Jan 16 2017

Boyertown’s Firefly Cafe Goes Fully Vegan, Plans For Expansion

: Firefly Interior: Fire Cafe offers diners a cozy and relaxed atmosphere in downtown Boyertown.

: Firefly Sign: Firefly Cafe is located at 12 N. Reading Ave., Boyertown.

: Vegan Pulled Pork: Firefly Cafe’s vegan pulled pork sandwich is a customer favorite.

Boyertown, PA — Firefly Cafe, located at 12 N. Reading Ave. in Boyertown, ushered in the new year with a fully vegan menu, replacing its dairy cheeses with plant-based alternatives.

“This is something we always hoped to do,” explained Loriann Wade, who owns and operates Firefly Cafe with her husband Michael Martinez. “Since opening, we slowly started to remove dairy items from the menu with positive feedback from our customers.”

The announcement drew high praise and support from Firefly’s Facebook community.

“The improved quality of vegan cheeses and our customers’ responses to those cheeses has made the transition from vegetarian to vegan pretty seamless,” said Wade.

Going vegan is only the first of several big changes in store for Firefly Cafe in 2017. Later this month, the cafe will introduce a grab and go section, featuring items such as vegan chicken and egg salad sandwiches, vegan sides like potato and quinoa salads and house-made vegan dressings.

Then, in fall 2017, Wade and Martinez have plans to open a vegan general store adjacent to the cafe. Here, customers will be able to purchase prepared grab and go items, specialty and hard to find vegan products, natural bath and body products and even holistic dog treats.

“Our expansion plans have drawn a positive response. There’s a huge need for this type of vegan outpost in the area,” said Wade.

To compliment the cafe and general store, Wade and Martinez look to expand Firefly’s catering services and introduce vegan cooking classes. Firefly will also continue to host vegan pop-up cafes throughout the region—like the Caribbean-inspired vegan fare the cafe offers during monthly Reggae Nights at The Other Farm Brewing Company.

Located in the heart of Boyertown, Firefly Cafe is a vegan restaurant that offers organic, gluten-free and locally sourced food options. For cafe hours, menus and catering info, visit fireflycafeboyertown.com or join the cafe on Facebook, http://www,facebook.com/fireflycafeboyertown]facebook.com/fireflycafeboyertown; Twitter, @fireflycafeveg; or Instagram, @fireflycafeboyertown.

Jan 28 2016

HOOVER FINANCIAL ADVISORS EXPANDS OFFICE SPACE

PHOTO CAPTION: Hoover Financial Advisors, P.C. offices on Moores Road, Malvern.

Malvern, PA – Hoover Financial Advisors, P.C. opened 2016 with larger quarters to accommodate its growing staff. “We were beginning to get a bit too comfortably close,” says HFA founder and CEO Pete Hoover with a laugh. “We love the Moores Road architecture and relocation was not an option we wished to consider. When space became available in our building, we jumped at the chance to expand.”

The expansion gives HFA an additional 2,080 square feet for a total of 5,368. First and second floor conference rooms are now each a sweeping 375 square feet with ample room for large meetings, work sessions and small special events. The lower level conference area is enhanced with a 65-inch flat screen television set.

HFA, which is headquartered on Moores Road in Malvern, was launched in 2005 by Pete Hoover, who has been an independent financial advisor for more than 30 years. Since its inception, HFA has quadrupled in size. Staff members include certified financial planners, financial advisors, investment analysts, insurance and tax specialists, attorneys, a certified portfolio manager, and an information services manager. In 2012, HFA was selected as Small Business of the Year by Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry. For more information, visit its website at http://www.petehoover.com or call 610.651.2777.

May 28 2015

Lehigh Valley Health Network, Pocono Medical Center Want To Merge

Lehigh Valley Health Network and Pocono Health System are seeking to merge in a move that will expand LVHN’s scope further north.

The board of directors of both organizations authorized a letter of intent to merge in separate meetings, LVHN announced Thursday afternoon in a news release.

Additional due diligence, negotiations and regulatory approvals will be necessary before any deal becomes official, the release states.

