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Seeing Green

Will Roxborough be Philly’s first sustainable neighborhood?

by Erica S. Brath

Last week in this space we presented plans to improve Roxborough’s distressed Ridge Avenue corridor. Funds have been secured for improvements to the retail district in the hope new streetscapes will attract new businesses.

And while the area east of Manayunk could benefit from an influx of new arrivals scurrying up the Ridge en masse, a small group of determined business owners is working to ensure the rebirth is sustainable.

“Roxborough is a very green neighborhood in the sense that there’s a lot of green space, and sustainability is something we believe in, in our own business strategies, so why not try to attract other like-minded businesses?” says Rick Diamond, who owns Roxborough Real Estate, a real estate investment and leasing company.

Diamond has two decades of experience in the real estate industry, and also sits on the Roxborough Development Corporation’s (RDC) Promotion Committee. He says he started his company two years ago because the historic neighborhood has potential.

“We have almost 40,000 inhabitants here in Roxborough. It’s a very strong neighborhood. They have such a sense of ownership,” says Bernard Guet, executive director of the RDC. “Very often [residents] will tell you, ‘We’ve been here for three generations or four generations.’ It’s really interesting that in the middle of the city it’s like its own independent neighborhood.” And many believe an infusion of new blood dedicated to local growth is just what the area needs.

Both Diamond and Sati Rose, owner of GreenLife Health and Wellness Center, which shares the building with Roxborough Real Estate, are working to attract green businesses to the area.

“We’ve targeted other businesses that are sustainable types of businesses, and GreenLife was the first business besides ourselves to occupy this space in this corridor,” says Diamond, referring to the Roxborough Green Corridor, an initiative he and Rose are spearheading.

Tucked into the back of the building on the 6200 block of Ridge Avenue, GreenLife’s bright rehabbed yoga studios and shared space are a model of what Rose would like to see Roxborough become.

“Basically what my role is in the corridor outside of the business is just to help use my business as an anchor to really draw other business in,” says Rose. “We’re doing a lot of marketing, doing everything possible to get this going. I want people to know it’s safe to move here now.

The plan is for the green corridor to extend from Gorgas Park to Lyceum Avenue.

“We’re actually soliciting investors now, and will continue to try to get grants if possible,” she adds. “We’re just basically reaching out and saying, ‘Come and check us out. We’re legitimately doing this. See what you can do,’ because we want them to become involved.”

For Diamond and Rose, who teaches yoga and meditation, living green isn’t just a hot marketing concept.

“We’ve tried to embed sustainability into everything we do,” says Diamond, who notes that his company recycles and uses environmentally friendly paints and building materials in its renovations. Additionally, both businesses are powered by PECO wind energy.

GreenLife is a registered member of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, a nonprofit coalition of businesses and entrepreneurs working to build a more socially, environmentally and financially sustainable local economy.

The green corridor has already attracted interest from a range of businesses, including a massage therapist, an acupuncturist, a green cleaning products company and a recycled clothing boutique.

“Philadelphia needs this now. It’s a time when people are coming and saying it’s the worst, most dangerous city with the highest crime rate and all this stuff, and I don’t see any of that on my street,” says Rose, who lives a few blocks from GreenLife.

And while attracting entrepreneurs with a similar vision remains the goal, creating an inviting business corridor for everyone just makes good business sense.

“The reality is we’re a nondiscriminatory renting facility. If someone comes in and says, ‘I run this kind of business—we’re not green and we’re not sustainable. Will you still consider us?’ Sure, we’ll still consider them,” says Diamond. “Because hopefully, by what we’re doing and what others are doing, we can encourage others to slowly, progressively move toward a more sustainable lifestyle.”

Erica S. Brath wrote last week about revitalizing Roxborough’s Ridge Avenue business corridor. Comments on this story can be sent to letters@philadelphiaweekly.com

 

Romancing the Ridge

Roxborough is set to get a facelift.

by Erica S. Brath

Follow Ridge Avenue through Roxborough, and you’ll pass shops hawking takeout, check cashing, insurance, and second-hand and discount goods. “For rent” and “for sale” signs adorn vacant windows, and crowds of teens wander past people waiting for the bus, walking dogs or pushing shopping carts.

Scattered along the stretch, which officially extends from the intersection of Main Street in Manayunk to Domino Lane, are harbingers of a new Roxborough—an independent coffee shop, a yoga studio, a SuperFresh supermarket and the neighborhood’s first Starbucks.

Roxborough seems on the cusp of something, and a handful of people are working to ensure revitalization of both business and residential areas is the result.

“Roxborough has always been a good neighborhood, but maybe because it was a good neighborhood, nobody thought it should be the next neighborhood,” says Bernard Guet, executive director of the Roxborough Development Corporation (RDC), the nonprofit leading the charge toward improving the community just east of Manayunk.

With grants totaling more than $2 million, the RDC has taken the first step in making the Ridge, as the avenue is colloquially called, the neighborhood’s go-to destination.

“We’re going to be able to make an impact,” says Guet. “We’re talking about green stuff like trees, street furniture, sidewalks, pedestrian lighting.”

Roxborough has been here before. The initial 2004 unveiling of the master plan generated excitement, with streetscape updates and promises of an influx of businesses, but not much more.

“Nothing was happening because there was no [RDC] executive director,” says Guet. Funds for the revitalization—including grants from the city totaling $1.7 million—sat in the coffers.

Volunteers stepped in, but without someone leading the charge and working to obtain matching funds, momentum stalled.

“It’s really complicated, but when you get grants, you always need a matching grant,” says Guet, who helped the RDC gain $500,000 in matching funds last year through the ReStore Philadelphia Corridors Program, part of the city’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative.

Capital in place, Guet met with the city early this month to set the Ridge Avenue Revitalization Master Plan in motion. In addition to the streetscape, plans include decorative gateways, pedestrian-friendly walking and meeting areas, upscale new businesses and community improvement through growth that will eventually encompass the whole area.

Part of the plan includes a zoning overlay, which will help architecturally and visually unify an area that over the years has gained a less than stellar reputation for its declining curb appeal.

“All it takes is a neighbor who’s not going to take care of [their property],” says Guet, and an entire area can decline. “People don’t have the right to do whatever they want with their yard, [such as] eliminating the landscaping. This comes from other areas. It’s starting to come to Roxborough, and we want to avoid that.”

Low housing prices have resulted in an influx of absentee landlords, along with students and other renters with no power or investment in the area. This has meant a decline in aesthetics and—a touchy subject across the city—residents paving their yards for parking.

“What may seem like an easy solution snowballs,” says Jennifer Barr, a community planner at the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, who has worked with the RDC on a zoning overlay for the area. “If you do it, and your neighbor does it, Roxborough might end up looking like a bizarre parking lot with houses plopped in.”

The challenge is balancing the needs of all parties, from the business community to families that have lived in the area for generations to newcomers looking for a safe, affordable place to call home.

“It’s very important you have a happy community to have a successful business corridor,” says Guet. “If the residents aren’t happy, they’re not going to go and shop.”

“We think Roxborough does a really good job. They’re organized and have a lot of buy-in from the neighborhood,” says Barr. “It’s important to plan and have buy-in before you start spending money.”

And if all goes as planned, things should start rolling by late spring. All in all, Guet is optimistic about the project’s potential. “Not only can it make people feel good in the area, but it’s going to say to the world, ‘Something is happening.’”

Erica S. Brath last wrote about MRSA infection. Comments on this story can be sent to letters@philadelphia weekly.com