This is default featured slide 1 title
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
This is default featured slide 2 title
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
This is default featured slide 3 title
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
This is default featured slide 4 title
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
This is default featured slide 5 title
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Fine dining in Brewerytown?
By Hayden Mitman. via HomeNews
On Girard Avenue at Taney Street in Brewerytown, a former illegal boarding house stands broken.
Inside the 9,000-square-foot property, cluttered debris and signs of the historic structure's former life as ramshackle housing litter the building.
Yet, intricately textured walls and ceilings make it known that the dilapidated structure once had been loved.
"It took two years to get this place," said David Waxman as he walked through the structure.
Waxman is one of the owners of the MM Partners, a real estate management and development company rehabilitating properties along this stretch of Girard Avenue.
"The electrical and plumbing weren't good, but the bricks are solid," he said.
"It was an illegal boarding house," noted Jacob Roller, co-owner of MM Partners. "We used to see this sad parade of people going in and out of here ... The smell is still here a little bit."
The building is, indeed, impressive. Looking past a ruined stationary bike, spots of graffiti and a large hole in the second story floor, one can see that the structure had, at one time, been a beautiful building.
In the back of the property, accessed through a hole smashed in the wall where a large mirror had once stood - it's shattered pieces scattered nearby - a small residential unit exists, still in good condition.
"This isn't even close to the worst," said Waxman.
"Yeah, we've seen places that the back of the house was falling off or it was just a brick front and that was it," agreed Roller.
But soon, the men said, the entire property would be something brand new.
"It's going to be awesome," said Waxman.
After a few months of renovations, the property will welcome a new eatery, owned by one of the city's hottest young restaurateurs.
Recently, they said, Mike Stollenwerk, owner of Center City restaurants Fish and Little Fish as well as Fishtown's Fathom, signed paperwork with MM Partners with the intent to bring two new businesses to the structure.
According to the pair, early last week Stollenwerk agreed to bring a new BYO restaurant to one side of the large property, as well as a retail store with take out eats to the other.
While Stollenwerk's representatives did not return repeated calls for comment, the owners of MM Partners said the new businesses are expected to open this fall.
"We are very excited. He's one of the best chefs in the city," said Roller. "He's a very sharp guy."
And, they said, this project is just one of a few they have in the works, as they have a real desire to restore Girard Avenue to the thriving commercial corridor it once was.
In fact, within the last year, Waxman said, MM Partners has helped bring several new businesses to this stretch of Girard Avenue, to the west of Girard College.
"We've got at least twelve new businesses and that's in a year with a bad economy," said Waxman.
Along with Stollenwerk's planned businesses, a new pharmacy has opened at 27th Street and Girard Avenue, a Mugshots Coffee Shop is open at 29th Street and soon, a new bike shop, Color Wheel Bikes, will open along the avenue.
Along with new businesses on this strip, MM Partners started construction on what Roller said is the first housing development to be built north of Girard Avenue in this neighborhood in the past five years, the North 28 housing complex at 1238 N. 28th St.
Here, the company will create a 15-unit housing complex with room for 15 gated parking spots.
"Downtown is full," said Waxman. "People need roofs over their heads. ... What we are trying to do is be very affordable on the residential side."
More
On Girard Avenue at Taney Street in Brewerytown, a former illegal boarding house stands broken.
Inside the 9,000-square-foot property, cluttered debris and signs of the historic structure's former life as ramshackle housing litter the building.
Yet, intricately textured walls and ceilings make it known that the dilapidated structure once had been loved.
"It took two years to get this place," said David Waxman as he walked through the structure.
Waxman is one of the owners of the MM Partners, a real estate management and development company rehabilitating properties along this stretch of Girard Avenue.
"The electrical and plumbing weren't good, but the bricks are solid," he said.
"It was an illegal boarding house," noted Jacob Roller, co-owner of MM Partners. "We used to see this sad parade of people going in and out of here ... The smell is still here a little bit."
