This issue is something that’s really important to people, so it brings out a lot of passions," said Germantown United CDC Board President Garlen Capita at a January 22 community meeting on the issue, held at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown.

The meeting drew a large crowd of concerned locals, and featured PRA Executive Director Brian Abernathy, Mission First Housing Group Director of Business Development Mark Deitcher, 8th District Councilwoman Cindy Bass and Philly Office Retail president Ken Weinstein as speakers.

By all counts, the condition of the building now means that it will cost more money to rehabilitate and re-use than it would to demolish and rebuild. Abernathy estimated the cost of stabilizing the structure at $3 million, and according to Deitcher, a Mission First assessment found that the 50,000-square-foot facility would cost $200 per square foot to restore.

Several speakers, including Bass and community members who took the microphone for a question-and-answer session, emphasized the importance of not rushing to take the first proposal to materialize for the site.

But Weinstein came out strongly in support of the Mission First proposal: "This project does not represent settling for what’s in front of us," he insisted.

For her part, the Councilwoman said two other developers had approached her with interest in the site after word of its possible demolition got out, but she declined to give any specifics.

GUCDC Executive Director Andy Trackman tells Flying Kite that they're still awaiting word on next steps for the old YWCA: nothing can move forward until the city’s Office of Licenses and Inspections surveys the site and makes its report.

Elliot Griffin, a spokesperson for Bass, says the councilwoman has scheduled meetings with stakeholders from City agencies about the structural soundness of the building.

So, when can the community expect the critical L&I report? Griffin can’t comment on the timing of a public announcement, but confirms that Bass expects to hear from L&I soon.

Community activist and W. Rockland Street Project leader Emaleigh Doley, who also spoke up at last month’s meeting, tells Flying Kite that the lack of discussion about the site prior to the news of its possible demolition bothered her.

"There should be conversation, but the manner in which this issue was raised exploited the threat of demolition…and takes full advantage of the neighborhood’s vulnerabilities," she says. "Even after leaving the meeting, I was left asking, what is really going on here?"

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Andy Trackman, GUCDC; Elliot Griffin, Councilwoman Cindy Bass; Emaleigh Doley, W. Rockland Street Project
 

Three years ago, the nearly five-acre expanse of the John B. Kelly Elementary School grounds got the attention of the neighbors. The Kelly Green initiative, led by the Hansberry Garden and Nature Center in southwest Germantown and an enthusiastic coalition of volunteers, wanted to transform the barren grass-and-concrete lot into an educational, eco-friendly community space.

Now, according to project leader Dennis Barnebey, a Hansberry board member, the initiative is on the cusp of securing dollars from the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD). And thanks to a graduate class at Philadelphia University dedicating a semester to the project, they are also closing in on final plans for an affordable upgrade.

Kelly Green was jumpstarted in spring 2012 with a service grant from the Community Design Collaborative and a 2014 practicum at Philadelphia University that also focused on the site. But as it turned out, none of those plans were "shovel-ready." As Barnebey explains, they lacked specific construction details, measurements and precise cost estimates, and the estimates they had were far beyond the project’s fundraising power.

But the students at Philadelphia University "are convinced it doesn’t have to be that expensive," says Barnebey of the concrete plans the class will produce. They’ll capitalize on "the whole idea of naturalizing a space, as opposed to architecturally designing everything perfectly." That means a range of options, like building up hills for slides, sand areas for playing, and using a playground floor of crushed bark instead of an expensive porous soft-surface finish.

“For Philadelphia University, it’s an opportunity to get their hands on something real, not just in a book, and hopefully provide a model for other places," he adds. "They’re looking at ways this could be done affordably."

For now, thanks in part to volunteers from Penn State’s Master Gardener program, the site boasts a beautiful new student-planted garden with about fifteen beds for flowers and a huge range of vegetables. Local volunteers helped maintain the site over the summer, and last year, workers in a job-training program through Restorative Justice at the Mural Arts Program provided a new shed, picnic tables, and a garden fence with bird houses and butterfly boxes.

"Having that develop in the way that it has and seeing what can happen in that desert back there has helped change people’s minds [and] get more people on board," says Barnebey of the progress so far.

As for water management, the school site hosted a PWD representative in the first week of January, who, according to Barnebey, confirmed that Kelly Green is an ideal candidate for a Stormwater Management Incentive Program Grant. If they’re successful, that could mean up to $100,000 per eligible acre for new stormwater infrastructure, a boon for ongoing landscape efforts. 

