HOME2 BREAKS GROUND & the Movers & Shakers of Philly come out to support

Yesterday morning I attended the ground break ceremony of the latest hotel to come to Philadelphia to complement the newest addition to the Pennsylvania Convention Center which is located across the street from the new property, which is being developed by jointly by the Parkway Corporation and Wurzak Hotel Group.

 PS I love the branding logos of these two companies. They are dead on & clever.

Located at 1200 – 1212 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, the hotel will feature over 2,000 square feet of meeting space and 9,750 square feet for ground floor retail and restaurants. The total project cost is $60 million and will be partially funded with $2.75 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) funding and an Infrastructure and Facilities Improvement Program (IFIP) grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) will provide $5 million in HUD 108 loans and the building will receive $3 million in EnergyWorks funding from PIDC and The Reinvestment Fund. The energy conservation measures for the hotel will include a partial green roof, high efficiency HVAC system and significant energy performance upgrades, all in line with the Home2 Suites brand sustainability practices.  L.F. Driscoll will oversee construction of the development. (press release)

If you were following my twitter yesterday, you saw I was tweeting that it was the hottest list for an event in awhile. “I’m in notable heaven.” It was the social event of social event as many of these fixtures rarely appear at one party.

Howard J. Wurzak is Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Wurzak Hotel Group and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Zuritsky, Parkway Corporation.

A few of the construction workers from Driscoll who are building the hotel: Evelio Menedez, Bill Frazer, Mike Dikon, Mike Dolan and Brian Deitz

Larry Ceisler  public relations principal of Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy, Brian Stevenson, Business Rep. IBEW Local 98, John J. Dougherty Jr. runs the city’s powerful electricians union and Julie Wong is the President of Pan Am Realty Company, Inc., a real estate brokerage. Julie and the Wurzak Hotel Group just completed a project together in Chinatown.

  State Rep. Dwight Evans and Councilman David Oh. David Oh, Zarwin Baum.
It was with great help from Evans that additional financing was put in place to get this new hotel project going. The hotel project helps stimulate the economy with new jobs, money generated by tourist who would be staying at the long extended hotel.

Neil H. Shah, President of Hersha Hospitality and Bennett Thomas Title: Vice President of Finance & Sustainability Organization: Hersha Hospitality Group. Hesha Hospitality has one of the closest operating hotels to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, The Hampton Inn.  Shah wasn’t stopping by to check out the competition, he’s 100% behind the new hotel. He tells me that he’s here to support the Parkway/Wurzak project as it is a community effort to provide the best service to visitors to Philadelphia, as well as to the conventions coming to town.

Jeff Jubelirer, President of Jubelirer Strategies, Jennifer Quintero Hughes, Homewood Suites & Home2 Suites by Hilton and Robert A. Zuritsky, President, Parkway Corporation

Jacob Cooper, Broker at Michael Salove Company and Jason Bock, Broker at Michael Salove. Cooper will be handling the retail stores located on the first floor of the new hotel.

Marc Brownstein, Brownstein Group

Erik Evjen, Hotel Program Director at GPTMC and Kylie Flett, Neff PR

 
David Pearlman, City Councilman Mark Squilla, Neil Skarloff and former City Councilman Frank DiCicco

Daniel Takoushian, PNC Bank, N.A.

Richard Cohen, Clarke & Cohen, Ahmeenah Young, President & CEO at Pennsylvania Convention Center and David Dinenberg, who recently left Grasso Holdings and is venturing out on his own.

Bill Duncan, Global Head, Brand Management at Home2 Suites by Hilton and Homewood Suites with Jennifer Quintero Hughes, Homewood Suites & Home2 Suites by Hilton. Home2 Suites by Hilton suites provide separate living and bedroom areas featuring the proprietary Home2 Suites “working wall” which incorporates a kitchen and flexible working/media area. Plus lots of convenient accents. The property at 12th & Arch will have an indoor pool, as well as parking at the adjacent Parkway Garage.

“This project is the result of a public-private effort to add hotel rooms and many new jobs to the city and the Convention Center,” said Robert Zuritsky, president, Parkway Corporation. “We never would have accomplished this undertaking without a series of incentives from the state and the city, and we are thankful for their support.” Jake Wurzak, Principal, Acquisitions and Development, Wurzak Hotel Group. One of the things I noted in this moment was that the two titan’s of the Philadelphia business world (Joe Zuritsky and Howard Wurzak) have begun to pass on their business’ and business sense to the next generation, their sons Robert Zuritsky and Jake Wurzak.

Luke Butler appears on the scene, that means Mayor Nutter will arrive shortly as he is his special PA.

Sen Larry Farnesse spoke about the economic impact of the new hotel, as well as many of the new projects that have been executed in his district.  How important it was for our local economy, and how this kind of progress has slowed down in other cities, but here in Philly we’re still going strong.

The traditional ground breaking shot. The organizers and I were sweating bullets, not only because of the unusually higher temps yesterday, but a few more minutes and there would have been total sun glare as the rising sun was clearing the top of the Reading Terminal Market.   Bill Duncan, Hilton, Jake Wurzak, Howard Wurzak, Sen Larry Farnese, Mayor Nutter, Rober A. Zuritsky, Rick Lyons, Capital One and State Rep Dwight Evan, guest, Jake Winigrad, Parkway Corp Rick Lyons, Executive VP-Commercial Real Estate, Capital One told the crowd that Philadelphia is happening, he works in NYC, but chooses to live in Philly.  He’s happy to be connected to this exciting project. Thanks Jake Winigrad, Parkway Corp.  for your help yesterday.

The new hotel is slated to open August 2013, just in time for the busy convention season. – 
This event was executed by Corie Moskow of Gloss PR