PHS’s flagship property is the Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg. It’s a mid-sized, acute care facility that employs more than 200 physicians and 1,850 staff members, according to the PHS website.

May 19 2015

Lancaster City Zoners Grant Variances For Lancaster General Hospital $60M Expansion

Lancaster General Health has received variances from city regulations that will enable its planned $60 million expansion of Lancaster General Hospital to move ahead.

With little discussion and no public opposition, the Lancaster Zoning Hearing Board on Monday approved variances to building height and setback requirements.

The county’s largest health care provider wants to expand the Stauffer building on the northeast corner of the hospital at Lime and Frederick streets to eight floors, putting in 66 private rooms.

Joseph Puskar, an LGH senior vice president, said the hospital is responding to changes in the health care industry.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-city-zoners-grant-variances-for-lancaster-general-hospital-m/article_3e74556c-fdb1-11e4-bf1e-8f1af7ea2f8c.html

May 5 2015

Allegheny Health Network’s $600M Plan To Expand Reach Depends On Highmark

Allegheny Health Network proposes investing part of $175 million from Highmark Inc. in renovations and technology upgrades at its Allegheny General and West Penn hospitals, anticipating that they will accommodate more patients when Highmark insurance subscribers lose in-network access to UPMC next year.

The Highmark-owned hospital system would build outpatient medical centers and expand emergency, trauma and women’s health services to underserved parts of Western Pennsylvania as part of a spending plan that executives say will help it better compete with UPMC.

“The entire amount … will be used for capital improvements at Allegheny Health Network to fill in certain service line gaps,” Chief Financial Officer Karen Hanlon said during a state Department of Insurance hearing Monday. “No portion of the requested funding will go to pay operating expenses.”

UPMC Treasurer Tal Heppenstall Jr. said Allegheny Health Network is in worse financial condition than Highmark has reported and chided the company for its “profound lack of financial transparency.” He said it appears Highmark is hiding huge losses in “sporadic, fragmented and murky” financial statements.

May 4 2015

$60 Million Expansion Planned For Lancaster General Hospital

Lancaster County’s largest health care provider announced this morning that it is planning a six-story, $60 million expansion of its flagship facility, Lancaster General Hospital.

The expansion would enable the hospital to provide all private patient rooms, Lancaster General health said in a news release.

The LG Health Board of Trustees is scheduled to make a final decision on the project at its May meeting, according to the release. Work completed thus far is in anticipation of trustee and municipal approvals, it said, “to enable construction to begin as early as this summer.”

“Among LGH’s current 533 inpatient beds, 142 are located in semi-private rooms,” the release said. “LG Health plans to expand onto the northeast corner of the hospital, near Lime and Frederick streets.”

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/million-expansion-planned-for-lancaster-general-hospital/article_d4bc21b8-f00e-11e4-ad3b-239f83f71d33.html

Mar 18 2015

Sheetz To Add Food-Only Stores To Promote Growth In Urban Areas, Exec Woodley Says

Family-owned convenience store chain Sheetz Inc. crossed a milestone last month when it opened its 500th store, one of about 30 the Altoona-based company plans to open this year.

Known for its large gas stations with myriad fresh made-to-order food choices that are popular with travelers, the company grew to $6.9 billion in sales last year, up nearly 5 percent from the previous year.

In a bid to expand into urban markets, the company, which employs more than 16,000 people, is pushing a new store model — one without the gas pumps that focuses on higher-margin sales of food and beverages, said Dave Woodley, the company’s executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Nov 18 2014

PhillyDeals: Expansion Planned At King Of Prussia Plaza And Court

King of Prussia Mall (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Simon Property Group, the Indianapolis-based retail giant that owns 200-plus shopping malls nationwide, is sacrificing more than 400 parking spaces at its King of Prussia Plaza and Court to make room for at least 50 new stores and restaurants that it hopes will draw more wealthy shoppers to the region’s biggest retail complex.

At extra-large shopping centers such as King of Prussia, at least, “the mall business is good, contrary to some of the naysayers,” David Contis, president of Simon Malls and a corporate senior vice president, told me Monday.

