Just in time for the Holiday

In a funk? Not in the spirit yet? Well, there's only a few days left so get it in gear! Maybe this could help.  Dave Urffer's performance yesterday at the annual Tuba Christmas at the Kimmel Center. He's big time. 

Pumpkin Carving Tradition lives on

Lauren and Greg carving

The Boss making an architectural pumpkin

Izzo and Knepley's creation, good enough for #2 place!

Jen and Sam's porcupine, a tie for second.

Dave and Katie's owl, the grand champ.

It wouldn't be October if we didn't have our annual pumpkin carving contest in the office. This year was sort of the exception. Technically, we did our pumpkin carving this year in November due to some big deadlines, but that didn't stop the fun. To be fair, partners were randomly selected from a hat, and each team had an hour and a half or thereabouts to complete their creation.  Some were good, some were better.  This year Katie Robinson and Dave Urffer stole the title for best pumpkin from last year's reigning champ Katie Brill.  If you didn't already know, Katie Robinson is the new Katie Brill.  (marriage) Check out some of this years pumpkins on our Facebook Page.

Nugent Senior Apartments Wins Preservation Award

Before

After

Our Nugent Senior Apartments has won another award.  Not only have we won a Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia grand jury award, now we've also won a Preservation Pennsylvania Award. We're not stopping there however, we're also in the running for an AIA Philadelphia and AIA Pennsylvania award.  Dave, Sam and DeeDee have continued their award winning work.

 

ACE Mentoring

Our ACE students hard at work

As is our company policy, we give back whenever we can; and we're continuing that trend with this year's ACE team.  Dave, Nichole, and Lauren represented JKR this year helping to nurture the next generation of architects, contractors and engineers. Today was the scholarship breakfast where all the major companies who participate in the program can get together and meet each other and help raise money for scholarships for the student participants.  This year our team was fortunate enough to have  TWO students win top scholarship prizes of 10,000 dollars!

Breaking Ground at Cottman & Castor!

Dave and Elisa with their golden shovels.

all the people that make the projects happen

Clover in the mid 80s?

bringing the site into the 21st century

1954... the original

Dave, Elisa, Katie and Mike Schmitt have been working diligently for the last few months to get the Cottman and Castor job off the ground for Kimco Realty. This morning, ground was sort of broken for the project, if you count just holding a ceremonial golden shovel as breaking ground.  Other than no ground actually being broken, it was your typical celebratory event complete with all the local politicians and deal makers.  There was a ceremonial sledgehammer to take down some of the existing building.  Although this particular project isn't the most glamorous, it is a pretty big deal for the Great Northeast. What was once a Lit Brothers store eons ago, then a Gimbels, and then a Clover store, and then JC Penny for a short while, then just a vacant building for a long time, is now going to be given new life as a Burlington Coat Factory, a Bob's Discount Furniture and a soon to be TJ Maxx if everything goes as planned.  So the site has a long and storied history as a retail anchor in the Bustleton neighborhood.  This is a game changer for this area, which believe it or not happens to have the highest concentration of retail in Philadelphia outside of Center City.

Pumpkin Carving 2013

The winning pumpkin design

Each year we put our creative skills to good use and break out the pumpkin saws and beers and compete for big prizes for best looking pumpkin.  This year was no different, with the exception that someone finally unseated Natalya for best carved pumpkin!  Dave and "one armed" Jen took the title for their pirate ship themed pumpkin.  Check out all the pictures on our Facebook page.

ICSC Convention in Atlantic City

The International Council of Shopping Centers' convention was held this week at the Atlantic City Convention Center where Dave, Paul and Jerry were doing their networking thing late into the evening showing off our best work in hopes of landing the next big project.  It's an IDEA exchange, so hopefully they got some good new ideas, and dished out a lot of good ones to potential clients.

Welcome to Walgreens?

Blake here:  On the last day of July in 2013 Philadelphia opened the doors to a new breed of Walgreens, and the first of its kind in the state of Pennsylvania.  Located at the corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets welcome to Walgreens on steroids.  I mean when was the last time you got fro yo at a Walgreens?  Or used a digital interface to see how a certain makeup would look on your gorgeousness before you made the purchase, ladies?  Well you can here.

Then - as Borders

Previously this was a place to feed the mind as Borders.  Now you can feed it all with food, cosmetics, reading materials, and medication within the newly renovated 3-story space.  And to add to the Philadelphia experience inside you'll find areas dedicated to local favorites such as the Crayola, Philadelphia Water Ice, Hershey's, Center City Pretzel, and Just Born companies.  Check it out for yourself, this is no ordinary Walgreens.

