Promotions!!

Clockwise LtoR- Deidre, Jose, Rick, Jason, Elisa, and Jen

JKR Partners Architects is proud to announce the promotions of six dedicated individuals whose contributions have helped make JKR Partners a success.  Jose Hernandez, AIA is promoted to Principal of the firm.  Deidre DeAscanis, AIA, Richard Stewart, AIA and Jason Wistreich,AIA, are promoted to Associate Principals, and Jennifer Whary and ElisaLanzutti, ARB are promoted to Project Coordinators.  Jose has demonstrated his ability to manage many complex residential projects and guide clients through complicated zoning matters and is actively involved in many committees within the local architecture and building trade organizations.  Deidre DeAscanis has managed some of the firms highest profile rehabilitation and historic preservation projects ranging from the award winning former Naval Home in Philadelphia, the Presser and Nugent Senior Apartment projects in Mt. Airy, to the successful residential conversion of ICON|1616 on Walnut Street.  Deidre is currently working on a similar ultra high-end residential conversion at the intersection of Broad and Chestnut Streets along the Avenue of the Arts.    Richard Stewart was instrumental in the success of 777 South Broad Street, a high end luxury apartment building on the Avenue of the Arts, and has led many of the firms successful movie theater jobs across the country.  Jason Wistreich manages our high end restaurant clients and is currently managing a host of projects for the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Both Elisa Lanzutti and Jennifer Whary have quickly demonstrated their ability to successful manage diverse clients and projects ranging from residential to retail, and are very active with committees within the office.

ReInvention AIA, DC

Robert Gurney Associates Glass House

City Center Washington DC

Four Pavillion House

SeaUA

E/L Studio

E/L Studio

Salt and Pepper House

Salt and Pepper House

City Center rooftops

Robert Gurney Associates Glass House

Robert Gurney Glass House

Izzo here: Jose and I recently took part in the the AIA's Reinvention housing convention in Washington, DC where we toured some good residential architecture and sat in on some informative lectures.  Highlights of the event were the awesome tours of housing by local architects.  SeaUA, a shipping container multifamily project by Travis Price Architects started the day.  Pretty interesting.  Next up was a huge housing project on the site of the former DC convention center right downtown.  A massive project, it had some of the most awesome roof decks I had ever seen. These were half apartments and half condos with over 300k sf of retail on the ground level which is already leased up! An amazing feat in and of itself. This project was designed by Shalom Baranes and Foster Partners. A single family house by KUBE Architects dubbed the Salt and Pepper house (no relation to  Salt n pepa) started the single family dwellings. Not a huge house, but it certainly had a lot of fun surprises around every corner. Another live work house by E/L Studio was on the tour. A small architecture office on the first floor, and a small living quarters on the second floor.  Really nice use of tight quarters and really cool ceiling details.  The Four Pavillion house by esteemed architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen designed in the mid 1970s and restored recently by Richard Williams, AIA.  Another great small house within a very private suburban lot.  Really well done. And last but certainly not least, an over the top mansion in Georgetown by Robert Gurney Associates. I mean, check out that kitchen and wine cellar!

8 on Race project coming along.

before

currently

future

A few months ago our 8 on Race project began and what was once a derelict old building is rapidly becoming a fancy new residential development. There will naturally be, wait for it..... 8 private residences! Here is a picture of what it was, what it is currently, and what it will be in the near future.

Bank Street project in Old City

Tucked in a hard to find little oasis right off Market Street in Old City lies a new little 4 townhouse gem. In a small lot on Bank Street, between Second and Third Streets where the former 5 Spot used to entertain late night revelers before it was destroyed in a fire, is our new town home project.  Steve and Jose worked diligently on this one to make sure it really fit in with its classic mercantile federalist style neighbors. The new places have all the conveniences of a new place, with their gourmet kitchens, high ceilings, and roof decks but they also have that old world charm that makes Old City, well.... Old City.  Check out the rendering and some local press.

Point Breeze project moving along

View from Capitol Street

A week or so ago you may have read about our latest project planned for Point Breeze in Naked Philly.  There have been tons of comments both good and bad about the project, either way, we're excited about the project and can't wait to get it started.  If last night's design review meeting with South Philadelphia H.O.M.E.S is any indication, the project was very well received. Can anyone say standing ovation? The project replaces an old warehouse with 50 new single family homes. We really tried to be contextual with the neighboring buildings, by matching materials and heights, while still giving the houses their own contemporary identity.  Let us know what you think.

