The latest coworking space to open in Philadelphia shut its doors last month, raising questions about the fate of a project that gained support from hundreds of community members and the plans for the $1.5 million raised through crowdfunding to purchase and renovate a long-time vacant Manayunk building.
“There is not an easy way to get yourself in the property owning industry for the first time,” said Simon Rogers, who co-founded The Transfer Station with his brother Adam. “Everybody wants to see what you’ve already done.”
The brothers planned to open the Transfer Station – a shared space for paying members to use for their retail, office or event needs -- at the former power substation at 114 Green Lane.
The pair partnered with Philadelphia-based developer Shift Capital and Washington-based Fundrise LLC to generate a portion of the capital needed to acquire the property through a crowdfunding campaign, which allowed Pennsylvania residents to invest as little as $100 in the project.
The unusual financing model quickly surpassed their $500,000 goal, reaching more than $1.5 million with the help of 623 “investors.”
But the renovations required to repurpose the Green Lane building, which lacked plumbing and other necessities, to suit the Transfer Station’s needs were too costly.
“There are more important parts to what we are trying to do than having that specific location,” Simon said.
Regardless, no one who gave money towards the purchase was bilked out of their cash, said Shift Capital’s Brian Murray.
“It was a test the waters campaign,” Murray said. “No money whatsoever exchanged hands. If you were on Fundrise… the statement is if this investment was available to the public would you be willing to invest and how much would you invest.”
The Transfer Station co-founders’ aborted pursuit of the vacant substation means Shift Capital no longer controls the building and, in turn, the developer’s role in the organization is over.
“Our primary role was to try to put together a project at the Green Lane property,” Murray said. “Now we’ll support them from a cheerleading standpoint.”
The decision to abandon the building the co-founders had set their sights on came just as the short-term lease at 4120 Main St., the temporary location where they opened in November, was ending.
“The roadblock we kept coming up against,” said Adam, “to customize a space to the extent that we need to, it doesn’t make sense to pour that much money into a space that we do not own.”
The building lacked flexibility and its retail-based design didn’t fit the Transfer Station’s other intended uses, he said.
Instead the six-month run in the cavernous retail building at the end of Main Street’s business corridor served as a “pilot period” for the Transfer Station’s business model.
“It felt like a lot of people were so excited about the transfer station, and we were too, but they didn’t know what they were excited about,” Adam said. “In the next revision, we are focusing that excitement to be more controlled.”
Both Adam and Simon admit to saying yes to proposals, like a gallery space, at the temporary location that were not part of The Transfer Station’s original purpose.
When the next location opens, the co-working space will refocus on its core mission – providing a space for entrepreneurs and business consultants to connect and collaborate.
“When you get to the root of why we created [The Transfer Station], we met so many talented people who have something to contribute to society,” Simon said. “There are people who have incredible talent, but don’t have the know-how or the resources to convert that into an active business or to bring a product to market.”
The search for the next location is underway and Simon and Adam say they are not limiting themselves to the city’s Manayunk neighborhood.
“We are honing in on what makes the most sense as far as public transportation, safety and distance from Center City,” Adam said.
Simon added, “The case could be made that North Philadelphia could be a great place to build a testing ground.”
Contact Alison Burdo at 610.668.5635, alison.burdo@nbcuni.com or follow @NewsBurd on Twitter.
Two homes, a shed and a car were destroyed by a fast-moving fire in Mays Landing, New Jersey.
Officials say the fire began inside a shed around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday on Pebble Beach Drive. The flames quickly spread to a car and two homes, destroying everything in its path.
Eight fire companies and 75 firefighters responded to the blaze which was difficult to control due to strong winds.
The fire was finally placed under control shortly before 5 p.m.
No injuries were reported. Officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
A woman was arrested on suspicion of DUI after her vehicle collided with a SEPTA train in the Kingsessing section of the city.
Police say the unidentified woman was traveling on 56th Street and Hoffman Avenue early Tuesday evening when she lost control of her car and crashed through the gates and onto the tracks near the Angora Station. An approaching Media/Elwyn Line train then slammed into her vehicle.