JKR Family Fun Day MMXIII

Tim here - This past Wednesday (6/19) marked the first Annual JKR Family fun day.  Tram Fun did an excellent job organizing and hosting this fun day of games, activities and barbecuing in Philly's Fairmount Park West.  There was a great turnout of both staff and their families, and we hope this will be the first of many great Family Fun Days.

The office grill performed admirably on its first day of work.

The bubbles entertained Sean for hours. 

2nd Floor once again proves its superiority.

Burgers are always better when battered in beer.

Chris and David Urffer, u-r-f-f-e-r.

Ambler Theater voted one of the best theaters in Philly!

Philadelphia Magazine recently featured the area's best theaters in their May issue, and none other than our own Ambler Theater was picked as one of the best! It received a 4 star ranking, the highest you could get.  Not bad for an old theater.  Check out the article here.

FIRM CRAWL @ JKRP!

PhilaNOMA's first (and now probably annual) Firm Crawl went off without a hitch!

I can honestly say that I was a little pessimistic in thinking that we would only get about 5 or so students - especially after such a long afternoon of crawling already (we were about number 4 on the list of firms to visit)

And then it rained.
And then they were delayed.
And then someone said the pretzels were going to get stale.
And then I yelled at Sean for eating a pretzel.

But nevertheless at around 4:45 there were almost 30 students from Temple, UPenn, Drexel and Philly U in our elevator lobby - eager and ready to learn all about our home away from home - JKR Partners!

SPECIAL THANKS to Jose for being the visionary of the 'three ring circus' aka Firm Crawl - Open House at JKR Partners...
Natalya for putting the 'swag' packages together.

Tram Fun - Marissa, Sam, and Blake for the refreshments..

The 412 Lux Design Team. (Jose, Blake, Steve)

The Starplex Design Team. (Mike F.)

The SouthStar Design Team. (Zach, Mike I.)

Kim for putting up with a full house of folks hovering around her desk..

Dave for sharing his oratory skills with the group..ANDLast but certainly not least the entire staff of JKRP for your hospitality during this event....

Nugent Update

Nugent

terra cotta tiles getting installed

the panelized new addition

A few weeks back we updated you on the Nugent Senior Apartments going up in Germantown.  The National Park Service just granted full approval for our revised historic details so now construction is in full swing and given the much better weather, things are getting done much more quickly.  The roof is getting its new terra cotta tiles, (real terra cotta tiles!) and the first level of the panelized addition is up.  More to come in a few weeks.

Future architects?

Dave's son Nicky's soccer team outfitted in some fresh new JKR threads. I am guessing it was a direct kick?

Walgreens without Borders

Remember this? The dvds were in the center, and off to the left were the architecture books. The chandeliers are staying.

Demolition underway.  The old color scheme is out.

Free advertising on Broad Street.

It's always sad when a bookstore closes, but it's more sad if a building in a prominent location sits empty. Before you say, "Aw man, not another Walgreens!" this isn't just any old Walgreens.  This is like a luxury drugstore for famous people. I mean, when was the last time you went to a drugstore and thought, "I'm just going to pick up some Q-tips and maybe get some sushi and a carrot smoothie for lunch while I'm there."  It's kinda like a bricks and mortar Craigslist.  It's got everything. This is another Sam and Dave undertaking, transforming this former Borders Books on the corner of Broad and Chestnut in the city into a flagship Walgreens like they have in NYC and Chicago.  Should be pretty awesome when it's done. 

Cobbs Creek Grand Opening

Blake's remodel.

This is what Cobbs Creek looked like a few months ago.

Action News reporting the good news!

West Philly is getting a facelift.  Dave and Blake have been working diligently for the past few months on the Cobbs Creek Shopping Center at 63rd and Baltimore Ave revamping their existing facades.  It's time had come.  Our good friend Pat Burns who owns and operates the Fresh Grocers and a few Save-a-lots is responsible for this upgrade.  So, they brought out the big guns for the ground breaking, which wasn't much of a ground breaking per se since it is a remodel, but it's still important to get the good word out; and that's what we're doing here.  Good job fellas.

Nugent Senior Apartments underway

Sam and Dee Dee showing off their new hard hats.

Dave inspecting some potential areas of concern with the roof.

The vandals left their mark stealing most of the copper cornices.

A new floor will be replacing the old uneven floor.

The original building in all its glory.

Foundations for the new addition have been poured.

Dave, Dee Dee, and Sam have been working on this project with Nolen Properties for the better part of at least the last three years. We blogged about this a few months back when we had the ribbon cutting ceremony to commence the construction.  Nugent Senior Apartments is a 57 unit affordable senior housing project in the Germantown neighborhood of Philly.  Demolition is complete (thanks to a lot of vandals for helping out with the copper removal) and repairs are underway.  After years of neglect, we'll be restoring this back to its original splendor.  This is our second restoration/renovation project with Nolen; the other being the award winning Presser project.