Temple construction project hit by 7th arson.

Another arson hit the new residential high-rise nearing completion at Temple University, a university spokesman reported Friday. Read more here...

A note of discord as Merion Golf Club gears up to host golf's U.S. Open. Metropolitan Regional Council of Carpenters claim "That's our work. This is our jurisdiction."

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners lambasted the U.S. Golf Association this week for not hiring local labor to build most of the staging for the event. Read more here…

Pa. Convention Center could wind up in private hands by summer

The Pennsylvania Convention Center is testing the waters to see whether a private management firm might run the facility better and more cheaply than current management.  Read more here...

Family's bet on big-box store pays off for center

Manhattan was crawling with retailers and real estate brokers licking their wounds from the economic collapse when Steve Niggeman, a member of that chastened club, took a seat at a restaurant and floated a proposal that, at its core, screamed, "Spend millions."     Read more here…

33-story Allentown skyscraper gets green light

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A plan to build a 33-story skyscraper in downtown Allentown has gotten preliminary approval from the city's parking authority. Read more here…

DeMedici II will buy former GlaxoSmithKline building for new String Theory School

D'Anella said plans call for making upgrades of between $10 million and $12 million to the 225,000-square-foot building to create a theater, performing arts studios, science labs, TV and motion-capture studios, and an automotive engineering lab.  Read more here…

Panel should back Fishtown casino

The 300-room casino-hotel for Philadelphia proposed by Steve Wynn would sit about five blocks from my home in Fishtown, and extend up into lower Port Richmond. It should be the only site up for discussion.  Read more here…

Affordable-housing development moves forward in Norristown

The plan calls for 96 one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as 5,000 square feet of retail space, at DeKalb and Airy Streets. Sixty units would be reserved for low- and moderate-income residents.  Read more here…

Council questions handling of contract workers

As City Council heard opening testimony on Monday from Mayor Michael Nutter’s top administration officials regarding details of Nutter’s five-year financial plan and fiscal year 2014 capital budget, it quickly became clear that Council is concerned with the administration’s handling of municipal contracts and pensions.  Read more here...

Furloughs called unnecessary stumbling block in Philly contract fights

One thing was clear from Philadelphia City Council's first day of budget hearings Monday - many of the members regard Mayor Nutter's drive to win the right to furlough nonuniformed workers as an unnecessary impediment to finalizing contracts with the municipal unions. Read more here…

Opening shots fired in budget hearings

In a lightning round of questioning nominally tied to the five-year fiscal plan, top administration officials fielded inquiries over why they are demanding possible furloughs from blue-collar workers, why more money isn’t being reserved for the firefighters, why the city is turning to workers to solve the pension crisis and other questions on labor.  Read more here…

Philly U. security guards rally for better pay

Using a gathering of Philadelphia University at the Franklin Mint as a backdrop, members of the Service Employees International Union 32BJ – with an assist from City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson – staged a rally to speak out about the overall contract standing of its members in general, and that of McGinn Security, which is the security contractor for the university. Read more here...

IATSE/Electric Factory Dispute Ongoing

According to IATSE Local#8’s Facebook page, the Area Standards Dispute with Electric Factory Concerts continues.  IATSE’s membership continues to picket the physical building and is waging a social media campaign against Electric Factory and its Facebook page as well as the Facebook page’s of bands and artists that that are scheduled to play.   

Construction owners charged with extorting employees

Two construction executives conspired to force their employees to pay kickbacks to keep their jobs at a Fort Dix reconstruction project and then also conspired to falsify wage records, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Camden on Tuesday. Read more here…

Casino developer reaches out to potential neighbors

Wynn, one of six investors vying for one casino license in Philadelphia, is sending a letter to 53,000 residents in neighborhoods surrounding his proposed site on the Delaware River north of Penn Treaty Park.  Read more here...

Proposed $480M Penn National casino suggests aid to Philly's schools and pension funds

Philadelphia schools and the municipal pension fund would get at least $2 million a year if Penn National Gaming Inc. succeeds in its bid to build a South Philadelphia casino, Steve Snyder, senior vice president of corporate development, told City Council on Thursday.  Read more here...

Drexel's proposed mixed-use tower raises ire of neighbors

THE FLURRY of construction activity near Drexel University's main campus is primed to continue with the proposal of a 24-story residential tower, but some nearby residents fear that it won't be enough to keep up with the school's booming enrollment. Read more here…

Temple University Health System delays Jeanes Hospital rehab

Temple University Health System is delaying a major renovation at its financially struggling Jeanes Hospital and will close an inpatient rehabilitation unit there in May.  Read more here…

Labor pains: Unions rally against Mayor Nutter as budget battle begins

Organized labor united Wednesday afternoon in an unprecedented show of solidarity against Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration due to what they say is an unprecedented attack on workers’ rights in Philadelphia.

There is some interesting labor data at the end of the article defining bargaining unit size per industry under the sub-section titled: Contract contention.  Read more here...

Dranoff in apartment sweet spot, this time

Developer Carl Dranoff has a history of going in early -- maybe too early. His Packard Building rehab came more than a decade before the North Broad Street ex-factory district became a popular condo-apartment-restaurant destination. His Left Bank in University City, his conversion of the RCA Victrola factory in Camden, were also ahead of the market. His Locust on the Park was nine years ahead of the Schuylkill park rehab that gave it the name.

Dranoff's South Broad projects, by contrast, have been timely. His Symphony House condos and 777 South Broad apartments are full enough that he's started work on the 85-unit Southstar apartments. "It's not the biggest project we've done, but a crucial project," says Dranoff, as crews pound pilings along Broad Street to protect the subway.  Read more here…