PHILADELPHIA | One Water Street | 198 FT | 16 FLOORS

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Flyers2001

The redesigned warehouse where the 8th Floor (night club) use to be was rehabbed beautifully. From the parking to the roof top deck it is quite amazing to know what it was to what it turned into.

They're tacky as all hell.

They belong in Marlton or Cherry Hill. Not Northern Liberties. I'm sorry.

Neon lights on the exterior? No. It looks like Vegas. In 10 years it will look 30 years dated. They should have maintained some industrial character in those buildings, not gone glossy neon faux marble fake everything.

[Leviathant]

There's a pretty great time lapse loop shot from the top(?) of the building over on the website @ http://one-water.com/ now.

Here's a direct link to the MP4 file. Yes, I tried Loop 01-05, they don't exist.

On a semi-related note, 408-410 Front Street went up for sale about four days ago, with a list price of $630,000. I met the sellers, super nice folks, but I thought that asking price was a bit steep, personally.

Today, I met a couple of Russian-sounding guys, father & son, who very confidently said they'd made a "good offer" - $700,000. They were asking after 105 & 107 Callowhill street around the corner. I own 103 Callowhill Street and am about to get started on a third story addition, plus an upward expansion of the theater space in the back. Making Callowhill a two-way street has definitely had an immediate impact.

[1487]

I see 1BR units at this building are $1900. Seems pretty steep for the neighborhood, but I guess those river and bridge views are worth a lot.

[Milksteak]

http://www.philly.com/philly/columni...ve_floors.html

Alright guys, maybe somebody can help me out here. How can PMC simply say that they will not be renting lower income apartments and get away with it? It looks like the city holds all of the power to f*** PMC into doing whatever they want, especially if they made a previous deal to get these five extra floors.

[1487]

Originally Posted by Milksteak

http://www.philly.com/philly/columni...ve_floors.html

Alright guys, maybe somebody can help me out here. How can PMC simply say that they will not be renting lower income apartments and get away with it? It looks like the city holds all of the power to f*** PMC into doing whatever they want, especially if they made a previous deal to get these five extra floors.

as stated, this is the first development to take advantage of this incentive and this is the first time this issue has arisen. I dont know what happens if the city doesn't agree to PMC proposed substitution. I suspect there could be some sort of legal action if they try to back out and fail to propose a substitute action that is up to the city's standard.

[Milksteak]

Originally Posted by 1487

as stated, this is the first development to take advantage of this incentive and this is the first time this issue has arisen. I dont know what happens if the city doesn't agree to PMC proposed substitution. I suspect there could be some sort of legal action if they try to back out and fail to propose a substitute action that is up to the city's standard.

I would hope so, PMC is literally saying "no, we're not going to do that anymore"...it just seems pretty ridiculous to me. First time or not, I don't see how they think they will get away with this.

[Yurkek]

It's very offensive to try to pull this kind of trick, but at the same time required affordable housing for new development isn't in any way going to solve the city's housing problems.

[McBane]

Seems like a short sighted move on PMC's part. In a city notorious for shaking down developers, they're putting themselves in a tough spot. No matter how this goes down, future projects, including 2400 Market, will face tougher scrutiny. I just don't get why they would dig themselves a hole over something fairly trivial.

[Milksteak]

Originally Posted by Yurkek

It's very offensive to try to pull this kind of trick, but at the same time required affordable housing for new development isn't in any way going to solve the city's housing problems.

I agree, and I also think it is silly to base height restrictions off of the amount of affordable housing in the building...but those are separate discussions. PMC signed up for it, so they are responsible to follow through. I didn't have much respect for them to begin with, this certainly doesn't help.

[Urbanthusiat]

The city should just refuse to grant a certificate of occupancy until they agree to the original terms.

[Leviathant]

I always thought the 'concessions' as described in this article sounded very hand-wavey.

At that meeting, the committee asked the developer, PMC Property Group, and its architect, Stephen Varenhorst, to work on the building facade, improve the public space (for which the developer is receiving a height bonus), and improve the connection across Columbus Boulevard to the waterfront
...
On Tuesday, the Planning Commission staff verified that the height bonuses were earned, and the developer committed to working toward restoring Water Street to its historical shape, with cobblestones and granite curbs.

Thanks for the height bonus, suckers! About those improvements you asked for? Yeah, we'll, uh, work toward that.

Withhold the COs until the agreed-upon follow-through happens.

