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. 

"Everybody in the Club (Jaguar) gettin' tipsy..."

Greg here: On Monday,  a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new office/retail renovation of the illustrious and infamous Club Jaguar. Many city officials and community members were present at this OARC (our client) event and were very excited to breathe new life into this portion of Ogontz Ave. JKRP was also at the scene, with its representatives wishing they had the time to partake in the baby back ribs that were made available across the street at the neighborhood Chili's establishment. Sigh. We filed for permits and construction (hopefully) will begin soon!

We Have Stone!

Dee Dee Here:The Stone is going up at the Stern Hebrew High School addition in Merion Station, PA.  Blake, Jerry and I have been working with the Kohelet Foundation  on the former Akiba Hebrew Academy site for the past two years.  Phase 1 of the project focused on updating the existing facility while Phase 2 included building the Beit Midrash addition, which will be used as a work/study space.  The students relocated to the existing school last fall and construction of the addition is on its way to being complete in June!

We ate too much...

Glenn F. Here: Last night, Paul & I attended BizBites, Philly’s hottest happy hour with tasty samplings from numerous of the area’s top restaurateurs. We strategized our options in an effort to save extra space for the countless, scrumptious foods and drinks. The Oyster House’s Delaware Bay Oysters and Delicatessen’s Philly Bagel Rolls won our ranking of favorite, delicious foods. We also overstuffed our bellies with plenty of sweet treats courtesy of Desserts By Dana, Pop-A-Nugget and Pudding Lane. Donned in his black trench coat and shades, the security guard straight out of the vault of some cheesy B-movie provided lots of entertainment. In an abrupt manner, the conspicuous sentry relentlessly harassed all of the guests away from the second floor railing. 

This is how we do an office meeting

Blake Here: Cinco De Mayo office meetings with margaritas are always better than office meetings without margaritas.  MC Jerry Roller is resident mixologist... look at the tequila in that thing! Slammin'!

Check us out @ the ACE Breakfast

Lauren Here: This year's ACE Scholarship breakfast was held at the new National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall.   Jerry, Paul, Dave, Marissa, Tiff, Mike and I attended.  After the breakfast we were free to take a tour of this awesome building!  We checked out some of the display areas and got a closer look at the cool architectural details.

Presser Dedication

DeeDee Here- Today was the dedication for Presser Senior Apartments in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia.  Matt, Sam, Marissa and I played a significant role in restoring this historically significant building into 45 mixed income apartments.  Presser Senior Apartments was recently awarded a 2011 Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia Grand Jury Prize. Our client Jim Nolen of Nolen Properties cut the ribbon with Mayor Nutter, Councilwoman Miller, Peter Kaplan of PNC Bank, and Brian Hudson of PHFA.