REGIONAL CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY UPDATE – December, 2015

Welcome to the December, 2015 GMCS REGIONAL CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY UPDATE. 

GMCS is focused on facilitating communication and collaboration amongst our construction employer associations, constructors, facility owners, building trades and governmental bodies with an emphasis on creating a centralized, focused community that actively promotes labor harmony, industry advancement, contractor opportunities and workforce development.

Choice Hotels to build hotel near Broad and Locust

Pearl Properties plans a 206-room Cambria hotel at the current site of a garage that it owns near Broad and Locust Streets, according to the lodging chain's parent, Choice Hotels International of Rockville, Md.

The Cambria property at 219-225 S. Broad St. will be operated by Raleigh, N.C.-based Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co., Choice Hotels said in a release last week on its website.

The hotel, which the company plans to open in 2017, will also feature a "first-class" restaurant on its ground floor, Choice Hotels said.

Calls to Pearl's Philadelphia office seeking comment Friday were not answered.

Source: Philly.com

Changing Skyline: The ugly story behind Penn's bucolic urban campus

University City, that artificially created place on the west bank of the Schuylkill, has suddenly become Philadelphia's most vital neighborhood. You can see it in the luxury high-rises, office towers, and dorms now coalescing into a glittering second skyline. Just last week, Penn and Drexel held a party to celebrate their economic contribution to the city, which is indeed substantial. Today, Penn reigns supreme as Philadelphia's largest private employer, with nearly 16,000 full-timers on its payroll.