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Philadelphia

Qdoba Mexican Grill Closed at 19th and Chestnut, Pearl Properties Moves Ahead with what I reported weeks ago

I first reported a few weeks in November it looks like Pearl Properties is planning to build an apartment highrise down the street from Rittenhouse House Square. 

Follow me on Twitter   where I break news & rumors.
UPDATE 3/31/14: 

Philly Ccra

RESIDENTIAL HI RISE PLANS AT 19TH AND CHESTNUT
Pearl Properties has created preliminary plans to erect a high rise
residential apartment tower on the southwest corner of 19th and Chestnut
with the residential entrance on 19th. The project is just east of the
Boyd Theater site and across the street from the CVS pharmacy. The
plans call for the preservation of the property situated on the
southwest corner of 19th and Chestnut, recently occupied by the Qdoba
restaurant. Sketches show retail on two
floors accessible from the ground floor with the entry on Chestnut. The
site is zoned CMX4 (center city commercial mixed use), which prescribes a
floor area ratio (FAR) of between 500% and 700% depending upon whether
the property qualifies for Section 14-702 bonuses for amenities such as
public art, public space, underground parking or green elements. A 7
story building with a footprint occupying 100% of the buildable space
on a lot has an FAR of 700%, while a 14 story building with a footprint
occupying 50% of the buildable space would have an FAR of 700%. CCRA has
created a major development taskforce which has met twice with Pearl
Properties and is making arrangements for Pearl’s representatives to
present their plans at a public meeting to be held on April 29 at 7:00
PM, at a location still to be determined. Stay tuned.

http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/forum/center-city/39928-pearl-properties-new-high-rise-19th-chestnut.html
 
I had heard that the deal between Little Pete’s and Mac’s Tavern fell
through after Little Pete’s owners got an offer they couldn’t refuse from Pearl
Properties. Pete was very generous when he broke the news to the
Mac’s Tavern peeps, who are now on the lookout for a new home on the west
side of Broad Street. Of course I was 100% this thing was going to happen, I am sensitive to the fact that it affects people and their livelihood. I wouldn’t have reported this had I known it wasn’t happening. (I probably could have waited on the Bloomingdale’s story since it’s so far out, but that is happening too. They are waffling on whether it’s going to be going in BCF or the KMart space. They definitely didn’t want the old Strawbridge because of 8th & Market area. Bloomies really isn’t fond of the KMart space.)
Update: New Predictions I wrote first: Wegman’s going into the Blatstein’s Broad & Washington development.)

Qdoba Mexican Grill closed on Saturday. Now Pearl owns all the property from the corner to the Boyd Theater.

How amazing that Pearl Properties held on to the empty lot on the right for nearly a decade and then it all fell into place for them.
Look for Pearl Properties to build a 1st class, 20 – 25 story apartment building, with retail on the first floor. Look for a high end wrap around restaurant on the corner of 19th and Chestnut. This is a very exciting project for the Rittenhouse Square area, especially for the Chestnut Street revival which I’ve been writing about for the past year. 16th Street to 22nd Street. Great things are happening in the City.

