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.

Progressive Grocer awards Fare and Square store of the month!

 
Progressive Grocer, the premier voice of the retail food industry, recently awarded our Fare and Square project for Philabundance its store of the month.  Read about how the design of the small store helps boost sales and keep people healthy at Progressive Grocer! 

Philabundance Opens Supermarket in Chester

Grand opening celebration

Philabundance, the local food charity that has been doing great work in the Philadelphia area feeding the hungry for years, has upped the ante and built the first non-profit supermarket in the country.  We were lucky enough to help them along in their efforts to rid Chester of the dubious distinction of being a food desert.  After a few tries, we finally got the plan right, and we had the good people at Sullivan Construction knock it out of the park building it. 
Check out some news stories here: Philly.com and here and one more here.

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.

More good news for Broad Street Walgreens

Our flagship Walgreens continues to get rave reviews! Check out the full story in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.

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.

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.

Grant Ave Under Construction

Izzo Here: Went out to a job meeting last week to check on the progress of our Grant Ave. shopping center in the Great Northeast that Jose and I are working on.  The project is a bunch of small retail shops attaching to a brand new Giant Supermarket.  We aren't doing the supermarket, but we are doing the adjacent buildings wrapping around the Giant, and one more stand alone building.  Maybe another 2 months and they will be up and running. The second best part of the trip was going to the Forman Mills next door to pick up some sweet graphic tees for our softball uni's.  You'll see more of them later.