South Philly School Conversion Will Create 84 New Apartments

The developer who purchased the former Childs Elementary School at 17th and Tasker streets plans to turn the building into apartments, with a mix of affordable and market-rate housing. Metal Ventures’ purchase of the vacant school was approved last month by the School Reform Commission.

The developer plans to create a mixed-income apartment building with 72 market rate apartments and 12 affordable apartments.

The company proposes rehabbing the existing structure and building an annex on part of the adjacent lot, said Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who has been involved with the sale process for more than a year.

Metal Ventures will build 72 market rate units and 12 affordable units and plans to include 51 off-street parking spaces on an enclosed lot.

The School District was selling the building through a community process, when it stalled.

Ultimately, the councilman worked through several well-attended public meetings and this was the plan that was most supported.

The project stills need to go through the permitting process, as well as the community meetings and public input that go along with it.

The finished project would include a community room that will be accessible by the public by request, and at dedicated times for designated community organizations.

Metal Ventures also will provide an annual contribution to the new Childs Elementary School, at 1599 Wharton Street, as a way to give back to the surrounding community.
   

Electrician Shocked While Working at Courthouse Square

An electrician was shocked yesterday while working in an office suite in the Washington County, Pennsylvania, Courthouse Square Building. He was working on the wiring in a suite of offices on the seventh floor when he touched a live wire and the metal grid that supports the ceiling tiles, according to reports.

An ambulance transported Adam Betzler, a Washington County electrician hired last year, from the Courthouse Square office building shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday after he received an electrical shock while working on wiring in a seventh-floor office suite.

He was working in offices that has been undergoing renovations.

They housed a county finance department, human services and veterans affairs.

The shock knocked him backward, but he stayed on his feet, the Sheriff's deputy said.

Betzler was able to walk to the Buildings and Grounds Department where the paramedics were called.

“He was going to turn the lights out,” said Irene Farabee, financial analyst for the county, who then “saw him shake his hand.”

The suite of offices has been undergoing renovations for the past few months.
 

Philadelphia City Council Commits to Goal of 20,000 Solar Roofs

The Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed an ambitious resolution in support of increasing solar power generation within the city of Philadelphia. The resolution sets a goal of 20,000 solar roofs by 2025, and outlines policies that can be used to reach that target.

The city of Philadelphia has vast untapped solar resources, and benefits from over 200 days of sun each year.

Yet the vast majority of the energy used by both the city and the state comes from dirty energy sources like coal, which pollutes our air, threatens community health, and fuels global warming.

In the week leading up to the vote, over 850 Philadelphians signed a petition in support of making Philadelphia a solar leader by committing to the goal of 20,000 solar roofs by the year 2025.
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“As the mother of a 17-year old daughter, I see public policy through the prism of her future,” said Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, the resolution's sponsor and Chair of the City Council Committee on the Environment.

“To the best of our ability, we must leave a cleaner, more sustainable planet for future generations. That requires setting ambitious goals, like producing enough solar energy to power 20,000 homes by 2025, and committing to do the necessary follow through. I look forward to working with a diverse group of stakeholders to make this goal a reality.”

Philadelphia City Councilman James Kenney, who cosponsored the resolution, stated that “increasing use of solar energy is not only important for our environment, but it can be a tremendous source of job creation right here in Philadelphia.”

Philadelphia has already laid a foundation for solar energy. In 2008 the U.S. Department of Energy designated Philadelphia as a Solar America City, and has partnered with the Mayor’s office of Sustainability to form the “Solar City Partnership,” designed to facilitate the development of solar energy within the city.

Philadelphia’s efforts are part of a broader national trend, where more solar has been installed in the past 18 months than in the 30 years prior.
  

New Comcast Tower Will Conquer the Philadelphia Skyline

Six years after Comcast moved into the city's tallest building, the cable-TV and Internet giant expects to break ground this summer on an even taller, more dazzling, $1.2 billion tower. The 1,121-foot mixed-use tower will be the tallest building in the country outside of New York or Chicago. The massive project is expected to jolt Philadelphia's lethargic economy with about 6,300 temporary construction-related jobs and an additional 14,400 jobs in Pennsylvania.

