Students filled The View at Montgomery’s lobby on Thursday to celebrate its latest rankings as the “Best Student Housing Project in Philadelphia,” and as the 16th best student housing property in the nation by J Turner Research. The Goldenberg Group, the real estate developer of The View, held a lunch in the lobby as a thank-you to its residents for making this possible.
The lunch also served as an opportunity for residents to find out more about “The View 2,” the building next to The View that is currently being constructed. Kevin Trapper, the Senior Vice President of The Goldenberg Group, and Gina Milner, the Executive Vice President of Marketing, joined students to explain more about the current project.
Trapper sat down with Temple Update to explain in more detail about the new building, and he also spoke about community outreach programs The Goldenberg Group works with around its residencies.
The new building will be split into two sections, an East wing and a West wing. While all of the layouts available in the current building will be available in the new building, the West wing of “The View 2” will also feature more studio apartments. The two sides of the building will be connected by a common lounge area, which will feature a fire place, more individual study rooms, and a large, open lounging area. There will be a fitness room much larger than the one in the current building, featuring specific areas for cardio, free weights and more. The new building will also host an outdoor fitness area, where Trapper explained fitness classes will take place. Along with all of these amenities, the new building will expand the existing parking area, adding 94 new spaces. “The number one goal for the new facility is to bring high quality living for it students that creates first, a very safe and secure environment for the students, and also promotes the academic experience, and also the community experience,” Trapper explained.
Trapper elaborated on how The Goldenberg Group aims to improve the communities its residencies are built in. The Goldenberg Group actually started as a way for Ken Goldenberg, the founder, to create an annuity to fund his charitable interest. The charity started by The Goldenberg Group is called “People Helping People.” Once a month, employees of The Goldenberg Group get one day off to work on different volunteer projects that will benefit the community.
One example of The Goldenberg Group giving back in the community surrounding Temple is with Dunbar Elementary School. This school is located next to The View. They’ve done various work within this school, including:
- Building a teachers lounge for Dunbar employees
- Re-painting classrooms
- Hosting a “Back to School Red Carpet,” where they rolled out a red carpet for students to walk up on their first day back to school. At the end of the red carpet, each student received a backpack filled with pencils and various school supplies
- Supplying uniforms to incoming students merging with Dunbar Elementary from another school
- Holding an academic competition where the class with the best grades won a prize that included a movie night held in The View’s infamous Sky Lounge
People Helping People has provided everything from local grocery stores in food deserts in Philadelphia to adopting an orphanage in Kenya. Gina Milner said that a huge part of her choosing to work with The Goldenberg Group came from it having such strong roots in its philanthropy.
To find out more on how to get involved with People Helping People, click here.
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