Ridge Flats Gets "Green Light"

Ridge Flats finally received a green light by the Zoning Board of Adjustments last Wednesday Afternoon.  The 146-unit apartment complex at 4300 Ridge Avenue in East falls will contain some retail space on the ground floor, as well as 120 above-grade parking spaces.  parking is kept  above ground due to the property's location in the 100 year floodplain.

Although under the East falls zoning overlay, the project requires 695 parking spaces – four spots for every 1,000 feet of commercial space, no one, including the East Falls Development Corporation thinks that amount is necessary.  The developer said the retail uses will be community-based and geared toward pedestrians.

The building will be the largest "passive house" in the country.  Onion Flats' Tim McDonald explains that in passive houses, energy usage can be reduced by as much as 90 percent just by the way the "thermal envelope' is designed.

The one- and two- bedroom apartments at Ridge Flats will likely range in price from $1,300 to $2,000 a month.  The developers plan to pull permits and begin construction next spring.

Three Project Get Approval By Philly Art Commission

On Wednesday three projects along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers received final approval by the Philadelphia Art Commission.

The first project calls for improvement at the Flat Rock Dam at the Manayunk Canal.  This project is overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation and the Philadelphia Water Department.  The dam is in imminent danger of collapse  and could be triggered by any level of flooding from minor to severe.  The dam has also stopped the flow of water in the canal allowing algae byproducts to flourish affecting the taste and odor of drinking water.  Fixing the trail will also make it better suited for recreational uses along with the trail.

A second Manayunk Canal project involves the construction of a new bridge connecting Lock St. to Venice Island.  the art commissioned piece is a sculptural piece that serves as seating for a new children's spray ground and is made of natural boulders, sourced from California, where the artist, Masayuki Nagase, lives.

Along the Delaware a second of a series of planned connectors linking the street grid, as prescribed in the Master Plan for the Central Delaware.  Artist Donald Lipski designed a pice for the Columbia Ave. connector which references Lenape origin myths and the animals associated with its three clans, the wolf, turkey, and turtle.  The connector connects the I-95 underpass to Penn Treaty Park, the site where William Penn signed a treaty with the Lenape.  The project involves better lighting, access, streetscaping, as well as the construction of another smaller park.

Lipski's project takes the form of Cavawood light stanchions guiding the way to the river.  Two lamppost will flank the entranceway to the underpass, one with a fiberglass wolf sculpture on top, and the other with a turkey.  At the opposite end a series of light poles attached to the backs of cast bronze turtles will lead into the park.

Ridge Flats

Planned development at the former Rivage site in East Falls continues to evolve with a name change and updated designs to maximize the community's natural light and green space.  Tim McDonald of Onion Flats updated residents on the latest plans for 4324 Ridge Avenue.  Onion Flats hopes to receive formal developer designation from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority in June to proceed with its plan for 123 apartments and several retail spaces on the 1.7-acre site at Calumet Street.

Now called Ridge Flats, synonymous with Onion Flats' other projects, the projects footprint has shifted from clusters of one- and two- bedroom apartment groupings, to a main U-shaped building with a smaller free-standing strip of apartments in the middle.  There are also now three-bedroom units included, with the largest at about 1,200 square feet.  The overall amount of retail space is up slightly, from 8,700 to 9,000 square feet, but the units will be smaller and flexible.

The new configuration allows for a larger central green space in which residents can garden, spend time outside and otherwise interact.  For the public, The patio area and rain garden fronting Kelly Drive, meant to draw foot and bike traffic up from the riverfront, remains unchanged.

Reception among East Falls residents and the EFCC has been generally positive despite expressed misgivings about aesthetics.  McDonald says design details are still works in progress.  The design is meant to maximize natural light, because the apartments aren't built on a central hallway with units on either side, they have windows on more than one facade.  Cut-throughs that extend vertically through the five-story buildings will provide interior light, key to keeping the complex completely energy self-sufficient.

Rivage at East Falls Grants Developer Contract

The Rivage property near Kelly Drive in East Falls has finally chosen a developer for the site.  A sure sign that soon we will see a quite sustainably handsome neighbor to the Falls Bridge and sunoco gas station across the street.

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority has selected Northern Liberties-based Onion Flats to redevelop the site.  It's called The Ridge, and features 126 residential units, 8,700 square feet of retail space and an ambitious energy and sustainability plan, with a striking design meant to create a sense of unity and community with the nearby Schuylkill riverfront.  This would be the largest residential development for Onion Flats, known for the Rag Flats and Thin Flats projects.

The redevelopment board selected Onion Flats at it meeting Monday, and officials praised the plan as a groundbreaking concept that will introduce a focus on lifestyles both transit- and environmentally-friendly. Onion Flats now has until June to enter into a full redevelopment agreement, which will include a final sales price for the city-owned property.  Construction could begin in early 2013, with completion in spring 2014.

All energy for utilities including heating, cooling, light and home hot water will be generated on site, with green roofs and a solar panel array.  The plan is pointedly geared against the car-dependent:  There are fewer parking spaces than housing units, but indoor bike storage for every resident, along with electric vehicle charging ports and spaces for Zip Cars.  Along Kelly Drive, a public terrace space is designed to draw walkers, bikers and other foot traffic up into the neighborhood.

Cynwyd Heritage Trail

Designed by Studio/ Bryan Hanes, Lower Merion Township is working on a 60-acre park with a 2 mile trail that will connect one of Philadelphia's oldest suburbs with a thriving art and entertainment district across the river in Manayunk via the Manayunk Bridge.  The design of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail and Park will capitalize on the unique features of the former industrial site as well as the nature of the surrounding communities.