Investigators say the woman and her two female passengers were all hurt in the crash. None of the passengers on the train were injured however.
The three women were taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries. Tuesday night, police announced that the driver of the car was arrested for suspicion of DUI. She has not yet been officially charged however.
Inbound service to Philadelphia on the Media/Elwyn was suspended while outbound service experienced delays. Service in both directions was later fully restored.
An out-of-town trip organized by a nonprofit civic organization is offering small business owners in the Delaware Valley a chance to build their local professional network while learning how to better tackle the challenges facing Philly-area communities.
“I made a number of contacts and connections that have become clients,” said Nancy Dunleavy, CEO of the Plymouth Meeting-based professional services firm, Dunleavy & Associates.
Dunleavy, who manages 15 employees, traveled to Toronto in 2012 and San Francisco in 2010 as part of the Greater Philadelphia Leadership Exchange, which is organized by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.
The trip brings around 100 executives from business, nonprofit and government organizations throughout the region to another city to learn the best practices from outside of the Delaware Valley, while strengthening ties among our local leaders.
Past participants vet the applicants in a competitive process that aims to include local leaders from diverse backgrounds as well as an array of sectors and industries.
Attendees must cover their own travel and accommodation costs for the nearly week-long trip, which includes a full day of various sessions with political, business and community leaders from the host city.
The expense was worth the experience for Dunleavy, who described how a conversation over pasta and red wine at an Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood led to several long-lasting professional relationships.
“Six of the 12 people at the dinner, who are all from the greater Philadelphia region, continue to get together every six months in our city to share ideas,” she said.
“Strange bedfellows connect personally and invariably we hear several months later about ways that they are working together,” said Joshua Sevin of the Economy League. “It is hard to take the time out, but those who do invariably report back that they got a lot out of it.”
This year the group will travel to Boston in October for sessions on entrepreneurism, as well as early childhood education and community development.
“We want to make sure business leaders are exposed to crucial issues that may not be right in their lane, but are one over,” Sevin said. “Everyone staying in their own lane will keep getting us the same results.”
The redevelopment of Boston’s “gateway cities” and the strength of the Cambridge’s startup scene are two examples Philly area leaders can learn from, he said.
“Gateway cities, midsized former urban centers like Lowell and Lawrence and Chelsea are analogous in our region to places like Camden, Pottstown, Bristol and Chester,” Sevin said.
The steps leaders in the Boston region took to revitalize those cities’ economies and communities could be applied locally, according to Sevin.
Plus a recent report from Philadelphia-based RJMetrics shows Philly trails sixth-ranked Boston for hottest startup cities in the country.
Aside from San Francisco and Toronto, previous exchanges brought Philly leaders to Atlanta and Chicago. But Sevin says the similarities between Beantown and the City of Brotherly Love could prove especially beneficial.
“Both the eds and meds are major parts of our economies,” he said. “It makes it easier for us to see where there are differences and why.”
The deadline to apply for this year’s exchange is Wednesday. Dunleavy lans to submit again and encourages others to do the same.
“Redirect your advertising dollars into investing into this initiative,” she said. “You will meet all the people to help you make the connections to the markets you want to promote your business in and you will learn a lot.”
Contact Alison Burdo at 610.668.5635, alison.burdo@nbcuni.com or follow @NewsBurd on Twitter.
Customers at a local Bank of America are on high alert after a thief stole thousands of dollars from their accounts through an ATM card scam.
In the past two days, at least 26 customers at the Bank of America branch in Lacey Township, New Jersey reported that someone made withdrawals from their accounts at ATM machines in North Jersey. Some customers say over $1000 was stolen from their accounts. All the victims used the ATM at the Lacey Township Bank of America prior to the thefts.
“At this point, the belief is that it’s likely that the machine was tampered with well before the last two days, possibly weeks ago if not a month or so ago,” said Lacey Township Police Chief David Paprota.
Police are not sure at this point what type of equipment was used to copy data from the cards and obtain pin numbers.
On Monday, police released surveillance photos of a man who they say planted a strip reader and a tiny camera on the ATM of the Bank of America in Evesham Township in a skimming scam. Investigators are unsure at this point however whether the two situations are related.