The building is, indeed, impressive. Looking past a ruined stationary bike, spots of graffiti and a large hole in the second story floor, one can see that the structure had, at one time, been a beautiful building.
In the back of the property, accessed through a hole smashed in the wall where a large mirror had once stood - it's shattered pieces scattered nearby - a small residential unit exists, still in good condition.
"This isn't even close to the worst," said Waxman.
"Yeah, we've seen places that the back of the house was falling off or it was just a brick front and that was it," agreed Roller.
But soon, the men said, the entire property would be something brand new.
"It's going to be awesome," said Waxman.
After a few months of renovations, the property will welcome a new eatery, owned by one of the city's hottest young restaurateurs.
Recently, they said, Mike Stollenwerk, owner of Center City restaurants Fish and Little Fish as well as Fishtown's Fathom, signed paperwork with MM Partners with the intent to bring two new businesses to the structure.
According to the pair, early last week Stollenwerk agreed to bring a new BYO restaurant to one side of the large property, as well as a retail store with take out eats to the other.
While Stollenwerk's representatives did not return repeated calls for comment, the owners of MM Partners said the new businesses are expected to open this fall.
"We are very excited. He's one of the best chefs in the city," said Roller. "He's a very sharp guy."
And, they said, this project is just one of a few they have in the works, as they have a real desire to restore Girard Avenue to the thriving commercial corridor it once was.
In fact, within the last year, Waxman said, MM Partners has helped bring several new businesses to this stretch of Girard Avenue, to the west of Girard College.
"We've got at least twelve new businesses and that's in a year with a bad economy," said Waxman.
Along with Stollenwerk's planned businesses, a new pharmacy has opened at 27th Street and Girard Avenue, a Mugshots Coffee Shop is open at 29th Street and soon, a new bike shop, Color Wheel Bikes, will open along the avenue.
Along with new businesses on this strip, MM Partners started construction on what Roller said is the first housing development to be built north of Girard Avenue in this neighborhood in the past five years, the North 28 housing complex at 1238 N. 28th St.
Here, the company will create a 15-unit housing complex with room for 15 gated parking spots.
"Downtown is full," said Waxman. "People need roofs over their heads. ... What we are trying to do is be very affordable on the residential side."
More
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Soil Kitchen: April 1st - 6th
http://soilkitchen.org
Friday, April 1st
noon-1:30pm | Wind Turbine Workshop 1
Sam Newman
Learn how to build your own wind turbine from household materials. In the first part of this three-part workshop, Sam will talk about wind turbines, location, and circuitry.
Learn how to build your own wind turbine from household materials. In the first part of this three-part workshop, Sam will talk about wind turbines, location, and circuitry.
2:00pm-3:00pm | Composting and You
Tim Bennett
Join Tim Bennett, owner of Bennett Compost, for an introduction to the principles and processes of turning organic waste into nutrient-rich compost. Good compost is key to urban growing.
Join Tim Bennett, owner of Bennett Compost, for an introduction to the principles and processes of turning organic waste into nutrient-rich compost. Good compost is key to urban growing.
3:00pm-4:30pm | Soil Sampling Workshop
TBA
Learn how to sample your soil and get accurate test results. Perfect practice for getting your soil tested at Soil Kitchen!
Learn how to sample your soil and get accurate test results. Perfect practice for getting your soil tested at Soil Kitchen!
Saturday, April 2nd
11:00am-noon | Soil Sampling Workshop
TBA
Learn how to sample your soil and get accurate test results. Perfect practice for getting your soil tested at Soil Kitchen!
Learn how to sample your soil and get accurate test results. Perfect practice for getting your soil tested at Soil Kitchen!
2:00pm-3:30pm | Community Stock
Patrick Caulfield
Learn how to invest in Community Stock! Chef Patrick Caulfield will provide lessons on investing in the value of communal local food systems. This workshop will invite small communities to join forces to create vegetable stock source from their gardens, tables and neighbors. Bring Table Scraps!
