Completion

After two developers and three lawsuits in five years, the former Rittenhouse Place hotel and condominium project is at last set for completion. The president of Ameribass Realty Co. of Philadelphia, David Marshall, said today the company will spend $100 million over the next two years to complete the unfinished project. Construction will begin in October. The project, to be known as The Rittenhouse, will include a 100-room hotel and 200 luxury condominium units. The building will also contain a health club and two restaurants.

Long-stalled public improvements in the West Meadows development in West Grove are under way and some are even ahead of schedule, according to the engineer managing the project. Stephen Woodward, the borough's engineering consultant, said at a meeting Monday that the project was expected to cost $210,000, to be paid by the original developer, West Meadows Associates, from its escrow fund of $331,000. After nearly three years of delay, the borough took over the project from West Meadows Associates under an agreement signed early this fall.

The Bensalem Council has given developer Alan Sobel until Sept. 16 to meet several conditions originally stipulated in the township's approval of his Bucks County Estates subdivision. If the conditions are not met, officials said, the township will assume responsibility for the completion of the project, using funds placed in escrow by Sobel. "The township has undertaken (completion of) several developments recently," said Barbara Barnes, the council chairwoman. "I'm tired of empty promises.

And now, new hope for commuters who have sweated, fretted, fumed or simply waited patiently in stop-and-go traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway: The $200 million reconstruction project that has been under way for more than four years might be finished by Labor Day. Meeting such a deadline would be finishing the project early, since the current schedule calls for completion by Sept. 18. Nevertheless, state Department of Transportation officials and the contractors, I.A. Construction Corp.

After months of following detour signs, dodging orange barrels and driving on bumpy roads, Lower Bucks travelers can soon celebrate the full opening of Route 213. PennDot officials said both lanes should be open by the end of next week. "Right now, weather permitting, we hope to have the road open the week of Oct. 14," said Gene Blaum, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. That is good news for motorists who have waited for Route 213 to be completed since work started in May 1995.

Officials Monday celebrated the near-completion of a housing development in Southwest Philadelphia that will provide 63 affordable apartments to veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq and their families. The townhouse-style complex of seven buildings in the 6200 block of Eastwick Avenue includes the Robert Brady Sr. Veterans Center, where veterans can get access to services and the community can hold meetings. - Thomas Fitzgerald

Mayor Nutter and other local officials today celebrated the $30 million rehabbing of two Broad Street Line subway stations, marking the end of 32 SEPTA projects funded with $191 million in federal stimulus grants. Noting that 507 jobs were created by the upgrades to the Spring Garden and Girard stations, Nutter said "this is what infrastructure renewal is all about. " The overhaul was the first ever for the 1920s-era stations. Workers installed elevators and new stairs, new lighting and signage, new cashier booths and fare lines, new power and fire-suppression systems, repaired floors and ceilings and installed colorful artwork commissioned for the stations.

A confident Philadelphia Electric Co. chairman yesterday said that the utility had "turned the corner" on construction of its Limerick nuclear plant and was on its way toward completing the controversial $7 billion power station by the current target date of late 1990. James L. Everett told security dealers and analysts that "we're on the downslope of the hill" at Limerick, with one unit in operation and the second close to half-finished. "We can see some light at the end of the tunnel, and we don't think it's train coming the other way," Everett said.

A second frame supporting the roof of Philadelphia's Academy of Music has been found seriously damaged, and more severely than one that had been found damaged earlier, the Academy's engineering consultant disclosed yesterday. The bottom crosspiece, or chord, of the frame - technically known as a truss - was found to be completely fractured, said the consultant, Nicholas L. Gianopulos. "You could almost put your hand through it," he said. The injury to the truss, called T-2, was discovered April 3, Gianopulos said, five days after less severe damage was found in an adjacent truss, T-3. The trusses are made of two 6-inch-wide, 14-inch-deep beams fastened together side by side.

The roar of backhoes has added a noisy note to springtime at Swarthmore College as the school launches a $25 million construction project. The project, which was to have an official groundbreaking ceremony today, will dramatically change the northern part of campus when it is completed in 1998. The Parrish annex, now used mostly for faculty offices, will be razed and replaced by a new academic building that will house the departments of economics, modern languages and sociology/anthropology, plus 44 faculty offices, 13 classrooms, and seminar rooms.

