Investment

THE RESTAURANTS and merchants of Rittenhouse Row are gathering again on Walnut Street this Saturday, and that means about 50,000 area residents and guests will be joining them for one of Center City's largest street fairs. The Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival will close Walnut from Broad to 19th streets (from noon until 5 p.m.) and feature food, fashion, entertainment and fun for children. It's big. It's crowded. It's fun. And this year there's a lot of new stuff. * Dunkin' Donuts will be giving out free iced coffee on the 1400 block of Walnut.

The Nutter administration is expected to announce Friday two initiatives, including a seed-capital fund aimed at supporting the city's growing entrepreneurial community. Through the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., the city intends to invest up to $3 million in a new "Startup PHL Seed Fund," which would be managed by an outside professional investment firm. That money would need to be matched by private investors at least dollar for dollar, according to a request for proposals that the city intends to issue.

To paraphrase Groucho, "Say the secret word and win . . . millions and millions of dollars. Double, triple, quadruple your money - even more. That not-so-secret word, in the transition to Clintonomics, is investment. Which is a sanitized way for Democrats to talk about (shhh!) spending, often by government or by private concerns with incentives from government. Put out some money now, reap big dividends later. At the two-day economic conference this week, various special pleaders told the president-elect what they believe the country should spend - ahem, invest in. Infrastructure, job creation, education, training, high-speed rail.

The average new-car buyer spends $15,395 on his or her purchase. That's a real investment. Most people only make one bigger one: when they buy a home. Obviously, most people will want that new-car investment to retain as much value as possible. They will want it to be as long-lived, trouble-free and pleasurable as possible. As economically as possible. Here are some recommmendations on how to protect that costly investment - and how not to waste your money in the process. CHECK RE-SALE VALUE.

The ins and outs of money management preoccupied the Chester County Commissioners at their meeting yesterday. Commissioners Joseph Kenna and Andrew Dinniman agreed the county should act quickly next week to invest the proceeds of a $22.5 million loan from the Delaware Valley Regional Finance Authority. Over time, the funds will be used to finance several major projects in the county, including open-space programs, a public-safety communications system and property reassessment, according to Mark Rupsis, director of administrative services.

TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals, a privately held Malvern company that develops small-molecule drugs to treat cancer, announced today that it has received an investment of $5 million from Pfizer Ventures. The money brings to $37 million that investors have raised to finance the company since August. The fund will be used for the clinical development a drug that mimics naturally occurring proteins that help promote cell death.    - Christopher K. Hepp

Discovery Laboratories Inc., Warrington, said today that it will get a $500,000 investment from PharmaBio Development Inc. as Discovery continues development of treatments for respiratory diseases. PharmaBio already owned 5.6 million Discovery shares. It agreed to purchase about 2.4 million additional shares of common stock and warrants for about 1.2 million shares, Discovery said. If it exercises the warrants, PharmaBio would own about 4 percent of outstanding shares. PharmaBio is the former strategic investing subsidiary of clinical research organization Quintiles Transnational Corp.

The Radnor Township commissioners have asked for more information on a state-backed investment trust before investing township funds. The commissioners Monday night tabled a resolution that would have authorized the finance director to invest in the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust (PLGIT), whose rates are sometimes higher than those of a commercial bank. Despite assurances from Commissioner George M. Aman 3d that the trust "is safer than banks," Commissioner Clinton A. Stuntebeck moved that the resolution be tabled for further discussion.

Ralph Allen Sturdivant Sr., 47, of Cedarbrook, , founder and co-owner of a prominent North Philadelphia investment firm, died Friday while scuba diving on vacation with his wife in the Grand Cayman Islands. Mr. Sturdivant was born in Pilesgrove, N.J., and educated in Baltimore public schools. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Morgan State University. He also studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. After two years in the Army, where he attained the rank of first lieutenant, Mr. Sturdivant worked for U.S. Steel and then for Merrill Lynch, where he was an account executive.

Westward ho! That could be the latest rallying cry for housing in Philadelphia thanks to Citizens Bank's new program in and around University City. The news couldn't be more welcome. Not only will the effort build upon the University of Pennsylvania's success in redeveloping that area, it could encourage other lenders to invest in neighborhoods with the potential to go from high-risk to highly desirable. Citizens will make available $28.5 million in grants and low-interest loans for small businesses, and for residents and community groups to buy properties and do renovations.