check out my year end review here

Categories
Philadelphia

SA VA – Store Closing – Statement by Sarah van Aken


November 30, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 


DESIGNER
AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR SARAH VAN AKEN RELEASES STATEMENT ON HER NEW
DIRECTION AND CLOSING OF CLASSIC-CONTEMPORARY FASHION BRAND SA VA THIS
MONTH
I
am honored to have an opportunity to share recent developments and
choices in direction for SA VA and myself personally with members of the
press. I am grateful to all who have been so generous and fair in their
coverage of SA VA and me over the past four years.
I
have had the most amazing experience through the launch and growth of
SA VA.  As SA VA has grown, my own life changed and progressed. I am so
grateful to have connected with so many amazing women and to the
community that has enriched, inspired and supported me.  Through this
experience, I have become clear about my own hopes and dreams and what I
am really good at.  It was a trial by fire, burning away the impurities
to get to my true self, for sure! 
We
have come to a transition point in the business.  Though our store
sales are up 25-60% for the last 8 months and our uniform business has
been strong (surpassing 2012 sales by September), we were not as
successful in the launch of our wholesale division.  The timeline for
scaling that, which is what we raised money on almost a year ago, was
much longer than we anticipated and much more challenging.  The business
required more capital.
There’s
always another deal, another possibility, that is the one thing that I
have learned through all of this.  Certainly, it is not the first time I
have faced this challenge and not at all out of the ordinary for early
stage businesses.  The business was successful, however, the
amount of capital and time it would take to scale it to the level of
success that I and our investors needed was greater than we were able to
pursue. The hoops that I would have had to jump through and
conditions under which we could have continued were so significant that I
really took some time to reflect on my next personal steps. 
I
have been very clear and centered through all of this, which is unlike
many of the other times I have faced this before and believe me there
have been many times.  Part of that centeredness comes from confidence
in my ability to navigate these situations.  A great part of it is
coming from being clear about my hopes and dreams and what I am good at
within the larger picture of my life.  I am great at building brands.  I
love it and how it integrates in to business.  I am very inspired by
socially driven business and community capital.  In moving forward, I
feel that I need to honor this. 
There
are thousands of women loyal to the SA VA brand.  The belief and
enthusiasm that they created around this brand is wonderful and
overwhelming.  In it proof of the success of the brand. I am so grateful
for all of the support that I have received from our customers and our
community. This experience and their support has profoundly touched me,
made me a better person and certainly a better businesswoman. 
I
imagine that there may be question about the socially driven,
sustainable fashion movement with this news.  I do not believe in any
sense that our closing is a definitive judgement against the possibility
of the movement.  SA VA was in fact a success.  Our thousands of
customers and years of growth are evidence of that.  This choice to
close, is just that, a choice.  Too, you can see this success in some of
the high end denim brands and t-shirt brands who manufacture in the
U.S.  I am happy to elaborate on this in greater depth if you would be
interested. 

I
believe you should always celebrate and honor an ending to create space
for a new beginning.  I hope that you can join me in celebrating the SA
VA retail store in our final weeks as I close out this phase of my life
and welcome the new beginning!

Here’s the things you need to know:

1.BIG SALE!
We have a full store of amazing Fall/Winter product and we will be
having a giant sale on everything in the store beginning on Monday,
December 2, 2013. 
  

2. YOU’RE INVITED!
We are having a farewell party!  We
hope you can join us in celebrating SA VA. Enjoy a fun evening of
shopping the total clearance sale and limited edition Spring 2014 items!
Wednesday, December 11th, 6-9pm. 

 
 3.   SA VA will be closing by December 22nd, 2013.  Come get your last SA VA items while they last
 4.   You will soon be able to find what my next steps are and what projects I am working on at Sarahvanaken.com
Thank
you so much for your support over the past few years.  I look forward
to staying connected as we celebrate both the incredible experience we
have had at SA VA and as I announce what is next!
Sincerely,
Sarah Van Aken

 

Categories
Philadelphia

HAIRSPRAY – TODAY EAT AT RUBY TUESDAY For CHARITY

Help out my friend David fund a City wide  effort to put on a musical with students from Philadelphia area schools. If you’d like to help this project drop David an email. This dream needs to come true after all the arts programs have seemed to been cut in school. 

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Philadelphia

THE BEST PARADE WATCHER PHOTOS FROM THE PHILADELPHIA THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE

THE BEST PHOTOS FROM THE 6ABC DUNKIN DONUTS THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE

 Jade Starling

 Mike

 A funny day acting out Star Wars
 Nice set up
 woof
 Tradition
 Ryan and Krystal Howard

 Max from General Hospital

 so Goofy

 
 Dunkin Donuts kept everyone fed and filled with hot chocolate

 Adam Joseph

 Debbie Gibson

 Swoop

 waiting their turn
Santa and Mrs Claus – Happy Thanksgiving!!
Thanks 6ABC and Dunkin Donuts for a great parade.

Categories
Philadelphia

Thanksgiving Thanks – A Note For The Troubled and Lonely during the Holidays….

