January 16: Saidel courted for #PHL2015 | DC developer’s Philly plans | Not-so-Italian Market

Jon Geeting

January 16, 2015

Nelson Diaz kicked off his run for Mayor, and Jonathan Saidel is apparently being courted to run.

The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Azavea made this cool website visualizing Philly’s building energy report.

Major Washington, DC developer MRP Realty is planning an aggressive expansion into Philly, chasing the apartment market for young adults. They already are renovating the Avenue of the Arts building and are currently looking at a dozen more.

Governor-elect Tom Wolf keeps filling out his cabinet, and the environmental advocacy community is very happy about these picks for Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Bart Blatstein and Joseph Volpe bought the Delaware Generating Station on Penn Treaty park, and turning it into two boutique hotels. “Over time they may add river-view apartments and a marina,” Blatstein told the Inquirer.

Portland is piloting could get much more accurate counts of bike traffic on city streets.

A new report from Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the Fiscal Policy Institute looks at how immigrant businesses can enliven commercial corridors, using the Asian and Latino businesses in Philly’s Italian Market as an example.

AP is banning the term “ride-sharing” to refer to services like Uber X and Lyft, in favor of the less loaded “ride-hailing,” to more accurately reflect the rental nature of the business.

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