Tiny Wawa opens Friday morning in Center City with pick-up window
As appeared in the PhillyVoice, January 10, 2020
By Michael Tanenbaum, PhillyVoice Staff
Wawa's tiniest store concept yet opens Friday morning in Center City, introducing the company's first-ever PickUp Window and a new format intended to take convenience to another level.
The one-of-a-kind design opens its doors to the public at 8 a.m., with a ribbon cutting attended by Phladelphia Mayor Jim Kenney at 10 a.m. The first 100 customers to arrive at the store will receive a free Wawa t-shirt and free coffee.
The 3,000-square-foot store, located at 33 S. 16th Street, stands in stark contrast to the 11,000-square-foot location that opened at Independence Mall in December 2018, Wawa's largest.
The PickUp window is an extension of Wawa's mobile ordering app, which debuted two years ago to expedite service. A "Good To Go" section will include a variety of hot and cold express items for customers to grab, pay and get on their way. Also new is a self-serve hot tea bar feature Revolution Tea.
"At Wawa, we strive to accommodate our customers in multiple ways and this new store design is geared towards meeting the needs of our local community members who require quick food options without sacrificing fresh and quality ingredients to fuel their daily routine,” said David Simonetti, senior director of store operations for Wawa.
The grand opening event will wrap up with a hoagie building competition between members of the Philadelphia Police Department and Philadelphia Fire Department. The winning and runner-up teams will receive $1,000 checks to donate to charities of their choice.
Wawa's latest location brings its total in Center City up to nine, continuing an aggressive downtown expansion over the last five years.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/tiny-wawa-center-city-philadelphia-randstead-2020-to-go-window/
As appeared in the PhillyVoice, January 10, 2020
By Michael Tanenbaum, PhillyVoice Staff
Wawa's tiniest store concept yet opens Friday morning in Center City, introducing the company's first-ever PickUp Window and a new format intended to take convenience to another level.
The one-of-a-kind design opens its doors to the public at 8 a.m., with a ribbon cutting attended by Phladelphia Mayor Jim Kenney at 10 a.m. The first 100 customers to arrive at the store will receive a free Wawa t-shirt and free coffee.
The 3,000-square-foot store, located at 33 S. 16th Street, stands in stark contrast to the 11,000-square-foot location that opened at Independence Mall in December 2018, Wawa's largest.
The PickUp window is an extension of Wawa's mobile ordering app, which debuted two years ago to expedite service. A "Good To Go" section will include a variety of hot and cold express items for customers to grab, pay and get on their way. Also new is a self-serve hot tea bar feature Revolution Tea.
"At Wawa, we strive to accommodate our customers in multiple ways and this new store design is geared towards meeting the needs of our local community members who require quick food options without sacrificing fresh and quality ingredients to fuel their daily routine,” said David Simonetti, senior director of store operations for Wawa.
The grand opening event will wrap up with a hoagie building competition between members of the Philadelphia Police Department and Philadelphia Fire Department. The winning and runner-up teams will receive $1,000 checks to donate to charities of their choice.
Wawa's latest location brings its total in Center City up to nine, continuing an aggressive downtown expansion over the last five years.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/tiny-wawa-center-city-philadelphia-randstead-2020-to-go-window/
Make New Jersey's transit hubs first stop for development: Opinion
As appeared in the Newark Star-Ledger, January 9, 2014
By Gary Steinfield
New Jersey’s commuter rail stations and the underused properties near them are emerging from the recession as potential sources of untapped economic development and new tax revenue.
Prior to the economic downturn, many of these properties were considered for redevelopment as "transit-oriented developments" or "TODs" because of their proximity to commuter rail stations. By definition, TODs are typically located within a half mile of a transit station, are designed to encourage use of public transportation, and are compact, walkable communities that create a desirable sense of place.
Unfortunately, many TOD redevelopment plans fell victim to the recent economic downturn and a collapse in real estate prices as demand softened and financing dried up. As the head of a development company, I saw this change firsthand.
These lost opportunities could not have come at a worse time for New Jersey municipalities plagued with mounting property tax appeals that decimated ratable bases. In turn, this led to substantial budget shortfalls, municipal layoffs, decreased services, increased taxes and plenty of unhappy constituents.
Fortunately, we are today seeing more signs that the state’s economic climate and real estate market have begun to recover. In fact, real estate forecasters quoted in The Star-Ledger anticipate that home prices will increase 5 percent a year in New Jersey over the next few years and that tens of thousands of jobs will be added within the next year alone. This is a long way from the dire prognostications of less than two years ago.
These initial signs of recovery will hopefully lead to an even more robust economic turnaround as employment stabilizes, housing demand strengthens, banks are encouraged to lend, and developers and entrepreneurs become more likely to risk their own capital to build new housing and start new businesses.
No less significant in this chain of good fortune are New Jersey’s municipalities, poised to become the beneficiaries of substantial new tax revenue streams that will help take the burden off overtaxed homeowners.
But not all development "ratables" are created equal with regard to their net economic impact on municipalities; TODs generate significant municipal revenues with a negligible impact on schools and traffic.
