Monthly Archives: April 2012

Last week, ground was reportedly broken for a hotel at the new City Center. The completed project will be a 246-unit, all suites extended-stay hotel. The hotel, among other things, will include an indoor pool, a Wii room for video games, and 9,750 square feet of retail space at street level. In total, the project will cost around $60 million.

Last week, a dispute between Philadelphia Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez and the Norris Square Civic Association reportedly arose when Quinones-Sanchez introduced a measure that would permit only single-family housing to be built in one section of the Norris Squire neighborhood.

Our Philadelphia readers may have heard of modular home construction, otherwise known sectional prefabricated homes. These homes are constructed from multiple modules or sections built in a remote facility and delivered to the building site. Individual modules can be as much as 90 percent complete when they are shipped from factor to building sites, including walls flooring, ceilings, stairs and finishes.

Last month, Mayor Nutter met with US Airways chief executive Doug Parker on the issue of expanding the Philadelphia International Airport. At issue are plans to build a fifth runway. The massive project is opposed by Southwest Airlines, the airport’s second largest carrier, though airport feels the project to be necessary.

Our Philadelphia readers may be interested in a recent article printed in the San Jose Mercury News, a daily newspaper in San Jose California. The article discusses important aspects of real estate deals, and much of the advice applies equally to our Pennsylvania readers.

When a developer undertakes a project, there are often a number of obstacles. In their work, developers work with various parties to see a project through, including architects, city planners, engineers, surveyors, contractors, inspectors and leasing agents. Any number of roadblocks can be thrown up along the way.

Last Thursday, seven Pennsylvania municipalities filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania over the new natural gas law, which effectively removed the ability of city governments to regulate natural gas drilling. The lawsuit alleges that the state unconstitutionally removed the power of towns and landowners to control zoning to suit the need of the oil and gas industry.

In our previous post, we noted that seven municipalities have filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania over a law passed earlier this year which grants drilling companies broad ability to continue with drilling activities. The law, as we said, has been somewhat polarizing between those who say it is necessary to support the growing drilling industry and those who decry the removal of municipalities’ ability to place restrictions on drilling activity.