The Comcast Corporation has revealed plans to construct a $1.2 billion, 59-story Comcast skyscraper in Philadelphia designed by British architect Norman Foster of Foster + Partners.

At a height of 1,121 feet, the mixed-use tower is expected to be the tallest building in the United States outside of New York and Chicago.

According to Comcast, it will also be the largest private development project in Pennsylvania’s history.

The new building's adventurous architecture will be a public statement of the company's evolution from a low-tech cable-TV provider to a technology developer with video streaming, Internet products, and mobile apps.

The new Comcast Innovation and Technology Center on Arch Street between 18th and 19th Streets in Center City, will be a neighbor to Comcast Center, the corporation’s current global headquarters, topping that building’s height by 150 feet.

The city and state have committed $40 million in grants to the project, officials said. At 59 stories, the new tower will have about 1.5 million square feet of rentable space.

In addition, the Suburban Station concourse will be extended a block to the west beneath 18th Street.

To help pay for the concourse extension and other public-space improvements, the state has committed $30 million in economic-development grants, and the city has said it will contribute $10 million.

Comcast intends to accommodate the company’s growing work force of technologists, engineers, and software architects. It will become home to the operations of local broadcast television stations and local technology startup companies.

The office spaces, "highly flexible loft-like spaces and studios" are "designed for a dynamic way of working—an engine for the city’s evolution as the kind of leading technology hub presently associated with Silicon Valley,” said Foster in a Comcast press release.

"The arrival of the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center makes it perfectly clear that Philadelphia is a premiere U.S. hub of innovation, technology, creativity and productivity," Philadelphia City Council president Darrell Clarke said in a press release.
 
Comcast is partnering with Malvern, Pennsyvania-based Liberty Property Trust to develop the glass and stainless steel tower, which will include a Four Seasons hotel on the top 13 floors and 2,700 square feet of retail space.

"This is a very special project. It is an opportunity to create a unique and sustainable model for mixed-use, high density development, which uniquely combines spaces for high tech research and development with restaurants, gardens, fitness facilities, and a significant public reception space—a window on Philadelphia," said Foster.

The project includes an estimated $1.2 billion private investment of with approximately $900 million funded by the joint partnership and approximately $300 million will be tenant-funded interior improvements.

The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center is expected to generate $2.75 billion in economic activity within the Commonwealth and the creation of over 20,000 temporary jobs, as well as nearly 4,000 new permanent jobs within the state and 2,800 new permanent jobs within the city. The project will also produce $30.7 million in annual Commonwealth tax revenues and $21.5 million in annual City tax revenues.

"This new building is a game-changer for Comcast and for Philadelphia," said Mayor Michael Nutter. "A world-class building, designed by a world-class architect, built by a world-class developer for a world-class company, all happening in the world-class city of Philadelphia."

Set to break ground this summer, the project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2017.
 

Rebate Opportunity for Government and Institutional Customers

Join the network of contractors, suppliers, ESCOs and design professionals who are growing their businesses by leveraging PPL Electric Utilities E-power® incentives for energy-efficiency projects.

Through its E-power initiative, PPL Electric Utilities is helping its customers better understand how they use energy, take action to achieve measurable reductions in electricity use and save money.

E-power rebates and incentives lower the cost of investing in new energy-efficient equipment. And being energy-efficient helps customers realize long-term energy savings.

When your customers become more energy-efficient, it can also increase the demand for your business because the majority of appliances, systems and equipment that qualify require professional consultation and installation from companies like yours.
 

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Your project could qualify for a rebate from PPL Electric*

 

PPL Electric is currently offering additional rebates for sensors and other energy-saving solutions for its government and institutional customers.