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Dennis Barnebey, Kelly Green
 

"Camden High School has been a project that has been talked about for years," says New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) spokesperson Kristen MacLean. In December, a $50 million commitment from the state towards renovations for the site marked an exciting step forward after several tumultuous years.
  
The SDA has invested over $260 million in Camden projects to date (including five news schools). A 2008 capital plan that included Camden High got tabled when the auditor of New Jersey determined that it wasn’t in compliance with state statutes, and Governor Christie, then newly in office, suspended the plan until it could be corrected.

“We really sort of scrapped everything at the SDA [and] started looking at the projects for their needs and making a system to prioritize those needs that was very much in line with the statutes,” says MacLean of the organization’s response.
 
By 2011, that included a list of the state’s highest priority school projects, numbering about 150. SDA then developed a new capital plan to address the top ten most urgent jobs on that list, and Camden High School was one of them.

In June 2013, the School District was taken over by the state, and MacLean says the new superintendent brought "a whole new way of thinking about this project as well." 

According to a December 2014 statement from Governor Christie’s office, an Interagency Working Group -- made up of members from the SDA, the New Jersey Department of Education and Camden School District -- worked on defining the best way forward for Camden High. Camden City School District spokesperson Brendan Lowe confirms that while its graduation numbers have seen small increases in recent years, Camden City High, which has about 800 students, still has a graduation rate of about 50 percent.
 
“We need to improve the performance of the school in general and certainly the physical building, the quality of the facility, plays a role in school culture"” explains Lowe.
 
Would it need an entirely new building?
 
No, the Working Group concluded.

"There’s a great attachment to the school in the community and the building has pretty good bones," insists MacLean. So the new dollars will go toward an addition/renovation project, as well as improved programming.  
 
Lowe says more money from the state of New Jersey -- the exact amount depends on the design -- will make construction possible. The state expects to issue a call for design services early this year.
 
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Kristen MacLean, The New Jersey Schools Development Authority; Brendan Lowe, Camden City School District. 
 

For West Philly's People’s Emergency Center (PEC), a special partnership with their teenage Community Connectors and the Public Workshop meant an opportunity to serve two major aspects of their mission: keeping locals informed, and activating problematic spaces in a positive way.

The vacant lot at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lancaster Avenue has long been a troubled place, but the youngsters of Community Connectors, an outreach and community organization group, worked throughout the summer to design and build a new picnic table and an attention-getting bulletin board to revamp the site.

"PEC works on getting information to people who don’t have internet," explains Meg Lemieur, a spokesperson for the PEC’s Community Development Corporation. Some people may have access to the web on a phone, but many don’t have it on a home computer.

So how do you keep residents informed about community events without Twitter and Facebook? You rely on the old school way of spreading the word.

The Community Connectors' bulletin board, constructed with the help of Public Workshop, is an all-weather bright orange box with PEC-provided plastic sleeves for anyone who wants to post information there. A November event celebrated the installation.

"It was a freezing-cold day and we had forty or fifty people come out anyway," recalls Lemieur. "There was a large cry-out for more of these [bulletin boards]."

So PEC is setting its sights on placing a second one at another vacant lot one block east; a spring 2015 installation is planned. In the meantime, the Connectors and Public Workshop have provided a fence to protect the lot, keeping it safe and clean for a roster of events like those already underway at the 42nd and Lancaster site. (These projects and events are funded by LISC Philadelphia, ArtPlace America and the Surdna Foundation.)

"There’s a lot of energy around making safe spaces in the neighborhood," says Lemieur. Projects like this help, "but it’ll be an ongoing process."

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source. Meg Lemieur, People’s Emergency Center
 

Julie Stapleton Carroll of the Germantown Community Charter School Coalition says the group saw it as "a good sign, and not just serendipity," that their application regarding the former Germantown High School site was the very first of 40 scheduled to be debated at an initial round of hearings with the School District’s Charter Schools Office (CSO).

Going first was also a little nerve-wracking, of course, Stapleton added. She’s a very active figure in local education: along with spearheading the Coalition, she’s vice president of Germantown United CDC and CEO of Principled Schools, Inc.

More than 50 Germantowners -- wearing customized green t-shirts to show their support -- attended the December 8 hearing at 440 North Broad Street. The presentation was limited to 15 minutes and did not include many details of the proposed charter school’s educational program.

