Nerd Street Gamers Targets Local Esports Community With The Block' in Philadelphia The facility houses a public esports training center, studio space, company offices By Kristian Hern ndez, Associate Editor Wednesday, January 19, 2022 - 1:54 pm
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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the esports genre has made headlines for quickly adapting to the situation and adjusting to working in remote locations. Many leagues adopted cloud-based solutions to keep their business afloat and replace their normal LAN events, but one company, Nerd Street Gamers, went full bore on a brick-and-mortar project in the heart of Philadelphia.
Occupying an entire city block from Broad and Callowhill Streets (thus, the name), The Block is a 40,000-sq.-ft. esports campus that can house in-person competitions within a 20,000-sq.-ft. gaming space, studios for original content, team headquarters, and more.
The entrance lobby to The Block in Philadelphia
The goal is to be a flagship and a connector between the top and bottom of the industry, says John Fazio, CEO/founder, Nerd Street Gamers. More important, there's a whole group of gamers in the city that don't have a place to participate in competitions, so we want to expand the community to include more people in it.
Blank Canvas: Empty Warehouse Becomes Esports Paradise Nerd Street Gamers' new home is in a building that has been used for various purposes throughout the years. During World War II, the edifice housed a car-manufacturing plant producing jeeps for both the European and Pacific theaters. After the war, the building provided a show floor on which a local car dealership showcased the hottest wheels in Philadelphia. In the 1960s and '70s, the once-flourishing place for citizens to purchase automobiles decayed into a vacant area that no one was using.
It was in pretty rough shape, says Anthony Perno, VP, real estate and business development, Nerd Street Gamers. When it closed down, the main space was never occupied.
180 gaming stations take up the main floor of the Localhost at The Block.
Nerd Street Gamers used this abandoned portion of the building to host the NCS Grand Finals 2019 @ Fragadelphia 14 on a temporary basis. The space remained empty even after this high-profile event, and, looking to enhance the future of the entity that he had founded, Fazio moved to turn this underdeveloped plot of land into something bigger.
The building owners approached us, he says. At the time, we were looking for a different kind of place. We were looking for something a little bit more freestanding, but, as we searched, [the location] became more and more perfect for us.
A gaming lounge with couch-style seating is available for larger groups.
Unlike with other esports centers built in existing facilities, the team was able to start from scratch without many distractions. Not having to worry about an existing occupant's clearing space and getting in the way was a positive, but COVID-19 was a significant hindrance. Timelines were altered, and a realistic opening date had to be rescheduled after an 18-month delay. For Perno and his team and the crew at facility designer Populous, though, the biggest hurdle to overcome was the side effects of the pandemic.
Supply-chain issues were brutal, Perno explains. I couldn't put everything into place without large elements like cabling but also smaller elements like flexible air ducts for HVAC. From a grander standpoint, [the pandemic] has impacted the entire industry because of the number of people we can have in a room.
Broadcast Tech: Powerful Connectivity, Live-Streamed Production, LAN Events Despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, the new project had an advantageous location in regard to latency. Occupying the upper floors of the building, the largest Netrality Data Center has the fastest internet connection on the Eastern Seaboard. For any esports company, landing this spot in the U.S. is akin to finding buried treasure.
Classic games like Tekken, Street Fighter, and Centipede are available to play in Retro Alley.
Every major company from New York City to Washington, DC, has server racks running through this building, says Todd Berman, VP, media, Nerd Street Gamers, but, for competitive gaming and broadcast purposes, it's extremely needed. There's a 10G pipe coming in here, so having the infrastructure to make sure we have a high level of redundancy is pretty amazing.
Head of content for this new venture, Berman has the experience of building something from the bottom up. A seasoned executive who spent more than a decade at NBC Sports Philadelphia, he has been allowed to attack productions from a different angle.
Large LAN events and online competitions are hosted on the main stage.
With what we've done here, everything is coming through our facility, he says. I no longer have the need for a truck, and, as a result, I can reduce the cost of content creation.
This shift in thinking has propelled technological and broadcasting equipment to the forefront. The central gaming area, also known as the Localhost, features 180 stations with the latest gaming PCs, keyboards, and mouses. One mission of the Localhost is to provide an environment that encourages amateur gamers from the city to convene and hang out.
At a grassroots level, Fazio has begun an afterschool program that allows younger students to use the amenities for one hour free of charge. The program offers a safe space for young kids to enjoy esports and provides access to the internet for those who don't have Wi-Fi at home. Other portions of the Localhost include a lobby to buy merchandise and snacks, a gaming lounge with couch-style seating for groups, and Retro Alley to play Tekken, Street Fighter, Centipede, and other arcade ga