We're in budget season, which means the city school district is experiencing yet another round of asking for money from local and state governments that have grown inured to the perpetual crisis, as common a sign of spring as azaleas. In Harrisburg, donor fatigue has set in, a weariness to throw more millions at the perpetual well of need with little to show. And there is little love. Certainly, the Democratic city has given the Republican-controlled state legislature plenty of ammunition.

As a young girl growing up in Long Beach, Calif., I was fortunate to have access to public tennis courts. The opportunities for free instruction and available court time made a huge difference in my life and career. And I wasn't alone. Chris Evert, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, and so many great players from tennis got their start in a public park program. So, yes, the protection and the future of our public parks are near and dear to me. Programs like LOVE Your Park Week here in Philadelphia need our support and our attention.

You never know when an acquisition involving the automobile industry in the Midwest in 1998 might affect a drug-development firm in the Philadelphia area in 2013. But that's apparently the backstory of $15 million in financing completed last week by Exton-based AltheRx Pharmaceuticals . That round of investment was led by Becker Ventures L.L.C. , a family office- investment management firm that manages the wealth of Charles E. Becker , who had been chief executive and co-owner of Becker Group Inc. , a privately held automotive- interior supplier.

Montgomery County has pulled a lever out of the big machine that keeps the investment industry profitable even when clients lose money. The county pension system has fired the private investment-pickers who had been struggling to keep the county's pension dollars ahead of its long-term obligations. Instead, most of the $460 million is going to Vanguard Group , the Malvern mutual fund giant, at a fraction of the cost. The county fund isn't huge. But two of the men behind the switch, Democratic County Commissioner Joshua Shapiro and Republican Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. , are ambitious - they'd each like to be governor - and they're prescribing the same medicine for the state's giant pension funds.

By Ravi Parikh President Obama's 10-year "BRAIN Initiative" will bring together scientists from private and public institutions to investigate how the brain's 100 billion cells interact with each other. Many researchers believe that brain mapping could unlock the secrets behind complex diseases like Alzheimer's and autism. While some scientists praise BRAIN (it stands for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies), others have criticized its chances of success and the price tag - $100 million in 2014 and up to $3 billion over the next decade.

BET Investments of Horsham has purchased the 216-unit garden-style Lincoln Woods Apartments on Germantown Pike in Lafayette Hill for $25.5 million. The 10-year loan for the purchase of the complex, built in 1991, was arranged through Fannie Mae by Berkadia Commercial Mortgage L.L.C. in Horsham. It represented 80 percent of total acquisition costs plus short-term capital budget. BET has acquired 1,000 apartment units in the region in the last six months.

Was there really any other choice for an investment manager for the city-sponsored Startup PHL Seed Fund but First Round Capital? That's the West Philadelphia firm picked by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. to invest $6 million in information technology start-ups either based in or with significant operations in the city. After all, what has become one of the nation's most active venture capital firms moved its headquarters from West Conshohocken into the city last August and launched the Dorm Room Fund in the fall to invest in companies started by area college students.

We all shop for food, put gas in our cars, pay for medication and doctor's visits, day care and college - and, based on those prices, inflation has got to be higher than what the government says. The Consumer Price Indicator registered a puny 1.7 percent in 2012, according to official figures. Real inflation is in fact higher than that, according to the American Institute for Economic Research's (AIER) Everyday Price Index, which in 2012 revealed almost 8 percent inflation ( www.aier.org/epi )

Any number of us may disagree with new schools Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.'s closure of 23 schools, as well as his proposals to cut programs, increase class sizes, and reduce teachers' salaries. But none of us should question his sincerity in pushing the envelope to generate new ideas and debate how best to solve the Philadelphia School District's financial crisis - without harming the quality of our children's education. We all recognize that the district is at a critical financial crossroads, confronting a projected five-year deficit estimated at $1 billion.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Menendez sponsored legislation with incentives for natural gas vehicle conversions that would benefit the biggest political donor to his reelection, the same eye doctor whose private jet Menendez used for two personal trips to the Dominican Republic, an Associated Press investigation found. The disclosure reflects the latest intersection between the New Jersey Democrat, who is the subject of an ethics inquiry on Capitol Hill, and the Florida doctor involved in a federal criminal investigation.