To find out more about the rebate, visit www.pplelectric.com/e-power. 
*To qualify product must be installed and operational between March 21, 2014 and May 9, 2014.

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Lutron sensors are a great way to take advantage of this rebate.

 

Lutron has a full line of reliable, in-wall sensors that install and set up easily. Its wireless occupancy sensors can be installed and operational within minutes, with limited disruption to the space.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to receive $2,800+ of FREE occupancy sensors!
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Commission Approves Plan for American Revolution Museum

They were told to make it better - Philadelphia's Art Commission would accept no less from architects designing a proposed $150 million museum devoted to the Revolutionary War. Especially one that would stand just two blocks from Independence Hall. So Wednesday, Robert A.M. Stern Architects delivered. And they were rewarded with unanimous approval of revised designs they had put together for the Museum of the American Revolution at Third and Chestnut Streets.

The panel's vote effectively clears the way for building permits to be issued in the months ahead and for construction plans to be drawn up for a hoped-for opening in late 2016.

Preparatory work for demolition at the site is slated to begin this month.

The firm went back to the drawing board after the commission, during a February meeting, found fault with its renderings, saying it did not feel all architectural components of the planned building fully blended with the surrounding historic district.

The changes that won over the commission were not minor: Architects replaced a cupola with a less-glaring, square-edged element lower on the building; reworked the front entrance on Third; and added to the facade on Chestnut a large lobby window and full-size replica along the sidewalk of John Trumbull's famous painting hanging in the Capitol Rotunda, The Signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The commission voted, 9-0, Wednesday in favor of the amended design. Museum president and CEO Michael Quinn called the commission's unanimous approval of the redesign "terrific news."

Asked how much the new elements would add to the project's cost, Quinn estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars. But this would be covered by funds set aside for contingencies, and would not change the budgeted price tag.

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"Our team did a great job of responding to them," Quinn said after he made presentations, and the commission approved the revised design. "We really felt they were offering their comments in the spirit of achieving the best building for the City of Philadelphia,"

Art Commission director William J. Burke Jr. said the designers responded head-on to concerns that the original concept contained something of a "mishmash" of architectural styles. How unusual was it for a group to respond so on-point to the panel's recommendations? "This particular group did it quite well," he said.

And although one more commission vote is required, next month, to formalize the approval, the vote Wednesday effectively means the process of applying for building permits and preparing construction plans may proceed, according to CEO Quinn.

Early-phase demolition work could begin in about a week, with the installation of a fence, followed by asbestos removal inside the long-vacant Independence National Historical Park visitor center (a structure built for the nation's Bicentennial), that will be torn down to make way for the new museum.
  

Energy Retrofits Now Easier and Faster Than Ever

Download The New Lutron® Energi Advisor™ app from iTunes® 
Lighting retrofits can significantly reduce lighting energy use and meet new energy code requirements. 

With minimal project information, the new Lutron Energi Advisor app, created by Lutron Electronics Co., simplifies energy audits and greatly reduces the time previously required for retrofit system design and proposal generation. 

The Energi Advisor app takes the guesswork out of project proposals and provides users with the following: 

- a bill of materials

- anticipated energy savings

- anticipated return on investment

After configuring project information (local electric utility rates, rebates, and labor rates), the app guides users through an energy audit requiring only basic information, such as room size, number of fixtures, type of fixtures, and then produces a complete project design and budget. The app supports multiple options for each project to ensure that budget and control requirements can be addressed without compromising performance.

Get started with the Energi Advisor app today:

- Download the Energi Advisor app for iPhone/iPad from the Apple app Store

- The first time you launch the Energi Advisor app you will be prompted to enter your myLutron account credentials—easily create a free account if you don’t have one already

- Set your preferences and start auditing

 
Download the Energi Advisor App for Free 

Download Sell Sheet 

Questions about how to use the app?

† iPad, iPhone and iPod touch are registered trademarks of Apple®, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Photo courtesy of Lutron Electronics Co.