Creating a Better Built World.
City Invincible is comprised of 3 regional design firms that have a combined total of over thirty years of project collaboration. CI is positioned to creatively and economically address the complexities of today s specialized building types, codes, and client expectations. CI serves the following markets: multifamily and mixed use residential, senior living, hospitality, healthcare, and education. As part of the company mission, CI plans to increase its involvement in the City renaissance both professionally and on the charitable side.
New Corporate Headquarters On January 30, 2017, City Invincible Architecture began work at their new location in the historic State Bank of Camden, NJ at 121 Market Street. The bank s interior renovation recently received Project of the Year from Southern NJ Business People (SNJBP). The City Invincible name is from a famous poem by Camden native, Walt Whitman. I DREAM D in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dream d that was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love it led the rest; It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words. 121 Market Street, Camden, NJ 08102 856-354-1223 www.city-invincible.com
CITY INVINCIBLE COMPANY 1: ALBERTO & ASSOCIATES CITY INVINCIBLE COMPANY 2: BERZINSKY ARCHITECTS Established: 2000 A subsidiary of Ewing Cole: 1993-1999 Expertise: Land Planning & Urban Design Healthcare (Don McGarrigle) Senior Living (Quinn DeMenna) Education, Civic Multi-Family, Mixed Use President: Angelo Alberto AIA, PPNJ Former Address: 132 Kings Highway East Haddonfield, NJ www.albertoassociates.com Established: 1989 Ewing Cole 1984-89 Expertise: Design Leadership Interior Design Hospitality Principals: Gregory Berzinsky RA Mary Berzinsky NCIDQ Former Address: 923 South 46th Street Philadelphia, PA www.berzinsky.com
CITY INVINCIBLE COMPANY 3: LAVARDERA ARCHITECTURE Established: 1994 SMA Architects 1989-93 George Yu 1984-88 Expertise: Computer Modeling Sustainability Documentation Standards Off-Site & Industrial Production Principal: Gregory La Vardera RA NCARB Former Address: 45 South Centre Street Merchantville, NJ www.lamidesign.com Gateway Head Start Atlantic City, NJ Opened July 2017
Camden City: My Thoughts on Camden Rising. Angelo Alberto AIA, PPNJ Article Written for the Anointed News Journal, Camden, NJ - April 10, 2017 On January 30, 2017 our company, City Invincible Architecture, Interiors and Urban Design, began its first day of business in Camden, New Jersey. In two short months our story has been highlighted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier Post and NJ Biz magazine and our renovation of the historic National State Bank of Camden located at 121 Market Street will be honored as Project of the Year on April 27 by Southern NJ Business People. For me personally, I transitioned from a small suburban office of makeshift desks made of doors on sawhorses to a fully furnished, second floor office overlooking the Camden Waterfront and Philadelphia skyline. Did our company make it? Should I increase the spring in my step? Does City Invincible Architecture have swagger? Not so fast. The City Invincible Architecture story today is probably somewhere in the middle between the huge accomplished smile we will display when receiving Project of the Year and the complete fear that goes with our two year struggle to merge three small firms, invest somewhat beyond our means and relocate to Camden. One thing is sure, however; we have raised our middle. And it is here, in the middle, and our opportunity to raise the middle, where I believe our young story ties us inexorably and forever to Camden. While the architects on our staff are intrigued to learn the rich history of the many great Camden buildings and the City Invincible design talent hungers for opportunities to shape many of the future Camden buildings, it is the community planner in me where I believe the story lies. Through legendary efforts and ground-breaking legislation, huge investments of real bricks and sticks redevelopment are taking place in Camden. Fortunately, lockstep with the pounding of piles by Liberty Property Trust and the stamping of steel at Holtec, is a chorus of people - locals and outsiders, rich and poor, leaders and laborers - questioning, asking, figuring-out and acting on the challenge to use this opportunity to improve the community. Yes, figuring-out and acting; not complaining and finger-pointing. Albeit a naive news headline here or there, anyone who dips his or her toe into the waters of Camden realizes that there is a real community-driven, top-to-bottom/bottom-to-top renaissance taking place. After many years of struggle, it looks like the stars are once again aligned for Camden, New Jersey. While there are many to thank, we also have to appreciate that this change also benefits from some combination of good luck, excellent timing and, I have to believe, the touch of a higher power. Compare the Camden renaissance to the Atlantic City renaissance of the late 1970 s. Casino gambling flooded millions of dollars into Atlantic City. While accepted at the time, casino gambling was a land use that many questioned and the casino building-type purposely limited windows, had no street activity and turned its back on the city. Furthermore, this was a time when people were leaving cities for the leafy suburban dream. Casino gambling may have helped stem the tide for a short time, but it did little to improve the long-term quality of life for many Atlantic City residents. Since the 1980 s there has been a revolutionary return to traditional mixed-use community-building where employment, homes and amenities are planned in proximity to each other and personal interactions are encouraged through pedestrian activity and outdoor amenities. This physical change in community-building is complimented by a tremendous desire for millennials and empty nesters to want to locate where the action is ; in a city center or along an urban waterfront. If a company like Liberty Property Trust had received employment-driven tax credits 35 years ago, they would likely have built an all-office CBD (central business district); a death-nail for many historic city centers. Instead they are building a mix of offices, homes, shops, amenities and a large public park along the river. Even Holtec, a 100% industrial/ office complex is looking beyond its boundaries to find ways to connect their operation to housing and the community. City Invincible s desire to relocate to Camden was initially professionally driven; we specialize in urban redevelopment and we believed that our business would benefit through relocation. Along the way, I got involved in The Joseph Fund; a Camden charity that raises money for and assists Camden preschoolers, teens, homebuyers and the homeless. Suddenly my vision of designing award-winning steel and glass towers in Camden was tempered with new concerns of how a family would be fed or how to get a teen to choose our after-school program over a gang. I was humbled. I saw the extremes that exist in Camden. I found myself in the middle. There s that middle thing again. What do I mean by raising the middle in Camden? I have learned that, even in Camden s darkest days, days when employment was at its lowest and crime at its highest; days when outsiders like myself had zero interest in, involvement in or good things to say about Camden, there were people, businesses, churches and groups fighting the good fight and working hard to improve life for Camden residents. People of mission and people of modest means were here to assist people in need. In those days, the extremes were poverty and those somewhat more fortunate trying to help. The middle between those extremes was, well, pretty small. I have learned that, even in Camden s darkest days, days when employment was at its lowest and crime at its highest; days when outsiders like myself had zero interest in, involvement in or good things to say about Camden, there were people, businesses, churches and groups fighting the good fight and working hard to improve life for Camden residents. The years of efforts of those in the trenches have led to improved safety, job training for City residents, better schools and true economic opportunity in the form of two billion dollars of redevelopment investment. The middle has widened. Under the leadership and vision of Mayor Dana Redd and many others, not only are the residents of Camden in positions to more readily find employment, grow their business or improve their education, but new Camden start-ups like ours and even large companies like Subaru are all in positions to improve through their association with the City of Camden. For our company, our standard or our middle has been raised by the opportunities that exist in Camden. These opportunities do not make us work any less or guarantee success, but it is undeniable; opportunity to rise is here, in Camden, now. And it is here where the company that takes its name from a poem by Camden s Walt Whitman enters the City. City Invincible Architecture humbly, with hat-inhand, thanks the efforts of others and enters Camden City with a pledge that, if we are so lucky to continue to rise, we will do our part and reach to others so that they too may rise.
121 MARKET STREET CAMDEN, NJ 08102 856-354-1223 WWW.CITY-INVINICBLE.COM