[mmikeyphilly]

If I could rate any PMC project , none of them would have been allowed to be built, period. Art work, or no art work, their projects reek of you know what.
I don't know how any of these projects were ever allowed to be built. But, hey remember, this is Philly, right? City council, the Mayors, all have been just in office to take up space. I don't want to get into a hate Philly thing. But when I see developers that throw up(pun intended) projects like the ones they have, it is not making the argument easy. Whatever, I say...just like a Philly politician would say.
Here's how I rate their projects:
2040 Market
1900 Arch
One Water Street
2400 Market?? probably at least one

Oh, and the land along JFK Boulevard on the river. Please, Please don't let it happen!

[Plokoon11]

How many pmc designs does it take until they have a good tower? Too many apparently.

[Milksteak]

Originally Posted by mmikeyphilly

2400 Market??

Fixed it.

[mmikeyphilly]

Originally Posted by Milksteak

Fixed it.

I was gonna give it a 5 yuck rating, but I didn't want to come off sounding "too bitchy" , LOL!

[domodeez]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

The city should just refuse to grant a certificate of occupancy until they agree to the original terms.

Yep

[PhilliesPhan]

Is this a bad time for a One Wooder Street photo update?

[Thoroughbred]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

The city should just refuse to grant a certificate of occupancy until they agree to the original terms.

Or get a check for $7.5M to go towards Project HOME or similar entity...That's the approximate added value of market rate vs affordable rentals...25 units at $1000/month delta, with a 4 cap...

[PhilliesPhan]

City to withhold One Water Street’s certificate of occupancy over affordable housing units

The Department of Licenses and Inspections plans to withhold a certificate of occupancy for One Water Street unless its developers deliver the 25 affordable housing units that were a condition for receiving a height bonus.

On Friday, Inga Saffron reported that PMC Property Group was looking to get out of supplying any sub-market rate units in the nearly-completed project. In exchange for committing to include reduced-rate units, the developers received a density bonus to build 48-feet taller than the base zoning permitted.

L&I Commissioner Dave Perri clarified on Monday that his agency would not allow PMC to renege on that commitment.

“We want to treat this project like we would treat any other project,” he said, “In order to get your certificate of occupancy, you have to build in accordance with approved zoning. And in order to get the certificate of occupancy they have to file whatever zoning permit was issued for the property. In this case the zoning permit includes the 25 affordable units, so if those are no longer included, they’ll have to file a new permit.”

In other words: no units, no certificate. The developers could submit a new zoning permit to change the zoning or claim other bonuses, Perri explained, but PMC would have to go through the entire process again.

“We’re very happy that the city is not going to grant a certificate of occupancy until this is resolved because that’s the only real leverage the city has in a situation like this,” said Matt Ruben, chair of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group (CDAG), a community-based coalition that supports the principles and goals in the Master Plan for the Central Delaware.*

Ruben said PMC and the city are currently exploring other amenities the developer could fund that would add up to 48 feet of height bonus.

“Personally, I think affordable housing is incredibly important, but no one is required to include affordable housing, and if they can supply other bonuses that equal the same amount of height, CDAG would be happy to support a bonus swap as long as it’s an equal amount of amenities,” Ruben said, “What’s important to us is protecting the integrity of the code.”

The Central Delaware Overlay, passed in 2013, limits building height to 100 feet, but establishes a bonus system whereby developers can build up to an additional 144 feet in exchange for including public amenities like affordable housing units, building extra retail space, meeting LEED energy efficiency standards, funding public space or public art, or constructing segments of the waterfront trail. The overlay is in service of the Master Plan for the Central Delaware, adopted by the city in 2013.

One Water Street is the first building to be constructed since the passage of the Overlay and was seen as evidence that the waterfront zoning was workable. PMC opted to use the height bonus for affordable housing to unlock an additional 48 feet of height, but they could cobble together other amenities to access the same bonus.

Saffron’s column mentioned public art, and Ruben said ground-floor retail is also under discussion. Adding retail to the project would be an interesting development since PMC was excused from requiring retail—one of the Overlay’s requirements—at the time the project was proposed on the grounds that the market for riverfront retail was still too weak.

PMC’s Jonathan Stavin told Philly Mag last year that the company was already considering adding retail and public art to the development in response to community concerns.

Perri said he’s committed to policing the terms of the bonus system, but said some of the amenities are easier for L&I to verify than others.

“The easiest are physical requirements for a property,” he said, “Building trail segments is straightforward, public art is straightforward. But when it comes to other types of commitments, they’re going to be a challenge. We’re just now getting into that discussion and there may need to be some statutory changes to make the enforcement process more straightforward.”

PlanPhilly's request for comment from PMC was not returned on Monday.

Read the story here: http://planphilly.com/articles/2016/...-housing-units

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by Thoroughbred

Or get a check for $7.5M to go towards Project HOME or similar entity...That's the approximate added value of market rate vs affordable rentals...25 units at $1000/month delta, with a 4 cap...

Yeah Project home has two big projects coming up, cash for them would be good