A maybe one-time only pot of money designated to provide low-interest loans for energy efficient new construction and retrofits will run out this September. The EnergyWorks loan fund is a federally subsidized initiative designed to jumpstart residential and commercial projects with energy efficient components. It’s accepting applications until the grant period concludes in September of this year. Since the money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus, it remains uncertain when another program of this nature will surface.

One project that has benefited

In Philadelphia, one offshoot of the stimulus was the EnergyWorks program. Before the program launched in 2009, there existed no public entity in Philadelphia where individuals could apply for loans to carry out energy efficient retrofits or larger projects. To make it happen, the Office of Sustainability collaborated with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and The…

Over the summer, we told you about the newest addition to the University City hospitality scene, a new Homewood Suites hotel. Located at 4109 Walnut St., this new hotel will include 136 suites, which will include kitchenettes. One of the ideas behind the idea of building this hotel is to provide extended-stay accommodations for families, visiting medical professionals, visiting professors, and others.

Back in August, the site looked like this:

Under construction

Earlier this week, this was the scene:

That's progress, right there

Are we jumping out of our seats about the architecture? Not really. Are we encouraged by the additional western development on Walnut St.? Sure. Will hotel guests appreciate their close proximity to Lee’s Hoagie House? Absolutely.

On the south side of the 4100 block of Chestnut St. is a warehouse building that has been occupied by Graphics Arts Inc. for decades. With the family-owned printing company’s recent merger with Smith-Edwards-Dunlap Company, they’ve moved their manufacturing facility to Port Richmond and sold their West Philly building to Campus Apartments (we were also surprised it wasn’t Penn). The sale went through in June, and was for a sum of over $5M.

Looking west on Chestnut St., in the rain

Right near the corner of 41st St.

Included in the purchase was the 35K sqft. building pictured above and the sizable parking lot in the rear. The lot can accommodate about 55 cars but doesn’t look as cool as the building since it’s, you know, an empty…

View from the east on Walnut St.

If you’ve found yourself in University City lately, you may have noticed a large building going up right off the corner at 41st and Walnut Sts. Campus Apartments, in cooperation with Upenn, is building a Homewood Suites hotel at 4109 Walnut St. Homewood Suites is a part of the Hilton empire, and this particular location will have 136 suites with separate bedrooms and kitchenettes. This hotel will be an ideal place for individuals or families needing extended-stay accommodations, especially for medical professionals or patients.

What you can expect around the end of this coming school year

The original plan was to construct this hotel at the corner of 40th and Pine Sts. on the site of a historic Italianate mansion and…