His company bought out other investors to take control of the King of Prussia mall in 2011, in deals that valued the complex at over $1 billion.

Contis said he expected to attract luxury stores from outside the region and “the best of the Philadelphia eateries” to the new space, rather than shifting current tenants there.

Feb 4 2014

Google To Expand Pittsburgh Operations

The Internet search giant Google Inc. said Monday it will become an anchor tenant in a six-story office building planned in the East End’s Bakery Square 2.0 development.

“Google has signed a lease for an additional 66,000 square feet at Bakery Square 2.0 to accommodate for natural growth in our Pittsburgh office,” the company said in a statement.

It said local hiring will continue, but declined to offer specifics.

Bakery Square developer Walnut Capital Partners, based in Shadyside, hopes to begin construction on the office building in March. Google will occupy about a third of the building. Work is expected to take 18 to 24 months and cost at least $40 million.

Jan 31 2014

South Hills Village Mall To Get Major Makeover

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

South Hills Village mall will undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation as part of its owner’s plan to spruce up some of its shopping centers — to the tune of $3 billion — through 2016, an official said.

“We’re very focused on making our malls completely up-to-date and with the latest customer amenities, and giving our customers the best experience in which to shop and dine and be entertained,” Les Morris, spokesman for Simon Property Group Inc., said on Thursday.

The recession hurt shopping centers nationwide, so retail property owners have been upgrading malls rather than building more of them, said Jesse Tron, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York.

“I think 2014 will remain more about redevelopment, as opposed to new development,” he said.

Sep 27 2013

Dollar General, Like Its Shoppers, Weathers Tough Times

Four years ago, Jacqueline Horne lost her job as a business agent for a union and became a regular shopper at the Dollar General store in Pennsauken.

On a recent visit, the 46-year-old mother of two, who now works part time at a Wal-Mart store, bought cleanser for 50 cents, candy for $1, press-on nails for $1 (she said she can’t afford to get her nails done), and spices for $2.25, the most expensive item in her cart.

“Actually, it turns out to be cheaper,” Horne said of items at the Dollar General at 3400 Haddonfield Rd., on the border of Pennsauken and Cherry Hill. “When you’re on a budget in this economy, you watch everything.

“They really do have everything you need.”

Aug 21 2013

LVH-Cedar Crest Undergoing $21 Million Expansion

English: Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, PA, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lehigh Valley’s biggest hospital is getting bigger.

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest has begun a $21.4 million expansion of its Kasych Family Pavilion in response to patient demand. When it is done, the hospital will have added 24 patient rooms and three floors to the south tower.

Aug 17 2013

Wiring For Pottstown Schools Renovation Could Cost $375,000

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

POTTSTOWN — You can add new data system wiring to the things not included in the $14 million price tag for renovation and expansion of three elementary schools in the borough.

Thursday night, school board Vice President Robert Hartman Jr., who is also the chairman of the board’s facilities committee, reported that his committee is recommending the additional spending of as much as $375,000 “for data wiring devices installation at Franklin, Lincoln and Rupert elementary schools” according to the agenda of Thursday’s meeting.

There was no discussion among the full board, or questions asked by any of the board members, so it was not immediately clear why this was not included in the budget for the broader expansion/renovation project.

Work began this summer on the renovations and expansion at the three schools, while work is now being completed at Barth Elementary School, where work began a year earlier.

Aug 4 2013

Expansion Prescribed For Reading Hospital

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reading Health System plans to build a $354 million clinical building on its West Reading campus, a move hospital officials say could keep more Berks County patients in the area for their medical care.

“What we’re really doing is upgrading what we currently have and bringing some of our facilities into the 21st century,” said Mark McNash, vice president of support services for the Reading Health System. “We’re excited to offer state-of-the-art surgical facilities for the community.”

Construction of the eight-story building on Seventh Avenue and Parkside Drive will begin in September. It will take three years to complete, McNash said.

Health system officials say they are undertaking the ambitious and expensive project because the hospital building is outdated in some respects.

