Color Wheel Bike Studio Opening in Brewerytown!!

MMPartners is very pleased to announce that Color Wheel Bike Studio will be opening it's first retail store at 2711 West Girard Avenue in Brewerytown. Color Wheel specializes in "road bikes and custom designs for your lifestyle," as well as all repairs. Color Wheel refurbishes frames with new wheels, handle bars, pedals, etc as needed, while typically converting them into single speed road bikes. The finished bikes are stylish, yet affordable - typically running $100-150.

Color Wheel, which is owned and operated by Terrence Williams, has been working out of a studio in the Vox building at 11th and Vine; but, inspired by Via Bicycle Terrence made the decision to expand his business, and open a retail location.

Please check out some of his current work, and be sure to welcome Terrence when he opens in April!

Sixth Straight Year of Population Gains for Philadelphia

According to new census data, Philadelphia sees its sixth year of population gains. Over 7000 new residents moved to Philadelphia last year. While Philadelphia is still in 6th place as largest city in the US it marks a departure from projections that originally projected Philadelphia would be losing population.

This is a bullish sign for Philadelphia and urban places on the whole. More people are choosing to live in cities and we will see this trend continuing for some time as this country re-urbanizes.

Study Shows Cul-De-Sacs Kill Communities (DUH??)

While we certainly didn't need an official study to tell us that suburban cul-de-sacs kill communities, we now have proof they do - click here. This ties into the overall trend of re-urbanization that is going on in this country with this shift making some parts of this country like Europe where the poor are concentrated in suburbs as opposed to city. It will be very interesting to see the results of the 2010 Census and whether it will validate this trend. Key will be finding ways to create mixed-income communities in cities and suburbs.

The Hidden Costs of Non-Walkable Housing

An Urban Land Institute study in the Boston area found that:

“What we have too frequently thought is that you can get an affordable house if you drive until you qualify, but if you then overlay the costs of transportation, they get very high,’’ said Henry Cisneros, secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton administration and a board member at the institute, a research group based in Washington, D.C.

There is a reason walkable neighborhoods are more expensive...

Awesome Mid Century Urban Photography - Detriot

courtesy of the great blog Cool Hunting - Follow the link below for some fantastic photos of Detroit in the 1950's.

Mid-century Motor City images from Robert Frank's iconic American road trip.