“We are currently looking into the connection with Evesham Township,” Paprota said. “A very similar type of situation occurred there.”
Police are urging customers to check their statements, immediately report any fraudulent activity and change their pin numbers.
“Bank of America has good systems and they’re very secure,” said Jim Allen, a Bank of America customer. “My sense of it is they just need to keep on top of things. Look at what happened at Target a few months ago.”
Lacey Township Police continue to investigate.
A Flood Watch and Coastal Flood Advisory are now in effect as a "wall of rain" continues to move through our region. The heavy rain is not expected to leave until Thursday night prompting flooding concerns as 3 to 5 inches of rain could fall.
The precipitation is part of the large storm system that stretches from The Deep South up into the Northeast. It’s the same system that has spawned devastating tornadoes in Arkansas and Mississippi. But for our area, we will only see lots of rain and wind.
NBC10 First Alert Chief Meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz says the rain will intensify at times Wednesday and carry on into Thursday afternoon.
“It will be heavier tomorrow morning for the morning rush then it will be tonight for the rush,” Hurricane said. “One of our computer models is predicting 3 to 5 inches of rain by the end of this on Thursday." He called the storm system a "wall of rain."
A Flood Watch went into effect for the entire region through Thursday morning. A Coastal Flood Advisory for minor tidal flooding also went into effect and will last until 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
NBC10 First Alert Meteorologist Tedd Florendo says flooding that might occur will most likely be localized to roads and sidewalks. He says drivers should expect to run into ponding as they roll down highways, so it will be important to take extra caution.
“When you have that heavy rain coming down and you’re trying to drive, it’s going to be difficult,” he said. “It’s best to slow down and take your time.”
A few isolated thunderstorms could crop up in Southern Delaware, but that is expected to be the only area to see the lighting and thunder, Florendo said.
The rain will move out of the area by Thursday evening and then we should dry out on Friday, the meteorologists said.
Earlier this month, we found out the average time that a Philadelphian arrives to work. But what time does the average Philadelphian actually wake up? A new study conducted by Bing attempts to answer this question.
Bing took a look at 25 cities across America, including Philadelphia, and calculated the time in which they received 50% of their daily peak traffic from each area in their local time zone.
Based on the results, they concluded that the average Philadelphian wakes up at 7:20 a.m. The earliest time was 6:43 a.m. for San Francisco while the latest wake-up time belonged to the city that supposedly never sleeps, New York, at 7:32 a.m.
Click here to learn more about Bing’s new study.
The unemployment rate in Philadelphia continues to drop, according to preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On Tuesday the City announced that the unemployment rate in Philadelphia declined from 8.3% in February to 8% in March based on the new data.
Officials also say that 4,000 more jobs were added to the city’s economy in March, bringing the number of jobs in Philly to its highest level for a March month since 2003.
“Today, as we fight our way back from the recession, companies all across Philadelphia are hiring new people, winning new business, and growing in our city, and my Administration is committed to doing all we can to support that success,” said Mayor Michael A. Nutter. “On Saturday, for example, I met with the latest graduates of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program who, because of this program, are transforming their companies and putting more Philadelphians to work. These business owners, like so many others across our city, are investing in Philadelphia and are the reason why this city is on the right path.”
The data also revealed that the number of employed Philadelphians is at its highest for a March month since 2001 while the number of unemployed residents is at its lowest since December of 2008. The unemployment rate of 8% in March, 2014 is also 2.1% lower than it was in March of 2013.
You can view all the new employment data here.
A woman is fighting for her life after she fell onto the subway tracks at a SEPTA station in South Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Investigators say the woman was waiting at the Ellsworth-Federal station around 1:15 p.m.
Surveillance video shows the woman waiting on the platform and moving across the yellow line towards the edge. She then suddenly falls off the platform and lands on the third rail, which is electrified and powers the train.
“The electrical current runs through your body,” said SEPTA Police Chief Tom Nestel. “It interferes with your major organs. It can shut down your heart. It can cause death and it often does.”