Bridgeview Project gets big press

The empty lot that rests at the corners of Columbus and Catharine Streets has been getting a lot of attention this past week after Jose presented our project to the Central Delaware Advocacy Group. This particular site has been bouncing around our office in some form or another for at least the last five years with nothing but fruitless pie in the sky dreams.  This site is too good to be sitting idle for so long.  Bridgeview, a 75 unit residential development, has been planned by our designers to give future residents equal access to the city and the river.  It will be especially nice if they build this.  This area is ripe for redevelopment! We'll be updating more as the project progresses in a few weeks.  In the meantime read more about the project here.

Annual Phillies Outing

You need a drink before you see the Phils these days.

After a minor rain delay, the Phils got back to beatin on the Cubbies.

Butch hooking up the specials.

Serious Sergi and a photobombing Jose.

the Boss getting his birthday on.

If it seems like our office is a lot of fun, that's because it is.  In keeping with our yearly tradition, which started way back when the Phillies were actually good; last Thursday we had our annual JKR day at the Phillies.  This year was special in that it was also the Boss Man's 65th birthday.  He took full advantage of his newly granted senior citizen status and wisely got his subway ride to the ballpark for free. With age comes wisdom I guess. And like we always do, we all went back to our second favorite watering hole where we got our celebratory drinks.  The drinks taste much sweeter when the Phils win big. 

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....

JKR's Second Annual Drink and Draw

Sean showing off his skills.

Nicole, still early in the night with her right hand.

Glenn imparting his wisdom.

Jose and his off hand.

Laura's feeble attempt at drawing "chalk" "you know, it's a driveway, and an infant!"

Tim justifying his horrific attempt at drawing "Long Island"

Kathleen drawing something.  Musta been a gem based on Mike's reaction. 

Farinella's terrible terrible terrible attempt at drawing a cave. 

We've got a great relationship with the Irish Pub across the street from our office; On the good days, we celebrate there, on the bad days, we wallow there.  Last night, we upheld what will surely become a JKR tradition,  the annual Drink and Draw.  Pictionary with food and booze.  Now let's be clear, Pictionary isn't much fun between smart architects like us, so to make it more interesting we handicap ourselves with shots and beers and then we draw with our non-dominant hand.  It makes for a much more fun, and funny evening. 

MLK Day of Service

G-dubs hard at work on his corner

Rooch and Izzo, supervising

measure 7 times, cut twice

Laura and Tiff show off their schmutzin' abilities

Yeah, we're a week late on this one, but it's still blogable. A good majority of the office dedicated a day of work to help out the Philadelphia chapter of Habitat for Humanity while a select few held down the fort at Walnut Street.  We've started to make this a little JKR tradition.  Usually we'll lend our architectural services to Habitat, but this time around we put in some physical labor for some families in need.  We split into three small groups and worked on a few houses within the city.  It was a good time, and we felt good doing it. 

Crease Street project coming together in Fishtown

Crease Street Elevation

Interior Court

A while back we blogged about a bunch of our townhome projects going up in various neighborhoods in the city.  This one in particular is the Crease Street project Jose and Rooch are working on in Fishtown which was just a hole in the ground a few weeks ago.  It looks like it's still on schedule to be completed in a couple of months.  If you remember there are 5 units along the Crease street side, one being a carriage unit over the drive aisle, and two more nestled in the back creating a nice little private landscaped courtyard. Looking pretty good.

Building is Back!

Lawrence Street.  4 units.  Sam and Jose worked on this one. It's all done.

North 5th Street.  22 units. Should be done in a few months.

1247 Crease Street. Greg and Jose worked on this bad boy.  7 houses. Should be done in 6 months.

Manayunk Hills.  12 units, Jason and Steve slam dunked this one. Maybe 3 months out.

Manayunk Hills.  Getting there. 

we've done a lot right? This one is at 8th and Christian. All done. 18 units.

Queens Walk.  16 units. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's pretty nice inside.

More Queens Walk in Queens Village.

This one is the latest.  412 N. Front Street.  32 units.  Should be done in a few months.

 Building is Back.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  We've been cranking out townhouses this past year like it's our job.  Mostly because it IS our job. Jose and his crew have been hard at work developing a ton of new housing stock in the Northern Liberties and Fishtown areas of the city.  We've got a few in the pipeline and a few in various stages of construction.  Check'em out