Tag Archives: development

Happy Days Farm in Exton, PA, Under Contract; Development Plans May Finally Move Forward

The 246-acre Happy Days Farm in Exton, PA, is now under contract by Audubon Land Development. But the plans for the development of the site at the Downingtown Interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike are unknown.

The Happy Days site has sat untouched by construction for years while projects were proposed then abandoned. The Vanguard Group bought the property 20 years ago with the initial intention of using it to expand its corporate campus. It instead chose to do that somewhere else, leased the property and never developed the land.

The company put the property up for sale in the spring and its location made it incredibly attractive to developers. In fact, before Vanguard, multiple developers considered the property for retail and mixed-use sites.

The site is zoned for industrial and commercial use, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. That includes farming and the Vanguard tenant has been continuing to operate it as a working farm. The barn and fields of crops would obviously disappear, though, should the sale go through and Audubon move forward with development.

A commercial real estate management and development company based in southeastern Pennsylvania, Audobon’s projects include everything from offices and warehouses to retail centers, retirement communities, and hotels.

A Wealth of Development Opportunities Arise if Philadelphia’s Hahnemann Hospital Closes

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Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia has filed for bankruptcy and faces possible closure. If the medical campus closes, there are obvious concerns about serving the community’s health needs, as well as the loss of jobs of those who work there. But according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the seven medical buildings and parking garage that take up over nearly six acres on Broad Street along the Vine Street Expressway could become one of the “most enticing-if challenging” development sites the city has seen in years.

The age and condition of the buildings make it difficult to modernize to continue its use as a hospital. But the site sits between Center City and Broad Street making it a “gateway” location for redevelopment should that inevitably happen. At this point, there is no consensus of what kind of development it would be or if it would encompass the entire site or pieces of it.

Should redevelopment happen, it won’t be the first hospital site in the city to be redeveloped and re-imagined. The former Mt. Sinai Hospital at 400 Reed Street was turned into nearly 100 luxury townhomes with “pocket parks” and pedestrian walkways configured into the buildings’ layout. Southwark on Reed became the fastest selling townhome project in Philadelphia to date. And St. Joseph’s Hospital’s transformation into a mixed-use site with 88 apartments, The Civic Apartments, is nearing completion.

But Hahnemann’s future at this point is unknown. The president of the Center City District Business Association, Paul Levy, told the Inquirer that while his group hopes to keep the services and employment from the hospital if it closes, but there would be a huge, new opportunity for the city.

“The top priority is to preserve the medical services and jobs the hospital represents,” Levy said. “If, unfortunately, it was impossible to save them…it could create a whole new zone in the city.”

Philly Set To Open Its “Yards”

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As tourists head for Hudson Yards in New York City this summer, Philadelphia is ready to unveil the first part of what it hopes will eventually be a similar experience—the 14-acre, $3.5 billion West Philadelphia renovation dubbed Schuylkill Yards .

The first of the four projects that will make up Schuykill Yards will open in June. Drexel Square is a 1.3 acre park located across from the 30^th Street Station. The space is part of approximately six acres of the project that has been reserved for public space. Drexel Square has been described as the lynchpin of the project and overall vision for the area.

“Some people think you put a big tall building here right outside the train station,” developer Brandywine Realty Trust’s chief executive Gerard H. Sweeney told the New York Times in 2018. “But you’ve got to create a platform for excellence, and the way you do that is you invest in public space. You create a place where people want to be.”

The City of Brotherly Love’s Yards won’t have the size and sparkle of Manhattan’s version, but developers hope to create its own Philadelphia-specific experience, something that doesn’t feel corporate or created but more like a neighborhood that came about organically.

The 14 acres of Schuykill Yards sit between 30^th Street Station and Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania and will take 15 to 20 years to finish development of the entire area. It is all part of an attempt to pull together Philadelphia’s Center City district with University City and all of the business, research, and residential development in the area to form a singular downtown, according to the philly.com.