The rail corridor, an abandoned piece of infrastructure which once connected people to goods and services, has been cut off from public use for nearly 100 years.  The Township and designers envision repurposing the corridor as a linear park, creating physical and social connections, linking wildlife and nature corridors, transporting people and creating strong communities.

Potential Future Development at the Rivage Site in East Falls

Onion Flats has designed a unique mixed used residential/retail project named THE RIDGE, for the corner site adjacent to the Falls Bridge and Kelly Drive, located at 4300-4326 Ridge Ave.  With a focus on high quality design, manufacturing and sustainability, their proposal intends to not only meet but exceed the development goals of the RFP by providing a unique and ground-breaking model of sustainable development.  The company intends to create a pedestrian oriented and landscaped residential community that reconnects this currently blighted site back to its adjacent Fairmount Park and Schuylkill River neighbors.

The 128,440 sf, 5 story building will contain 126 one and two bedroom residential units, 8700 sf of new retail along Ridge Avenue and Calumet Street, and 138 new parking spaces.

The designers will attempt to construct Philadelphia's first Passive House Certified and Net-Zero-Energy mixed-use residential/retail community as well as the country's largest. THE RIDGE Intends, therefore , to achieve net zero energy consumption and net zero carbon emissions annually, with all energy required for heating, cooling, lighting and domestic hot water generated on-site.  This "sustainable garden community" takes its planning, architectural and sustainable design strategy from six basic principles:

1. Provide sufficient parking at grade, but eliminate the car from sight and create a pedestrian experience
2. Activate the street with appropriate retail uses
3. Create a "new ground", or garden landscape, at the second level across the entire site
4. Shape the landscape of this new ground with "ridges" of residential units that have no interior hallways, but a circulation system which doubles as outdoor community space, viewing platforms and opportunities of encounter between neighbors, ie, creating a community rather than an apartment building.
5. Create a 100% pervious site with 100% Green Roof coverage, so that storm water is managed naturally
6. Generate all power necessary for the community on site with significant Solar PV array

The New Zoning Draft Affects Commercial Properties Along Ridge Avenue

The new zoning overlays for Northwest Philadelphia go as far as governing what kind of sign you can hang above your Manayunk boutique, what your corner store can sell in Germantown, how wide your Chestnut Hill storefront can be, and where to put the trash bins for your restaurant in East Falls.  This is almost unheard of in the city, but very common in our neighboring suburbs.  I think its well overdue to crack down on tacky commercial storefront owners, and the communities are better off.

Traditionally, overlays have allow individual neighborhoods to limit or encourage specific kinds of commercial development and create a desired aesthetic.  They dictate how tall structures can be and how they should look, and guide the interaction between public and private spaces.  In many cases, they also include lengthy and specific lists of prohibited business uses.

In the proposed city zoning code, the Northwest overlays are absorbed into a new category called Neighborhood Commercial Area, or NCA, "intended to preserve the integrity of the neighborhood commercial areas and to promote and help guide appropriate commercial development." In general, the NCAs deal more broadly with the form and design of the built environment, rather than enumerating specific uses.  In many– but not all– cases, those individual prohibited uses will be left to the control of the new commercial zoning that will replace current designations.

Old Venice Island Gets a Makeover

The longtime neglected Recreation Center at Venice Island in Manayunk will finally get its $46 million extreme makeover next week.  The complicated three phase project will span over the next two years, removing the current rec-center, playground and swimming pool.  The Philadelphia Water Department will install a four million-gallon underground storm-water basin, known as "The Big Tank".  A first of its kind performing arts center will be constructed with a 250-seat amphitheater dressed in light wood paneling, and restoration will be focused on the athletic courts and play areas.

Next week, workers will begin dismantling and removing the playground equipment, basketball nets and hockey court, with demolition of the rec-center building scheduled for Aug. 29.  Temporary parking on the Cotton Street side of the site will be compete in December, as machines begin digging out the 400-foot long, 75 feet-wide, 25-foot deep underground retention pool on the Lock Street side of the 2.2-acre site.  The retention basin will catch and temporarily store diverted storm flow from the sanitary sewer running along the Manayunk Canal.  By April of 2013, the basin will have parking above it, and a water pumping station building with a green roof.

Venice Island Community Center

Work will soon begin on the long awaited facelift of the Venice Island Recreation Center in Manayunk.  The Philadelphia Water Department recently awarded a general contract on the $45 million transformation of the underused playground to Keating Construction.  The current plan for the center will replace the old swimming pool with a sprayground, create a 250-seat performing arts space, upgrade athletics courts and include 195 parking spaces.
A key feature is a sewage overflow storage tank needed for storm-water management on the flood prone strip of land between Manayunk Canal and the Schuylkill River. The center will more likely serve more as a civic performance space than a playground for kinds.

Manayunk Bridge May Receive Major Rail to Trail Transformation

The Manayunk railroad bridge is due to receive a walking trail, which would connect parks on both sides of the Schuylkill River.  Officials said this week they were close to choosing design, engineering and landscape architecture teams that will use a $1.3 million PennDOT grant awarded in January for construction and earlier grants for feasibility studies and preliminary work.  

On the Philadelphia side, the bridge trail effort dovetails with the city's Green Works initiative to add 500 acres of open public space by 2015.  In Lower Merion, the bridge is seen as a component of the 60-acre, 2-mile long ribbon of urban parkland of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail.    More.....

Image by; Owls Flight Photography