Monthly Archives: October 2012

When the franchise owner of Central Bark, a day care facility for – you guessed it – dogs went looking for financial help in relocating her small business she received support from an unlikely source. That source is an almost 55-year-old nonprofit economic development organization that has been linked to some of Philadelphia’s most ambitious building projects. We are referring to the Comcast Stadium and the repurposing of the Navy Yard, among others. The president of Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. doesn’t even have a dog.

Five properties from the Pennsylvania state inventory will soon be up for sale after recent approval of the 2012 Real Property Disposition Plan. The five pieces of new real estate will add to a plan hoping to save money and generate revenue for the commonwealth by putting these properties onto local tax rolls.

On Monday, October 29, the Philadelphia City Council will hold a hearing on the issue of the city’s new zoning code, under which neighborhood block organizations no longer have any input into zoning decisions. The new law reserves that task to Registered Community Organizations instead, which must claim a service area of at least five blocks.

As a result of Pennsylvania’s new gas drilling law, the city of Philadelphia is set to receive nearly $1.3 million. That number was released on Monday by Governor Corbett’s office, along with the amounts every municipality and county will receive under the new law. The proceeds of the impact fee mostly go to the communities where drilling will take place, but some also goes to all counties for of conservation, beautification and other purposes.

Last Thursday, the Electric Power Generation Association, which has planned to build a number of natural gas-fired power plants throughout the state, announced that a plant proposed for Lawrence County may in fact not be built at all, at least not in the next year. The plant, for which New Jersey-based LS Power gained approval earlier this week, had been set to join gas-fired plant proposals in Westmoreland and Washington counties, as well as one for Bradford County and two others across the state.

On Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus Shale drilling law-the one that, among other things, removes local zoning power from municipalities-was under consideration by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. As our readers may know, portions of the controversial law were overturned in July.

In our previous post, we began speaking about the importance of getting the right professional help when making a start in the real estate business or moving to increase one’s holdings. We’ve already mentioned the importance of hiring property managers and realtors.

Some people go into the real estate business as a full-time job, but for many people, real estate investment starts off small and grows over time, almost by accident. With some real estate markets beginning to recover, an increasing number of casual investors are looking to take their real estate interests to the next level.

According to the Philadelphia city controller, several residential and commercial construction sites across the city are engaging in “illicit business practices” and allowing unsafe working conditions on their sites. The recent investigation specifically into 23 active construction sites found 96 conditions that violated tax laws or public safety ordinances.

On Tuesday, developer Eric Blumenfeld, for the second time in eight years, came into possession of the historic Divine Lorraine Hotel on North Broad Street. Blumeneld, an active developer on North Broad Street, reportedly gained title to the property at a sheriff’s sale on Tuesday after being the sole bidder on the 11-story building.