After Drexel Square, the next phase of the project is the renovation of a former newspaper building that borders the eastern edge of Drexel Square. Architects plan to keep the 50s industrial structure as they give it a modern makeover, according to the philly.com article.

Finally this winter, developers are scheduled to break ground on two towers—a more than 770,000-square-foot office building and a mixed use building next door that will have 344 apartments plus 200,000-squre-feet of office space.

The end result will 6.9 million square feet of office, lab, residential, and green space, a coming together of the business, retail, academic, commuter, and residential worlds. And another city Yards, just 90 miles south.

What’s in a Name?

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No Matter What They’re Called, N.J. Business Incentive Programs Fuel Construction
By Chris Colabella

When Gov. Chris Christie signs the New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act of 2013, the state’s five current economic business incentive programs will be condensed into two – phasing out the popular BRRAG (Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Grant), BEIP (Business Employment Incentive Program), and Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Program.

At press time, the initiative (Assembly No. 3680) is awaiting the governor’s signature (he has long said he will sign it), after being introduced in May by Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Essex), chairman of the state’s Economic and Commerce Development Committee, and passed by both the Assembly and Legislature by the end of June. The Act designates Grow New Jersey Assistance Program as the state’s business retention and attraction program, while ERG (Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant) would be New Jersey’s redevelopment incentive program.

Efforts to streamline business development in the state are led by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and aim, first and foremost, to retain and create jobs here. Under the Act, the newly defined programs encourage redevelopment of urban centers, suburban office parks and areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Regardless of what they are called, business incentive programs (read: grants and tax credits), which compel companies to expand or relocate here, translate to more work for New Jersey’s construction industry. These projects call for new buildings and site expansions, as well as new roads and other infrastructure projects.

In Assemblyman Coutinho’s own backyard of Essex County, the $444 million Prudential Office Towers project, located at Broad and Halsey streets in Newark, is being financed with the help of a $211 million tax credit from the Urban Transit Hub program. Prudential Financial said SJP Properties of Hoboken will begin construction on its new 20-story office tower and 55-foot-tall parking garage by the end of this summer.

Business incentive programs have been a lynchpin in the state’s economic development plan – a go-to tool in the toolbox, if you will, when a business announces its plan to leave the state.

When it works, it’s a win-win for the company and the state. In fact, Gov. Christie was on hand to help cut the ribbon at the official opening of Realogy Holdings Corp.’s new Madison Township headquarters on June 20.

Back in early 2012, the company had announced its decision to pack up and move from Parsippany to North Carolina. However, Gov. Christie and his economic development team stepped in to offer Realogy a $10.7 million BRRAG award, plus a $1.4 million sales tax exemption. The move convinced Realogy to stay in New Jersey and build its new global headquarters in Madison. A year later, the residential real estate franchise giant broke ground on its new 270,000-square-foot complex. Newark-based Tishman Construction Corporation of NJ headed up construction of the three-story office complex with parking garage.

Incidentally, BRRAG – which allows the state to give an annual corporate income tax credit of $3,000 per employee to businesses considering expansion or threatening to leave the state — has helped to create more than 100,000 jobs since it was first enacted 17 years ago. Realogy’s decision to stay in New Jersey kept 935 jobs from moving out of state. (And, those figures don’t even count the number of construction employees put to work thanks to the many projects which have resulted from incentives over the years.)

For now, existing tax and other business incentives associated with BRRAG, BEIP, etc. remain available to qualified companies. (Visit http://www.njeda.com for more information.) However, even when these programs are merged under different titles – namely Grow New Jersey and ERGG — construction companies should reap the benefits of state programs that provide businesses with capital – either in the form of grants or tax credits.

Regardless of what New Jersey calls the programs, once companies build, they will stay
— at least that’s what the State of New Jersey is counting on.

Chris Colabella is the president of CIS, Inc., New Jersey’s only local construction lead service. For more information, visit http://www.cisleads.com or call 800- to arrange for a free demo of CIS Leads.