Learn how to invest in Community Stock! Chef Patrick Caulfield will provide lessons on investing in the value of communal local food systems. This workshop will invite small communities to join forces to create vegetable stock source from their gardens, tables and neighbors. Bring Table Scraps!
4:00pm-5:00pm | Soil: A Living Thing
Kyle Sirianno
Join soil scientist Kyle Sirianno in looking at the diversity that exists beneath our feet, and the patchwork of organic material that makes up our urban soil landscape. A multimedia presentation with Q&A to follow.
Join soil scientist Kyle Sirianno in looking at the diversity that exists beneath our feet, and the patchwork of organic material that makes up our urban soil landscape. A multimedia presentation with Q&A to follow.
Sunday, April 3rd
noon-3:00pm | Brownfields Conference Tour: Northern Liberties
noon-1:00pm | Composting and You
Tim Bennett
Join Tim Bennett, owner of Bennett Compost, for an introduction to the principles and processes of turning organic waste into nutrient-rich compost. Good compost is key to urban growing.
Join Tim Bennett, owner of Bennett Compost, for an introduction to the principles and processes of turning organic waste into nutrient-rich compost. Good compost is key to urban growing.
1:00pm-4:00pm | Getting to the Dirt: An Urban Agriculture Meet-Up
The Greenhorns
Join young farmer activist group The Greenhorns and the Philadelphia Urban Farm Network as they introduce young farmers in the area that make the food you eat. The meet and greet will include show and tell and small presentations from our guests.
Join young farmer activist group The Greenhorns and the Philadelphia Urban Farm Network as they introduce young farmers in the area that make the food you eat. The meet and greet will include show and tell and small presentations from our guests.
4:00pm-5:00pm | Reading: Don Quixote
TBA
A reading (from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes) of the meeting of Don Quixote and the Windmill over a bowl of soup. Learn about some of the inspiration behind Soil Kitchen. In both English and Spanish.
A reading (from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes) of the meeting of Don Quixote and the Windmill over a bowl of soup. Learn about some of the inspiration behind Soil Kitchen. In both English and Spanish.
5:00pm-6:00pm | Archive: Soil Test Results
Representative from the Agency for Toxic Substance & Disease Registry
Learn how to read your soil test results; what they mean and what you can do in response to make your environment a healthy and fruitful space for growing food. Add your test results to the first ever Soil Archive and Map.
Learn how to read your soil test results; what they mean and what you can do in response to make your environment a healthy and fruitful space for growing food. Add your test results to the first ever Soil Archive and Map.
Monday, April 4th
11:00am-2:00pm | Wind Turbine Workshop 2
Sam Newman
A hands on workshop where participants will construct a number of small wind turbines from readily available materials. Come ready to build!
A hands on workshop where participants will construct a number of small wind turbines from readily available materials. Come ready to build!
3:00pm-5:00pm | Low-tech/Low-cost Remediation of Contaminated Urban Soil
Melissa Miles
Soils in urban areas are contaminated with higher levels of heavy metals than those located in rural areas. Heavy metal contamination brings potential health risk from consumption of home-grown vegetables and fruit in urban backyard environments. This is an environmental problem that needs an environmentally safe and economically feasible solution. This workshop will provide participants with the ability to determine if their soil may be contaminated and provide them with various low-cost, low-tech methods of removing some common contaminants from urban soils.
Soils in urban areas are contaminated with higher levels of heavy metals than those located in rural areas. Heavy metal contamination brings potential health risk from consumption of home-grown vegetables and fruit in urban backyard environments. This is an environmental problem that needs an environmentally safe and economically feasible solution. This workshop will provide participants with the ability to determine if their soil may be contaminated and provide them with various low-cost, low-tech methods of removing some common contaminants from urban soils.