“We didn’t go deeply into our curriculum," explains Carroll. "We just wanted to paint a picture of how we came about and who we were and what we wanted."

The Coalition got its start in spring 2013 through GUCDC, just as the school was facing closure by the District. It has 25 partner organizations including Philadelphia University, Germantown Life Enrichment Center, the Germantown Artists Roundtable, the Germantown High School Alumni Association and multiple neighbors’ associations, along with support from State Representative Stephen Kinsey.

While the group awaits its second CSO hearing, Carroll fills Flying Kite in on the school’s proposed educational model. While she insists it won’t be a vocational tech school, the Coalition's proposal will meld rigorous academics with a "project-based" occupational focus on the hospitality, tourism and construction trades.

This makes sense to local stakeholders given Germantown’s burgeoning tourist district and 400+ years of history, including numerous nationally notable sites dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.

"Tourism is a huge industry," says Carroll. "Germantown is at a tipping point really in where the local commercial corridor is going to go."

The charter school would cater to grades six through twelve. For the first three years, students would have weekly classes on "career exploration" topics geared towards understanding these industries, along with tips for job interviews and personal conduct.

Ninth through twelfth-graders would undertake more in-depth studies in their chosen focus areas, including work with local institutions.

"Our hope, our vision as the school grows, is that we can attract both a restaurant and a small boutique hotel to co-locate with us," adds Carroll.

Carroll predicts that second hearing will occur in late January. Representatives will answer questions about the application from a hearing officer and have the opportunity to make a final statement. The School Reform Commission has 75 days from the December 8 presentation to decide the school's fate. 

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Julie Stapleton Carroll, Germantown Community Charter School Coalition
 

As part of a larger effort to improve Germantown's walkability, a problematic corner on Chelten Avenue is getting a low-cost, high-value makeover. The spot in question is the northwest corner of Chelten Avenue and Greene Street, right next to the southeast corner of Vernon Park.

"It has some pretty inherent design flaws that have been present ever since it was constructed," explains City Planning Commission North/Northwest Senior Planner Matt Wysong, noting a walled-off fifteen-foot-wide area, whose floor is lower than the rest of the sidewalk. "It renders it very unusable. It’s hidden and also a vacuum for trash...[It also tends to] attract people who do not-so-legal things."

Efforts to revamp the corner got underway about a year ago when Wysong first met with a group of local designers. They had ideas for low-cost, low-maintenance ways to improve the intersection. These included knocking down the wall that divides the space and putting in decking to correct the grade change. There'd be no need to dig up or replace the existing concrete.

Wysong also points to better seating and regular tree pruning as simple ways to spruce up the space. And since Vernon Park is invisible from Chelten Avenue (thanks to the line of stores along its east side), taking down the wrought-iron fence that currently divides the plaza from the Chelten and Greene plaza could be a great way to offer a new "front door" to the park.

There is $17,000 in the pot for the project’s initial design and engineering, cobbled together from some money left over from a city planning contract for yearly on-call services through the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities.

Those kinds of dollars -- "not enough to plug into a large project," says Wysong -- are just the ticket for a small-scale improvement like this. Wysong estimates that the design phase will be done by this spring, with construction beginning in early 2016. The complete overhaul would cost about $200,000, he guesses, which could come from a combination of state-level and foundation grants.  

With a little local elbow grease and a bit of funding, the ultimate goal is to make the corner "a more usable, more active place," in line with efforts to improve Germantown’s overall pedestrian infrastructure.

Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Matt Wysong, City Planning Commission
 

University City District (UCD) is moving forward with its plans to revitalize the 40th Street Trolley Portal. The project is being led by Prema Gupta, the organization's director of planning and economic development.

If you've ever been to the 40th Street trolley stop, you probably know it’s not the most inviting or vibrant place in University City. That will soon change with the introduction of The Plaza, the first component in UCD's creative reimagining of the transit hub.

The Plaza will boast chairs, tables, benches, trees and planters, and even boulders for climbing and play. Designed as an amenity for local students, residents and SEPTA passengers, the space will also host ongoing UCD programming and events.

The second component of the portal, The Apron, will improve pedestrian access and replace surfaces around the tracks with seating walls bordering heaps of wildflowers and native plants selected to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.

Gupta originally announced the project this past spring, and it looks like UCD will begin construction earlier than planned after raising an additional $1.4 million in funds for the effort.

"Because we’ve raised such significant funding, we’re really able to see this come to fruition sooner than we anticipated," says UCD representative Lori Brennan.

