Whitman Plaza refinanced

"Whitman Plaza, a 279,000-square-foot retail center at Oregon Avenue and Randolph Street in Philadelphia, was refinanced for $16.25 million. The loan was arranged by Berkadia Commercial Mortgage.

The property, anchored by Pathmark and K-Mart, was constructed 25 years ago by Breslin Realty Development. Other tenants include Fashion Bug, Payless Shoes, Radio Shack and Party City. Berkadia arranged the loan with Long Island, N.Y.-based Bethpage Federal Credit Union. The borrower is an affiliate of Breslin Realty Development ... Community Ventures broke ground on Francisville East, a $10.3 million, 44-unit rental development in Philadelphia’s Francisville neighborhood. The development will use $797,390 of federal stimulus funding. The homes will be rented to lower income families ...

Construction of the Salvation Army Kroc Center, a $54 million recreational center at 4200 Wissahickon Ave. in the Nicetown/Tioga section of North Philadelphia, is nearing completion. The 130,000 square-foot facility is being constructed on a brownfield. MGA Partners and PZS Architects designed the project that will include an aquatic education center, gymnasium and fitness center. The project is on time and on budget and scheduled to open in October ...

Thornton Tomasetti Inc., an engineering firm in New York, received an award for Engineering Excellence from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York for structural design of Comcast Center.

Thornton Tomasetti incorporated engineering and safety measure learned after leading the assessment of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. For example, elevators, sprinklers, communications systems and stairwells in the cable company’s headquarters were encased in a massive concrete core that stretches the full height of the building. And, because the building is slender with a small footprint, the building height to core ratio is high with thicker-than-usual exterior walls."