My Family – missing here but not in our hearts Dad (1935 – 2004) and sister Judy (1960 – 2009)

Family, Policeman, Fireman, Non-Profit employees, Teachers, Doctors, Fireman, Nurses, Guileless People, Bosses who treat their employees with respect, the Military, Friends, People who live by the Golden Rule, People who work the soup kitchen, not only on holidays, but every day, Charities, People who understand that I might write about people, but I really stress charities, and the charitable works of others, my mentors, Michael Klein, Janine White, Leah Kaufman, anyone who has ever given me advice, Phyllis Halpern, my boyfriend Mike Toub – without his support there would be no HughE Dillon LLC, people who understand I am not a journalist, but someone chronicling Philadelphia life, people who don’t torture me when I spell something wrong, put it in the wrong tense or write me letters when I forget to mention it was their band that played at the charity event, now if you played pro-bono, then I would feel really, really bad, People who work on holidays, retail employees, servers, celebrities who want to be left a lone but their fans demand photos of them, Farmers – Don’t Gripe About Farmers With Your Mouth Full, Social Workers, Garbage Collectors, Anyone who had to deal with me when I was an alcoholic mess, my sponsors, Volunteers, Taxi Cab Drivers, especially the ones that aren’t on the cell phone or have their urine bottle on the front seat, MY EDITORS, you make me look so good, Philly Mag, Philly.com, PhillyStyle, PhillyBusiness Journal, The Metro and every media outlet in Philadelphia that had me on this year especially Fox 29 and CBS3.
Thank You my Readers so much for this amazing ride I’m on, and the banner year I’ve had (between 7,000 and 10,000 of you read PCC ever day. That has always been the number I wanted.)

Happy Birthday to my sister Judy born on Thanksgiving 1960. Here’s a post on PhillyMag.com today that is dedicated to her. 

If you feel lonely or depressed this holiday season, please contact The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. There are people there that know what you are going through and can help.
Also if you’re lonely, and you want to meet friends, check out the various Meet Up’s in our areas. There are dozens and dozens of organizations with have members who have a similar interest as you. The bottom line is they want to meet other people too. I can’t stress how wonderful that organization is.
Finally if you have a substance problem, please check out the many AA, NA or OA organization in our area. If could save a life, your life.
Categories
Philadelphia

Dr. Jennifer Caudle Celebrates Her Birthday With Friends at Ocean Prime

Last Thursday was one of those epic days where I covered about 6 events, and one of those twice a year days where I either left my notebook at the last event, or it got loss in the abyss of my life. I did go to some fun parties, and I was able to piece together a little of what went on, but if a picture tells a thousand words these photos are the complete story.

 Dr. Jennifer Caudle, D.O., a board-certified Family Medicine
physician. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the department
of Family Medicine at Rowan University- School of Osteopathic Medicine.
She’s on TV, we’re both on Fox 29 and she invited me to come by and shoot a few photos of her friends at her birthday party at one of my fav restaurants Ocean Prime. 
 Erika von Tiehl, Kate Bilo both from CBS3, with Jen and guest.

 Dennis Bianchi, Vice President and General Manager of WTXF FOX 29 (It’s kinda embarrassing to misplace my notebook on this entry since he’s kinda my “boss” over there at Fox; makes me look well disorganized or something. Oh well it happens.) Jen Groover, entrepreneur (I ran into her earlier in the day at the BenFM Luncheon which I wrote about yesterday.) Dr Jen, and Chris Blackman  Media/Communications (10 years as News Director at NBC10 til 2012)

Pa Ballet dancer Edward Barnes (Don’t miss the magic! December 7-29 at the Academy of Music.), Dr Jen and guest. I needed to run out the door lickedy split to catch the Blue Claw opening party, but heard such notables as Brittney Ship, Christine Madella, and Mike Jerrick arrived after I left.
Happy Birthday Dr Jen!!

Rob Molario, Chorus Communications and the outfit behind the winter dance classic: Hair of the Dog Gala. Coming up 1/18/14. Get your gowns on. Check out the Nicole Miller Men’s Night Out Event on 12/11/13. Then head to Chestnut Street between 17th and 18th for “Join donors are heroes for a fun shop night. Gift bags, champagne
,and more! Great stuff to buy for gifts or Yourself! 18th an chestnut
shops and finish at Ocean prime.”
Categories
Philadelphia

MARISA MAGNATTA GETS CAUGHT IN SWAROVSKI

MARISA MAGNATTA GETS CAUGHT IN SWAROVSKI

“See Who Got Caught in Swarovski” is a series of posts sponsored by Swarovski. Find out more about Swarovski at getcaughtphilly.com.
I popped into WMMR and caught “The Steve & Preston Show” morning show producer, Marisa Magnatta, getting ready for the “Totally Office Calendar 2014” release party by adding some sparkle from Swarovski.
Marisa was in the studio for a bit before heading out to meet the rest of “The Steve & Preston Show” crew that night at Xfinity Live. She brought some serious va-va-vroom to the producer’s room in these Swarovski Dark Fit Earrings and Smoothly Crossover Pendant.
Check out Marisa glamming it up with the studio mics.
I think my favorite Swarovski look is this fierce rocker-chic one. What do you think?
Thanks for “Getting Caught In Your Swarovski,” Marisa.     
“See Who Got Caught in Swarovski” is a series of posts sponsored by Swarovski. Find out more about Swarovski at getcaughtphilly.com.
Categories
Philadelphia