"Our work is what happens at ground level," adds UCD Policy and Research Manager Seth Budick, who is currently working on an ambitious public space survey. "We look to constantly make improvements to all the areas and spaces between developments and transit."

It's likely Budick's findings will lead to numerous project tweaks, as he continually oversees improvements to existing public spaces in University City.

"We’re studying in great detail how people are using these [public] spaces and what they’re doing there," he explains. "It’s an approach we’ve really taken to heart."

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Lori Brennan and Seth Budick, University City District
 

At a press event this past Wednesday, October 15, Center City District (CCD) President Paul Levy announced the upcoming Rothman Ice Rink at Dilworth Park in front of City Hall.

Sponsored by its namesake orthopedic practice, the Rothman Institute, the new ice skating venue will open to the public on Friday, November 14. Along with Rothman, PNC Bank and local ABC affiliate WPVI have provided financial support for the rink, which will be erected atop Dilworth Park's 11,600-square-foot fountain. It will ve roughly the size of the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

All-day admission to the ice will be $3 for children and $4 for adults, with skate rentals available for $8. Open seven days a week, the venue will stay open on holidays and offer a four-week learn-to-skate program on Sunday mornings, along with additional events and programs coordinated by CCD.

Avid people-watchers and tired parents will be able relax on the PNC terrace, where they can enjoy coffee, pastries and sandwiches from José Garces’ Rosa Blanca Cuban Diner. Free Wi-Fi will remain available throughout the winter.

As a result of a competitive bidding process held by CCD earlier this year, Rink Management Service Corporation will operate the rink and offer group discounts, birthday party packages and private rentals. 

Held at noon, the press event allowed visitors to get a sense of just how popular Dilworth Park has become as the midday lunch crowd and tourists streamed into the brand new public space.

Other Dilworth Park updates were also provided: According to Levy, a lawn and more bench seating will be accessible this week, and the remainder of the park is set to open before Thanksgiving.

Information on Rothman Ice Rink events and other updates are available at dilworthpark.com.

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Paul Levy, Center City District
 

A little over two years ago, the West Philadelphia-based Enterprise Center celebrated the opening of its 13,000-square-foot Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE), a shared incubator space where retail food entrepreneurs without a commercial kitchen facility of their own could set up shop.
 
The CCE has since become a powerful resource among the city's start-up retail food community; click here and here to read previous Flying Kite reports on the venture.
 
Around the time of the CCE's launch, Bryan Fenstermaker of the Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC) began receiving feedback that a different community of culinary entrepreneurs -- would-be restaurant owners -- was also interested in acquiring start-up assistance. So a plan was hatched to create Common Table, a restaurant incubator that will offer technical, financial and managerial assistance.
 
Common Table is currently being constructed inside one of the CCE's three retail spaces at South 48th and Spruce Streets. It will feature a rentable 40-seat pop-up restaurant for amateur or experienced chefs who would like to take their culinary creations public. The restaurant space is scheduled to open this fall.
 
In the meantime, an application process opened two weeks ago for a 6 to 12 month fellowship that will test the brick-and-mortar restaurant concepts of six to nine participants. The selection process will involve a business plan submission and a tasting competition judged by local culinary heavyweights.
 
Applications for the Common Table Fellowship can be accessed at commontablephilly.com.

Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Allina Yang, TEC-CDC

Here's the unfortunate news: Every year in the city of Philadelphia, some 600 homes -- most of them ruined and crumbling beyond repair -- are demolished, never to be brought back to life. It's business as usual in the residential real estate industry.

But when Temple Contemporary started investigating Philadelphia's deteriorating housing stock, the galley's director, Robert Blackson, began thinking differently about the emotional weight carried by the destruction of surplus homes. The poignant memories of a family and its internal life were being bulldozed and turned into so much dust by a demolition crew.  
 
Blackson eventually discovered the work of local artist Jacob Hellman, who had participated in housing demolition work through Mayor John Street's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. Hellman had held a memorial service of sorts for the era's destroyed homes.

"That led me to think about making [Hellman's memorial] into a larger occasion," explains Blackson.      
 
That "larger occasion" soon became Funeral for a Home. Both an acknowledgement of the local community and an art project, the project's intention is to "celebrate the life of a single Philadelphia row house as it is razed," according to a statement on the group's website.  
 