Tuesday, April 5th
11:00am-noon | Archive: Soil Test Results
Representative from the Agency for Toxic Substance & Disease Registry
Learn how to read your soil test results; what they mean and what you can do in response to make your environment a healthy and fruitful space for growing food. Add your test results to the first ever Soil Archive and Map.
Learn how to read your soil test results; what they mean and what you can do in response to make your environment a healthy and fruitful space for growing food. Add your test results to the first ever Soil Archive and Map.
3:00pm-5:00pm | Wind Turbines Workshop 3
Sam Newman
(Weather dependent) Return to mount the turbines and watch them spin!
(Weather dependent) Return to mount the turbines and watch them spin!
5:00pm-6:00pm | Community Stock
Patrick Caulfield
Learn how to invest in Community Stock! Chef Patrick Caulfield will provide lessons on investing in the value of communal local food systems. This workshop will invite small communities to join forces to create vegetable stock source from their gardens, tables and neighbors. Bring Table Scraps!
Learn how to invest in Community Stock! Chef Patrick Caulfield will provide lessons on investing in the value of communal local food systems. This workshop will invite small communities to join forces to create vegetable stock source from their gardens, tables and neighbors. Bring Table Scraps!
Wednesday, April 6th
noon-1:00pm | Reading: Don Quixote
TBA
A reading (from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes) of the meeting of Don Quixote and the Windmill over a bowl of soup. Learn about some of the inspiration behind Soil Kitchen. In both English and Spanish.
A reading (from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes) of the meeting of Don Quixote and the Windmill over a bowl of soup. Learn about some of the inspiration behind Soil Kitchen. In both English and Spanish.
3:00pm-5:00pm | Low-tech/Low-cost Remediation of Contaminated Urban Soil
Melissa Miles
Soils in urban areas are contaminated with higher levels of heavy metals than those located in rural areas. Heavy metal contamination brings potential health risk from consumption of home-grown vegetables and fruit in urban backyard environments. This is an environmental problem that needs an environmentally safe and economically feasible solution. This workshop will provide participants with the ability to determine if their soil may be contaminated and provide them with various low-cost, low-tech methods of removing some common contaminants from urban soils.
Soils in urban areas are contaminated with higher levels of heavy metals than those located in rural areas. Heavy metal contamination brings potential health risk from consumption of home-grown vegetables and fruit in urban backyard environments. This is an environmental problem that needs an environmentally safe and economically feasible solution. This workshop will provide participants with the ability to determine if their soil may be contaminated and provide them with various low-cost, low-tech methods of removing some common contaminants from urban soils.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Small-Business Credit Markets, Assessed by a Loan Broker
via
Q. What accounts for MultiFunding’s growth — marketing, or a worsening economic environment for businesses?
A. I think there’s a yearning and crying out for transparency and knowledge and understanding. Most small-business owners are more tradesmen than they are businessmen, and they don’t really understand the finances.
read more..
Ami Kassar of MultiFunding and Lisa Iliopoulos, who is expanding her day care center with the help of a loan arranged by MultiFunding.
By ROBB MANDELBAUM
Published: February 9, 2011
Up until summer 2009, Ami Kassar was a nine-to-fiver, working for Advanta, one of the largest providers of credit cards to small business. But then the company went bust, another victim of the credit crisis, and the newly unemployed Mr. Kassar decided to strike out on his own.
He formed MultiFunding, a broker that helps arrange loans for small businesses. It was hardly an auspicious time to open any business, but Mr. Kassar’s challenge was particularly daunting: the freeze in small commercial loans was only beginning to thaw. Plus, business loan brokering has been a fairly obscure and even somewhat shadowy field — but one that Mr. Kassar says he believes serves a growing need.
Running both a start-up and a loan broker, Mr. Kassar has had an unusual perspective on the small-business credit crisis. Based near Philadelphia, MultiFunding, which observed its first anniversary last week, now employs four people full time and has completed 12 transactions. It is presently helping 120 clients in 23 states secure financing.