Adverse impacts are minimized because TODs are designed to attract "empty nesters" and young professionals with no school-age children. This is achieved by creating small apartments limited to one bedroom or two bedrooms each, and by leasing rather than selling the units. This improves affordability and access.
Furthermore, because of their great locations, TODs attract these two key demographics by reducing the need to own cars, as well as cutting the time spent getting to work and play.
Examples of successful TODs with little to no impact on local schools dot New Jersey. Gaslight Commons, a 200-unit community in South Orange, was reported by the local school board in 2012 as having seven schoolchildren in residence.
In 2011, Morristown’s planning consultant reported one school-age child living at Highlands at Morristown Station, a 213-unit TOD. Cranford’s school board reported last year that no schoolchildren were living at the 50-unit Cranford Crossing.
TODs also do not affect traffic like other types of development. TODs encourage use of public transportation and discourage use of cars.
As a result, local roads see fewer cars belonging to young professionals looking for convenient, inexpensive access to the workplace, and empty nesters seeking the same to access entertainment, recreational and cultural centers.
New Jersey has enormous potential to accommodate TOD growth in this postrecession era. One out of four municipalities in the state hosts a rail station. Rather than building farther away from these transit hubs, encouraging car ownership and suburban sprawl, let’s concentrate on building where young people and empty nesters want to live and where adverse impacts such as the crowding of schools and roads can be minimized.
Equally as significant, let’s help New Jersey’s municipalities restore and expand their tax bases, work toward achieving fiscal solvency and provide long-overdue tax relief to property owners.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2014/01/make_new_jerseys_transit_hubs.html
As appeared in the Newark Star-Ledger, January 9, 2014
By Gary Steinfield
New Jersey’s commuter rail stations and the underused properties near them are emerging from the recession as potential sources of untapped economic development and new tax revenue.
Prior to the economic downturn, many of these properties were considered for redevelopment as "transit-oriented developments" or "TODs" because of their proximity to commuter rail stations. By definition, TODs are typically located within a half mile of a transit station, are designed to encourage use of public transportation, and are compact, walkable communities that create a desirable sense of place.
Unfortunately, many TOD redevelopment plans fell victim to the recent economic downturn and a collapse in real estate prices as demand softened and financing dried up. As the head of a development company, I saw this change firsthand.
These lost opportunities could not have come at a worse time for New Jersey municipalities plagued with mounting property tax appeals that decimated ratable bases. In turn, this led to substantial budget shortfalls, municipal layoffs, decreased services, increased taxes and plenty of unhappy constituents.
Fortunately, we are today seeing more signs that the state’s economic climate and real estate market have begun to recover. In fact, real estate forecasters quoted in The Star-Ledger anticipate that home prices will increase 5 percent a year in New Jersey over the next few years and that tens of thousands of jobs will be added within the next year alone. This is a long way from the dire prognostications of less than two years ago.
These initial signs of recovery will hopefully lead to an even more robust economic turnaround as employment stabilizes, housing demand strengthens, banks are encouraged to lend, and developers and entrepreneurs become more likely to risk their own capital to build new housing and start new businesses.
No less significant in this chain of good fortune are New Jersey’s municipalities, poised to become the beneficiaries of substantial new tax revenue streams that will help take the burden off overtaxed homeowners.
But not all development "ratables" are created equal with regard to their net economic impact on municipalities; TODs generate significant municipal revenues with a negligible impact on schools and traffic.
Adverse impacts are minimized because TODs are designed to attract "empty nesters" and young professionals with no school-age children. This is achieved by creating small apartments limited to one bedroom or two bedrooms each, and by leasing rather than selling the units. This improves affordability and access.
Furthermore, because of their great locations, TODs attract these two key demographics by reducing the need to own cars, as well as cutting the time spent getting to work and play.
Examples of successful TODs with little to no impact on local schools dot New Jersey. Gaslight Commons, a 200-unit community in South Orange, was reported by the local school board in 2012 as having seven schoolchildren in residence.
In 2011, Morristown’s planning consultant reported one school-age child living at Highlands at Morristown Station, a 213-unit TOD. Cranford’s school board reported last year that no schoolchildren were living at the 50-unit Cranford Crossing.
TODs also do not affect traffic like other types of development. TODs encourage use of public transportation and discourage use of cars.
As a result, local roads see fewer cars belonging to young professionals looking for convenient, inexpensive access to the workplace, and empty nesters seeking the same to access entertainment, recreational and cultural centers.
New Jersey has enormous potential to accommodate TOD growth in this postrecession era. One out of four municipalities in the state hosts a rail station. Rather than building farther away from these transit hubs, encouraging car ownership and suburban sprawl, let’s concentrate on building where young people and empty nesters want to live and where adverse impacts such as the crowding of schools and roads can be minimized.
Equally as significant, let’s help New Jersey’s municipalities restore and expand their tax bases, work toward achieving fiscal solvency and provide long-overdue tax relief to property owners.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2014/01/make_new_jerseys_transit_hubs.html
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