Without great hair and makeup, even the most sizzling prom dress will come up average. That is why we turned to the beauty experts at Bernard's Salon and Spa in Cherry Hill to show prom-goers of all shapes and sizes how to have red-carpet-ready hair and makeup this season. Hair: Cascading waves and braids are the hottest looks in special-occasion hair this season, Cusimano says. The long layers elongate Pelley's neck, while the braids styled into the flowing mane keep the vibe young.

BERNICE APPEL, of Northeast Philadelphia, was already well into her 70s when she told her two grown daughters, "Come hell or high water, I'm going to get my college degree before I'm 80. " Today, less than six months shy of her 80th birthday - "Oct. 30, mischief night!" she said, laughing - the graduating granny dons cap and gown, and proudly gets her associate degree in general studies from Community College of Philadelphia. As Sir Paul McCartney would put it, if he were the commencement singer, it's been a long and winding road.

Workers are nearing completion of a $36 million, multilevel Pennsauken train station to connect the Atlantic City Line and the River Line, and passengers are expected to be able to use it by fall. The Pennsauken Transit Center, near Derousse Avenue west of River Road, will allow direct transfers between trains on the east-west Atlantic City Line and the north-south River Line. The connection will provide additional access for area residents to 30th Street Station, Atlantic City, and the River Line's service between Camden and Trenton.

Bruce Springsteen blared on the sound system at the end of the sixth inning Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. I had a friend who was a big baseball player . . . He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool, boy . . . Glory days, well, they'll pass you by . . . Roy Halladay wasn't around to hear it. His latest ominous outing had ended after three consecutive batters reached base in the top of the fifth inning....

St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne said it has completed an $8.4 million expansion that added four operating rooms, bringing the hospital's total to 19. Pennsylvania's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program contributed $3 million to the project. St. Mary, which had $421 million in revenue in 2011, up 6 percent from $397 million in 2010, said it performs 27,000 surgeries annually.    - Harold Brubaker

Novira Therapeutics Inc., of Doylestown, has completed its initial $25 million venture financing, after attracting $7.5 million from Versant Ventures. Founded by two former Merck & Co. Inc. executives, Novira is developing antiviral drugs to treat hepatitis B infections. The addition of Versant, with offices in Basel, Switzerland, and San Francisco, increased the amount of the financing from $23 million, announced last August and led by 5AM Ventures and Canaan Partners.   Contact Mike Armstrong at 215-854-2980 or marmstrong@phillynews.com , or @PhillyInc on Twitter.

La Salle completed an Atlantic Ten baseball sweep of Fordham with a 3-2 win over the visiting Rams (10-11, 0-3 A-10) on Sunday in the third game of the weekend series. Ryan Welling hit his second home run of the series and Pat Christensen picked up his fourth save of the year and his third in as many days for the Explorers (7-12, 3-0). Temple (8-11, 1-2) bounced back from two A-10 losses to St. Joseph's (10-12, 2-1) with an 11-1 victory. Henry Knabe (2 for 3) had three RBIs for the host Owls.

Acme Markets' corporate parent, Supervalu Inc., completed the sale Thursday of five grocery chains, including Malvern-based Acme, to a group of private-equity firms and real estate investors. The price was $100 million and the assumption of $3.2 billion in debt. Operations of Acme, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, and Star Market stores and related in-store pharmacies were to transfer at 3:01 a.m. Friday to AB Acquisition L.L.C., an affiliate of an investor consortium, former Chrysler Corp.

LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE scored 28 points, Damian Lillard added 24 and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers completed a season sweep of the Chicago Bulls with a 99-89 victory on Thursday night. Portland improved to 10-25 on the road to take the season series with the Bulls for the first time since the 2008-09 season. The Blazers beat Chicago, 102-94, on Nov. 18 in their other meeting this season. Joakim Noah had 18 points and Carlos Boozer added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago, which shot 44 percent.

Next week will mark a sea change for policing in Camden, as a new Camden County-run force will swear in its first major batch of officers. They will have to be problem-solvers from the day they start patrolling the city, officials said Wednesday. The newly minted county officers, who are to replace those in the current Camden Police Department, will begin patrols after two weeks of in-service training, largely in the classroom. The first eight weeks of field training will include a twist on traditional methods, officials said.