Investigators say that likely would have happened to the woman if not for the quick actions of passengers and SEPTA workers who shut down the power to the rail and notified authorities.
Responding firefighters and other crews were able to rescue the woman. She was taken to Jefferson University Hospital 20 minutes after the fall.
“Everybody on that platform either ran to help or ran up to the cashier to notify SEPTA,” Nestel said. “She is still alive because of the great work of the fire department and Jefferson Hospital."
The woman, who has not yet been identified, is currently in serious condition. Police say she got on the platform without paying.
SEPTA officials say the woman’s fall should serve as a warning to passengers to stay behind the yellow line on train platforms and never lean over the tracks.
The incident was the first of two accidents to occur at a SEPTA station on Tuesday. Three people were hurt after a SEPTA train slammed into a vehicle early Tuesday evening in the Kingsessing section of the city.
Police are on the hunt for thieves who they say broke into a local church and stole a computer monitor, causing extensive damage in the process.
The thieves broke into the Community Baptist Church on the 1500 block of Mt. Ephraim Avenue in Camden sometime between Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
David King, the pastor of the church, tells NBC10 the suspects stole a flat screen computer monitor from the church basement. They also caused major damage after breaking through the wall of the back of the church.
According to King, it wasn’t the first time the church was burglarized.
“It’s almost like Groundhog’s Day,” King said. “Over and over.”
King claims the church has been burglarized so many times that he’s lost count at this point.
During Good Friday of last year, King says thieves stole monitors, stereos and CDs. During another incident, King says thieves stole AC units, broke into church vans and even took copper molding off the building façade.
In addition to the burglaries, King also says bullets have struck the stained glass of the church at least three times.
According to King, his church hosted several funerals over the past month, which were attended by many nonmembers. King suspects someone attending one of the services cased the building and returned during the burglary.
In spite of all the crime, King says he’d welcome the thieves into his church and doesn’t plan on leaving.
“When you have someone who doesn’t fear God, that will come into a house of God and rob it, that’s a person who’s in bad shape,” King said. “Someone asked, ‘Well, do you ever think of leaving?’ No, if you leave, they win.”
Investigators say there was no surveillance video of the suspects and descriptions have not been released.
If you have any information on the theft, please call Camden Police.
A man is fighting for his life after police say he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a building in Bensalem, Bucks County.
The unidentified man was driving erratically at a high speed out of a supermarket parking lot along Street Road Tuesday night, according to investigators.
As he continued driving, police say he lost control of his car and slammed into the side of an unoccupied rectory belonging to Our Lady of Fatima Church on the 2900 block of Street Road.
Investigators say he was trapped inside the vehicle for at least 20 minutes before responding rescue crews were able to pull him out.
The man was taken to Frankford-Torresdale Hospital where he is currently in critical condition.
Investigators say they found prescription painkillers, needles as well as bags of heroin inside his car. Officials suspect the drugs played a role in the crash.
Police are on the hunt for a man who they say threatened and robbed several escorts that he met online.
The most recent victim, a 22-year-old woman who did not want to be identified, told NBC10 that she met the man on Backpage.com. The two then set up a meeting over the weekend at a hotel near Philadelphia International Airport.
When she arrived at their room, the woman says the man pulled out a gun and demanded that she give him her money.
“I still think about it,” she said. “Every time the gun was pointed at my face I thought he was going to shoot me.”
The woman says the man then duct-taped her and robbed her.
“I was very frightened and I was very scared,” she said. “He duct-taped my mouth, my hands and my ankles. He kept telling me to be quiet or he was going to shoot me.”
Police say the woman was the third escort the suspect targeted in April. The man met all three victims on Backpage.com, according to investigators.
“He’s looking at them as soft targets,” said Philadelphia Police Lieutenant John Walker. “He’s thinking that these girls are by themselves and they’re not going to report it to police.”
Police say the man has stolen at least $2,000 so far.
Detectives suspect that other victims are out there and fear that if the suspect isn’t caught soon, the attacks could turn deadly.
“I really pray that he gets caught,” the woman said. “No one else should have to go through that.”
If you have any information on the suspect’s whereabouts, please call Philadelphia Police.
