Conshohocken hotel sells for $26.5M

A Conshohocken, Pa., Marriott hotel has changed hands for $26.5 million.

The 137-room Residence Inn Philadelphia Conshohocken — part of the Marriott brand — has been acquired by Philadelphia-based hospitality company HHM from Brandywine Realty Trust, the two companies announced Tuesday.

The Residence Inn Philadelphia Conshohocken was acquired by HHM for $26.5 million.

Montco to spend $276M renovating county facilities

Montgomery County commissioners, in an ongoing effort to help revitalize Norristown, Pa., has committed to spending upwards of $276 million on a series of construction projects involving the courthouse and the government structures surrounding it.

Kennett Square, Township complex to break ground

KENNETT TOWNSHIP A $10 million mixed-use development in Kennett Township and Kennett Square is scheduled to break ground in the summer.

The development, made up of four buildings, will sit on 3.9 acres in Kennett Township and 1.3 acres in Kennett Square Borough. The development will include 13 apartments, about 11,000 square feet of retail space, 6,700 square feet of office space, and space for a restaurant.

A pair of hotels, but not in direct competition

Los Angeles hospitality mogul Sam Nazarian plans a second Philadelphia hotel, a slightly less pricey sibling of the high-end SLS Lux he's building with local developer Carl Dranoff.

Ailing North Philly hospital ends 20-year run: Up to 675 jobs lost

North Philadelphia Health System, which has been on financial life support from the state for more than 20 years, will close St. Joseph's Hospital in March, putting as many as 675 out of work.

"For us, it really was about taking a look about what was the best way to build a stable and sustainable approach" to North Philadelphia's health-care landscape, Ted Dallas, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, said Wednesday.

REGIONAL CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY UPDATE – January, 2016

Welcome to the January, 2016 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.

Changing Skyline: Can Philadelphia's new planning chief be all things to all people?

Jim Kenney ran for mayor as the great coalition-builder, bringing together a collection of the city's strangest bedfellows: New Philadelphians and the old. Bike-riding millennials and the building trade unions. Real estate developers mining the city for buildable lots and people unsettled by the explosion of new housing in their once-unchanging neighborhoods.

This week, Kenney pulled off a similar magic trick when he named a planning director who manages to appeal to all those groups.

Nutter announces new $10M study to cap I-95

As Mayor Michael Nutter's mayoral term comes to a close, the outgoing city leader announced a $10 million study on capping Interstate 95 before admitting he is more prone to tears following his eight years in office.

"I think everybody has recognized, in the whole scheme of things, replacement of I-95 and the damage that its done to this city and a number of others is pretty clear," Nutter said.

Mayor Michael Nutter talked about his eight years in office and his plans for the future during his final press conference in office on Dec. 31, 2015.

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Mayor Michael Nutter talked about his eight years in office and his plans for the future… more

With an unbuttoned collar and no tie, a casual Nutter said the study will be funded by state and federal dollars, although the city may end up contributing funds to the project in future budgets. The Federal Transportation Improvement Program has made a commitment to fund the first phase of the study.

The study, which will be done in conjunction with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, will focus on capping the area around Penn's Landing, including Columbus Boulevard, located near the Irish Memorial that sits just south of Front and Chestnut streets, the outgoing mayor said before he took a look back on his two terms.

"The fact is Philadelphia is safer today than before it was the day I became into office. The fact is there is more educational funding for schools than there has been at any other time," Nutter said. "The fact is unemployment has continued to go down and we are in a boom of economic revitalization. ... We’ve helped to change some of the culture around this government as far as corruption."

"Those are the facts," he said.

Along with ticking off the administration's accomplishments, Nutter said the past eight years had a significant impact on his personal growth.

"The biggest thing for me is having a greater appreciation and understanding of some of the incredible challenges and difficulties people face," he said, noting the difficult conversations he's had with the loved ones of public servants killed in the line of duty.

"I’ve become more personally emotional over the last eight years," he continued. "I find myself in any number of moments possibly on the verge of tears or welling up about all kinds of things. It’s not that I didn’t have feelings before but something has happened."

Shifting to comments on his future plans, Nutter quickly dismissed his own tongue-in-cheek suggestion that he would be taking Fox29 Good Day Philadelphia anchor Mike Jerrick's job – "I think he and Chip are going to do some things together."