Beginning at 11 a.m. on May 31, a two-bedroom rowhouse at 3711 Melon Street in Mantua will be laid to rest. This "funeral" will feature speeches from community members, a street procession, a gospel choir and a family-style meal, while helping participants reflect on the challenges of a city overflowing with unused housing.

"I feel [this is] definitely a project that's indicative of our human nature," says Blackson. "To have a kinship with our shelter."
 
The funeral service is free and open to the public. For more on Funeral for a Home, check out this feature from last November.  
 
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Robert Blackson, Temple Contemporary
 

Flying Kite readers should remember the address 322 W. Chelten Avenue — the Germantown storefront was a site for our "On the Ground” program, a year-long initiative that activated underutilized spaces in under-covered neighborhoods. Thanks to a new loan program from the Commerce Department, 322 W. Chelten Avenue is now home to a thriving new business, Rose Petals Café & Lounge.

The InStore Forgivable Loan Program targets retail, food and creative businesses on commercial corridors that serve low- to moderate-income communities. The loans enable businesses to purchase equipment and materials in order to expand or open a new location. The Department of Commerce had previously offered grants for façade renovations through its Storefront Improvement Program, but a funding option for interior improvements did not exist.

"The program helps to revitalize Philadelphia's commercial corridors as the backbone of residential neighborhoods," says Jonathan Snyder, Sr. from the Commerce Department. "InStore Loans strategically invest in businesses that will increase foot traffic, improve the retail mix, enhance existing businesses, create jobs, and provide goods and services." 

The loans range between $15,000 and $50,000, and are forgiven if the recipient meets program guidelines for five years. For Rose Petals, the funding covered the cost of critical start-up supplies, including refrigeration units, a hood and exhaust system for the stove, new floors, shelving units, a copper ceiling and a coffee bar.

Rose Petals was selected because of its proximity to public transportation and distinction as one of the neighborhood's only sit-down restaurants. As the first business to receive an InStore Loan, the cafe influenced the program's development.

"They were selected as the pilot recipient to help us refine the application process to ensure it was as efficient as possible for future applicants," explains Snyder.

The InStore Program is now available for businesses on more than 88 eligible commercial corridors throughout the city. 

Writer: Nicole Woods
Source: Jonathan Snyder, Department of Commerce

The Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics is doling out $20,000 worth of grants to foster art and design-based projects that address civic challenges or improve public space. Among the winners are Flying Kite favorites such as the Public Workshop, the University City District and Friends of Maplewood Mall in Germantown. The awardees are as follows: 

Public Workshop will receive a $6,000 grant to fund "Choose Your Own City Hall Adventure," a new signage initiative in City Hall that will help individuals navigate the serpentine public space more efficiently.

University City District will receive a $3,900 grant to create "Tree Seats," a functional art project providing seating in naturally shaded areas across the neighborhood.

The North 5th Street Revitalization Project will receive $5,100 to support the "Gateways to Olney: Where Local is Global" project, a collaborative partnership that transforms key bus stops along corridor into small-scale visitor centers.

The Friends of Maplewood Mall will receive a $5,000 grant to make physical improvements to Germantown's historic Maplewood Mall; the grant will also support arts-related programming.

The Challenge Grants Competition is a partnership between the Office of New Urban Mechanics and the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. Funding is provided by the Knight Foundation and managed by CEOs for Cities.

A few weeks ago, leaders from all levels of New Jersey government held a ribbon cutting ceremony in Camden to celebrate the completion of three TIGER-funded trail projects. The paved segments are crucial to completing the long-envisioned regional system of interconnected greenways.
 
"They're essential projects," says Ian Leonard with Camden County's Department of Public Works. "They allow for the connection of 128 miles of already-completed trails."
 
That system, dubbed The Circuit, will include 750 miles of trails; more than 250 miles have already been built throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
 
Planners also hope that the three Camden County projects will boost economic development opportunities and quality of life for local residents.They include new bike lanes, lighting, signage, and extensive street and sidewalk improvements throughout downtown Camden. Located along Martin Luther King Boulevard, Pearl Street and Pine Street in Camden, the trails connect to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, making it easier for Philadelphians to bike or walk into Camden, and then on to Collingswood or Cherry Hill.

"The completion of these projects was a true partnership between federal, state and local leaders," says Leonard. "It's a perfect example of all levels of government working together and being engaged."

Future funding will support Camden's passage of a complete streets policy to promote walkable neighborhoods as well as ongoing efforts to complete The Circuit. 

Source:  Ian Leonard, Camden County
Writer: Greg Meckstroth