Mr. Kassar, who works with companies that seek at least $250,000, said that he was able to help from one-third to one-half of his prospective clients. When MultiFunding procures financing, it takes as a fee either a percentage of the financed loan — from 1 to 2.5 percent — or, in the case of a refinancing, two months’ worth of saving over the original debt service.
Mr. Kassar recently spoke about his business and the market for small-business lending. This is a condensed version of that conversation.Q. What accounts for MultiFunding’s growth — marketing, or a worsening economic environment for businesses?
A. I think there’s a yearning and crying out for transparency and knowledge and understanding. Most small-business owners are more tradesmen than they are businessmen, and they don’t really understand the finances.
read more..
Monday, February 14, 2011
Pathmark Update
via PW
What Does The A&P Bankruptcy Mean For The Upcoming NoLibs Pathmark?
Here’s a little-known fact (at least for those outside grocery store circles): In 2007, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) acquired Pathmark for $1.4 billion, which included $475 million in debt financing. This came after decades of downsizing and increased competition from an increasingly balkanized grocery-market market (the surge of pseudo natural food stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods for some, cheap all-your-shopping Target and Wal Mart for others) and on Sunday, these factors, combined for the ultimate sad orgy (2-3 years of the Great Recession) found A&P filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(Note: The answer to the question in the headline is below)
According to APP.com (a news site based out of New Jersey), court papers listed $2.4 billion in assets and $3.2 billion in liabilities for the Jersey-based company. The Inky notes that much of A&P’s woes stem from its 2007 acquisition of Pathmark, which was financed by…wait for it…Lehman Brothers and Bank of America, according to a 2007 Associated Press article.
It’s also noted by a Business Wire press release that in spite of the filing, J.P. Morgan Chase will provide the company with $800 million in financing and the company insists stores are “fully stocked and will remain open.”
That was all before. Moments — seriously, moments! — before this blog was supposed to go up, Bart Blatstein, President of Tower Investments, who owns the property returned our call and assures us all plans for the 2nd and Girard Pathmark are on target. In fact, he says, the Pathmark on Girard is the “flagship for the company, at least as the company sees itself as. Work is continuing, it’s almost done and it’ll be open in a couple months.”
The Pathmark in NoLibs will be a ‘higher-end’ store, and the company hopes this will mark the beginning of more stores just like it.
The Chapter 11 filing, according to Blatstein, will be used as a reorgnization technique so the company can unload what could be referred to as its toxic assets, aka, locations acquired in the 2007 deal that actually hurt A&P’s overall company profits. “It’s ironic,” says Blatstein, “because Pathmark and A&P will emerge as a much stronger company…They’re getting rid of their old baggage so the company can reemerge stronger and with a better direction.”
(Answer to the headline: Basically nothing.)
Image: Tower Development
Friday, February 11, 2011
Blood Drive at Hyperion Bank, Monday
Real Blood Donors
Save Real Lives
Save Real Lives
Dear donor,
I am writing to remind you that there are still appointments available for the American Red Cross blood drive being held on Monday,February 14, 2011 at Hyperion Bank from 09:00 AM - 03:00 PM (Sponsor Code: 14826).
Please click here to view available times and to schedule your donation appointment. Walk ins are welcomed!
Thank you for your support and bring a friend, co-worker or family member with you to the drive on Monday!
Suzanne Salsbury-Mooney
(215) 789-4198
I am writing to remind you that there are still appointments available for the American Red Cross blood drive being held on Monday,February 14, 2011 at Hyperion Bank from 09:00 AM - 03:00 PM (Sponsor Code: 14826).
Please click here to view available times and to schedule your donation appointment. Walk ins are welcomed!
Thank you for your support and bring a friend, co-worker or family member with you to the drive on Monday!
Suzanne Salsbury-Mooney
(215) 789-4198