KACIE McDONNELL – How Did They Meet?, Hunger Games, Brian Sims Movember, Theo James, Patty Jackson, Mike Lahoud & Other Hot Shots

Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray will have surgery to repair his ACL [today]. Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers tweeted his girlfriend, Fox 29’s Kacie McDonnell. – Recently when I was in the Fox 29 studios to do my celeb segment, I asked Kacie how she met Aaron. Can you believe Twitter. It’s true, he began following her, and they would tweet back and forth. She found him funny, and interesting. That lead to phone calls and then he flew up here to meet her. So long Match.com, hello Twitter.

 Sometimes time gets away from me, sometimes my photos are rejected by my other outlets for whatever reason, sometimes I have so many events to post that photos get left behind, important photos like the ones on this page. A few weeks back the Hunger Games gang came to the Cherry Hill Mall.  Sam Claflin at the “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” mall tour at Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey on Nov. 3.

 Jena Malone at the “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” mall tour at Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey on Nov. 3

 Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright Meta Golding and Bruno Gunn
attend the ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ mall tour at Cherry Hill
Mall on November 3, 2013 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
They did make it on Perez Hilton, so I wasn’t too worried about getting invited back to the next event as they were “placed.”

I met my reader Nurse 8 there. Look at the crowds lined up even on the 2nd floor.
 Happy birthday to legendary DJ/Personality WDAS’ Patty Jackson here with son Robert and BFF Joyce Evans, Fox 29 anchor
 Philadelphia Union Soccer Player, Mike Lahoud, charity “Bowling with Mike and Friends.”

Schools For Salone is a non-profit organization that helps rebuild
schools in a previously war-torn Sierra Leone, which has one of the
worst literacy rates in the entire continent of Africa and the world.
Not only does this organization rebuild schools but the schools become
self-sufficient and fully functions environments after their inception.
In addition to building schools, they help rebuild wells to supply clean
water to surrounding villages that feed into the schools.
 Maria Papadakis was on hand to help out.

 Wait you didn’t get your PIE -No Problem, they have cash & carry sites around town & in NJ …

 I forgot to post this photo yesterday. Why is his arm missing?
 Last week I attended a luncheon to celebrate the new partnership with 95.7 Ben FM and WMCM’s Dawn Stensland at Harvest restaurant in University City.

 Check out my Philly Mag column to see who my smoochers are.
HERE
 Richard Gere stopped by the Barnes Museum a few weeks ago. On Friday Franny wrapped up filming. Look for a special screening to occur, right here in Philly, when the movie opens next year. Maybe then you’ll get a chance to see Theo James. (Photo: Barnes Museum)
 Filming on JFK Bridge 2 weeks ago
at about 1AM when it was 35F out. Brrrr.
Congratulations to Carol Tamburino, here at Del Frisco’s, the League Of Women Voters Civic Leadership
Reception honored her for as being a 21st century Renaissance woman defining what it means to be a true Philadelphian through her business associations, charitable services and
civic involvement.
Categories
Philadelphia

Gabello Throwndown Holiday Party 2013 – Cool Video Invite

Christopher Gabello 

Gabello Studios Party Invite from Gabello Studios on Vimeo.
Created a video to invite his friends, clients and it seems just about all of Philly to his annual Holiday Party. His parties are memorable, and are the best of the best of a house/studio party. 
Check out the photos/my entry from last year!!
Categories
Philadelphia

FINAL GASPS OF FALL – A Few Photos I took Last Week

So crazy last week, still trying to catch up. I know you want to see your photos, but it’ll just be a little longer. In the meantime check out these cuties then head over to Philly Mag for the Philadelphia Hospitality Gala honoring my friend Keith Leaphart. I’m out all day today shooting a client’s project, but should be in the office tomorrow AM.

I love Tinicum Park otherwise known as

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum

Fairmount Park