Jun 14 2013

Dick’s Sporting Goods To Expand Findlay Headquarters

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Six weeks ago, one of the region’s newest corporate players — Chevron — announced agreements to acquire land for a potential regional headquarters. Now one of the more established local players — Dick’s Sporting Goods — is gearing up to expand its own corporate footprint.

Dick’s has reached an agreement with the Allegheny County Airport Authority to lease about 73 acres at the Northfield Commerce Park near Pittsburgh International Airport “for possible expansion of our corporate campus.”

The Findlay-based retailer’s deal is the latest example of an upsurge of interest in the Parkway West office market, which is benefiting from the need for space by energy companies involved in Marcellus Shale drilling.

But the Dick’s deal shows there are other factors at work as well.

May 9 2013

Radnor Panel Rejects Villanova Expansion

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Delaware County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Radnor Township Planning Commission has rejected Villanova University‘s request for a zoning change that would allow a major expansion of the Lancaster Avenue campus with new dormitories, a parking garage, a performing arts center, and stores.

The $200 million plan has upset residents, who say it would transform a quiet neighborhood into a noisy extension of the 10,600-student Wildcat campus.

The university was seeking a conditional use to allow denser development than allowed, Planning Commission Chairwoman Julia Hurle said.

The commission was concerned was that the zoning change would not be restricted to the university, she said.

May 2 2013

Chevron Acquires Kmart Property In Moon Township For Possible Regional Headquarters

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A discount superstore and a large vacant tract of land on a bluff overlooking the Parkway West could become the latest symbols of the region’s growing energy identity.

Global energy giant Chevron has reached agreements to acquire 61 acres of land in Moon, including a Kmart targeted for closing in July, as a potential site for a regional headquarters.

The San Ramon, Calif.-based company made the announcement Wednesday, only days after Sears Holdings Corp. confirmed it would be closing the Kmart. It made no mention at the time that the store was closing to make room for the first major global driller to build a regional campus.

In its statement, Chevron said it expects to close on the acquisitions in the next few months. No terms were disclosed. It said a decision on the use of the properties would be made later this year.

Apr 15 2013

Einstein Medical Center Montgomery Expanding

Location of East Norriton Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

EAST NORRITON – It’s been barely six months since the shiny new Einstein Medical Center Montgomery debuted on the site of the old “Woody’s” golf course, and already the hospital is growing.

Expansion to the latest addition of the Einstein Healthcare Network – essentially a conversion of the west wing of the medical center’s fourth floor – came a bit sooner than anticipated, noted Beth Duffy, Chief Operating Officer of Einstein Medical Center Montgomery.

“We really thought it would happen a year or two down the road, but the early success of Einstein Medical Center Montgomery has created the need for additional patient care areas.”

Luckily, expansion opportunities were built in during the original construction, Duffy explained.

Jan 27 2013

Alvernia University On The Rise

English: Alvernia University Category:Alvernia University Category:University logos (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Dr. Thomas F. Flynn took over the presidency at Alvernia University in 2005, the future looked bright.

The university was growing rapidly, and officials were putting together an aggressive plan to expand the campus in the next decade.

Then the recession hit in 2008, just as the university began not only its strategic plan, but its first comprehensive capital campaign.

Despite the challenges of the past five years, Alvernia flourished and moved forward faster with its plans than anyone expected.

Sep 25 2012

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center East End Expansion Leads To Controversy

English: UPMC Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When UPMC paid $10 million in 2006 for the old Ford Motor Co. building on Baum Boulevard in Bloomfield, jaws dropped at what some considered an exorbitant price, even for a local landmark.

The sale “sort of stopped purchasing for a while because a lot of people thought they could get rich, too,” Pittsburgh Councilman Bill Peduto said. “They thought that if they held out, UPMC would knock with a check with a couple of extra zeroes.”

People did indeed get rich following the sale of the 1915 building that once served as a Ford assembly plant and showroom, but not by holding out as a way to take advantage of the $10 billion health care giant.

They simply owned the right property at the right time when UPMC, with its deep pockets, made a strategic decision to establish a larger East End footprint.

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