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While the somewhat-deserved stereotype of Philly storefronts is of display windows are papered over with promotional signage, brutal security grates, and original upper story bays obscured by plywood, “the design reality is that lots of great design is going on along commercial corridors,” said Robin Kohles, Project Associate and manager of the Collaborative’s rStore Program.

Robin was speaking to an audience that included many of Philadelphia’s commercial corridor managers. Her presentation, Good Design Is Good Business: Corridor Realities, presented real examples of Philly façade makeovers and a lexicon of the basic façade elements. It was created to equip corridor managers with some new tools to talk façade improvement with storeowners.

Corridor managers are the behind-the-scenes champions for the Philadelphia’s neighborhood commercial corridors: North Fifth Street, Germantown Avenue, Passyunk Avenue, Frankford Avenue, and Woodland Avenue to name just a few. They are charged by community development corporations to make neighborhood commercial corridors more economically viable, vibrant, and eye-catching. Read Full Story

The Community Design Collaborative and the City of Philadelphia’s Commerce Department recently hosted the Citywide Storefront Challenge, an awards program  recognizing attractive, distinctive storefront improvement projects along some of Philadelphia’s neighborhood commercial corridors. The program grew out of the success of the Storefront Improvement Program (SIP), a City program that offers businesses and property owners grants of between $8,000 and $12,000 for storefront improvements.  In his welcoming remarks at the awards presentation, Andy Frishkoff, Director of the Office of Neighborhood and Economic Development , said that the goal of SIP is to “revitalize the city’s business corridors to revitalize their historic roles as businesses and community gathering places.”

According to Frishkoff, $300,000 in City funding has been matched by $1.4 million in private funding since SIP’s start in 2008. The grants have gone towards restoring or renovating 85 storefront facades and creating 277 permanent jobs. Anecdotally, storeowners say that business has improved as people want to shop, work, and meet their neighbors at these more attractive businesses.  

The event celebrated both the success of SIP and the improved storefronts. Nine awards were presented to recognize storefront improvement projects that led to  “night and day” transformations, got the best “bang for the buck,” and served as the “instigator” for other positive changes locally.

Kevin Dow, the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Director of the Commerce Department presented the awards, saying “small businesses are the driving forces that bring cities out of recession.” Before-and-after images screened at the awards ceremony showed the range of strategies business and property owners are using to spruce up facades. Some projects restored original building details, not always as easy as it appears.  Others added inventive new elements (be sure to take an extra careful look at the Suzuki Piano’s Academy bike racks in our slide show).

The Winners

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Have you recently seen a storefront turn from eyesore to eye-catching? The Community Design Collaborative and the City of Philadelphia Commerce Department are looking for your nominations to the Citywide Storefront Challenge. The Challenge is a competition to identify those businesses that have recently (January 2008 – September 2010) redesigned their storefronts and now exemplify the principle that: “Good Design is Good Business.” The Awards range from “Most Unique Sign” to the “Nightlife Award” (the improvements that bring a building ‘to life’ at night). You can even suggest your own category.

If you admire a business that has demonstrated care and uniqueness in how it presents itself to its customers and the public, then this could be your opportunity to increase exposure for that business, a design or construction firm, or your own business. The nominated projects will be reviewed by a jury composed of economic development and design professionals. The winning projects will then be on display as part of DesignPhiladelphia, the citywide event that showcases the role design has played in Philadelphia. Submissions are being accepted through September 22*, 2010. To get a copy of the application form, click here.

Although it may be too late to redesign a storefront in time for the contest, the Philadelphia Department of Commerce’s Storefront Improvement Program will still reimburse you for up to 50% of the cost of beautifying an eligible storefront. The City wants to encourage storefront improvements to make Philadelphia better for business owners, residents, shoppers and visitors.

For more information about the SIP program or the Storefront Challenge, contact Karen Fegely at 214-683-2025 or email hidden; JavaScript is required.

*Good news! The deadline has now been extended from the 15th to the 22nd of September.

Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy, North 5th Street in El Centro de Oro, Ridge Avenue in Roxborough, and Lancaster Avenue in Mantua/Powelton Village have gotten facelifts through the city’s Restore Targeted Blocks Facade Program. Corridor Managers on the staffs of Mt. Airy USA, HACE, People’s Emergency Center CDC, Roxborough Development Corporation and Korean Community Development Services. implemented the program, which provided funding for the design and construction of 15 to 20 façade improvement projects ranging from new signage to lighting to window replacement.

Volunteer architects with the Community Design Collaborative provided some of the initial design concepts for two of the participating corridors through the Collaborative’s rStore program. In 2007 Collaborative volunteers provided design consultations to Nickens Agency Inc., The Eye Institute, and Karate Academy in Mt. Airy and with Cambria Pharmacy on North 5th Street.  The business owners then worked with Mt. Airy USA and HACE to secure funding for the improvements through the Targeted Blocks program.

Check out these before, after and preliminary design images of some of the featured storefronts.

The Collaborative is partnering with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program on a pilot program that coordinates architectural and landscape improvements with public art on commercial corridors in Philadelphia.

The partnership brings together design professionals and artists in a creative and collaborative effort to holistically address issues facing commercial corridors.  Through the Collaborative’s rStore program, our volunteers will work with muralists to integrate proposed building improvements and surrounding landscaping plans with public murals. This pilot effort will address two sites in Philadelphia, one on East Passyunk Avenue in South Philly and another on Ridge Avenue in Roxborough. “Part of evolving is forming good and new partnerships,” said Jane Golden, Mural Arts Executive Director.

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Six storeowners along North Frankford Avenue now have a new vision for enhancing their storefronts, thanks to the efforts of Collaborative volunteers who worked with the storeowners to develop conceptual designs for façade improvements.

Intern architects Michelle Shuman, Karena Thurston and Alexander Will and cost estimator Scott Dalinka volunteered with the Collaborative through its rStore program to work with the six business owners recruited by Theresa Hanas, Frankford Community Development Corporation’s Main Street Coordinator.

The improvements are part of Frankford CDC’s larger plans for revitalizing Frankford Avenue. As one of six neighborhood business districts in the Philadelphia area that participates in the Main Street Program, Frankford CDC has developed a multi-pronged approach to economic revitalization. The program encourages a strategic emphasis on Design, Promotion, Organization, and Economic Restructuring.

“Working with designers is awesome.  It puts ideas out there that the business owners and I would not have come up with on our own,” said Hanas.

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A team of Collaborative volunteers is working with Cedar Parks Neighbors to create design strategies for redeveloping the commercial corridor on Baltimore Avenue from 49th to 52nd Street. The volunteer team led by David Hincher, an architect at Kieran Timberlake, recently held a community meeting to get neighborhood input on design ideas and to discuss visions for revitalizing the corridor.

Read the University City Review article about the project.