PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[iamrobk]

Originally Posted by Larry King

Why would the rfp have any impact on their other holdings? They’re sitting on the land because they’re rich, conservative and can afford to.

They may have planned to flip it if they didn't win the RFP. Who knows, just speculating. Agreed they can afford to just sit on it, unfortunately for us.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by Larry King

Why would the rfp have any impact on their other holdings? They’re sitting on the land because they’re rich, conservative and can afford to.

I don't disagree with your second point. They're clearly in no rush and their financial situation allows them to be far more cautious and deliberate than is ideal for anyone who would like to see those properties developed.

But if they knew there was a major development being awarded directly to the south and they were vying to be the developer, wouldn't it stand to reason that their plans for their existing properties could be affected by what happened here?

I agree with your overarching point, but I don't necessarily agree it is bad news for Durst being selected. This is a different situation, there is a ticking clock, if they just sit on their hands here they lose the opportunity to develop this land.

Their deep pockets have likely been an impediment to our desire to see the properties they own to the north developed. But those same deep pockets should be an asset here. Their planned project looks great, They're not asking for any public money and they seem to have a great track record in NYC. And while them winning perhaps means further delays for their existing parcels, the fact that they're getting further involved on the Delaware waterfront seems to affirm and even stronger commitment to the area and a greater vested interest in its success.

Waiting is not great, but if their existing parcels to the north are developed similarly to what has been proposed here, this could be an incredibly outcome in the long run.

[Boku]

This is going to take a while.

In an interview, Douglas Durst, the company’s patriarch, told me that it will be several years before the company puts a shovel in the marshy Penn’s Landing ground. We don’t know when the economy will bounce back from COVID-19, he said, and “no one wants to start building in a recession.”

But while it may take time, he promises the full proposal will eventually be realized. The Durst Organization, he said, “has been around 105 years. We’ve seen times when things were very bad. They always come back, so we’re confident.” Unlike the other three applicants, Durst is a developer that retains ownership of all its buildings after completion, rather than selling them to apartment management companies. Companies that “hold” their buildings, to use the real estate phrase, tend to have longer timelines and invest more in quality architecture.

https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/...-20200910.html

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by Boku

This is going to take a while.



https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/...-20200910.html

This family thinks in terms of decades, not years. If all 6 of their properties are still vacant in 2030, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

[Urbanthusiat]

I think we should keep in mind that Durst only won the exclusive right to negotiate a redevelopment agreement - this is not an agreement within and of itself. I'm sure DRWC will include milestones that Durst has to meet (and conditions for them to not meet them) else they risk losing their designation.

[SEFTA]

delete

[Boku]

Toll Brothers pays $14.1M for Center City parcel to build new apartment tower

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...-property.html

Toll Brothers Inc. has paid $14.1 million to buy a site at Broad and Noble streets in Philadelphia, according to Philadelphia property records, where it plans to develop an 18-story building with 344 apartments.

The Horsham-based homebuilder bought the site from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The purchase involved several properties including: 427-433 and 435-443 N. Broad St. along with 1327-1331 Noble St. It is now being used as a surface parking lot.

The property went through the approval process and Toll Brothers plans anticipates breaking ground on the project early next year, said John M. Piedrahita, a company spokesman in an email.

Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) will do the project in partnership with Sundance Bay, a Salt Lake City, Utah, private equity fund that buys multifamily properties. Matt Romney, a managing partner at Sundance Bay, is the son of U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

In addition to apartments, the project will have 10,500 square feet of ground floor retail, 12,000 square feet of amenity space of which most will be located on the penthouse level and a 5,000-square-foot courtyard that will be positioned adjacent to the retail space and have access to the rail park.

Alterra Property Group is planning a 410-unit apartment project on the 500 block of North Broad Street. The $180 million project, known as LVL North, will include 110,000 square feet of commercial space over the first and second floors. The Philadelphia company bought the surface where LVL North will rise for $28 million from Parkway Corp. in February.

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by Boku

Toll Brothers pays $14.1M for Center City parcel to build new apartment tower

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...-property.html

too bad the architect is still Barton partners. They have a spotty record of multi family apartment projects, all in suburban and exurban areas, that all look the same, which is to say, like crap.
This project doesn't look like those, but toll bros would have been better advised to pick an architect with more city experience. barton is out of their league in the city.

[summersm343]

Rebuffed from Penn’s Landing plan, Sixers may begin hunt for new home elsewhere in Philly

Last week’s decision to grant Penn’s Landing development rights to a rival bidder upended the 76ers $4 billion plan to build themselves a new basketball arena at the central Philadelphia waterfront site.

But it may have only marked the beginning of their search for a new home.

By competing to develop Penn’s Landing, the Sixers signaled their dissatisfaction with their current home venue, the Wells Fargo Center at South Philadelphia’s sports stadium complex, which the team leases from Comcast Spectacor and shares with the Flyers.

The region’s business and real estate communities are now carefully watching for the Sixers' next steps, handicapping potential development sites in the city and even across the Delaware River in Camden, where the team already has its practice facility.

Possible Sites for a New Sixers Arena

Here are locations in the Philadelphia area seen as capable of accommodating an arena complex for the 76ers.

There are multiple sites across the city that could accommodate a big arena project, said Barmash of Colliers.

One is the 2.7-acre assemblage of parking lots at Eighth and Market Streets owned by the Blue Bell-based Goldenberg Group, where a Walt Disney Co. attraction known as DisneyQuest had been planned in the late 1990s.

Among its biggest selling points, Barmash said, is the public transit access it would offer to fans from throughout the region.

Another contender could be the long-vacant, four-acre tract on the northeast corner of Broad Street and Washington Avenue, although an arena plan there would require its owner, developer Bart Blatstein, to pivot away from his current plan for a 1,111-unit apartment building at the site, Barmash said.

Commercial property consultant Bill Luff of CRE Visions LLC, meanwhile, said he could see developers Brandywine Realty Trust or Wexford Science & Technology making way for an arena and accompanying development on either of their big West Philadelphia project sites, Schuylkill Yards and uCity Square.

Another conceivable West Philadelphia site could be made available through Amtrak’s 30th Street Station District Plan, which envisions the redevelopment of what would be a 175-acre site — part of it on a platform that would be built over operating rail yards — around the station over 35 years, said Luff, who also is not helping in a Sixers search.

Other properties mentioned by brokers and others as able to accommodate an arena include sections of the 1,300-acre Philadelphia Energy Solutions site in South Philadelphia owned by Hilco Redevelopment Partners; part of the area around Amtrak’s North Philadelphia station owned by HFZ Capital Group; and the former Hahnemann University Hospital campus over nearly six acres at Broad Street along the Vine Street Expressway, which is owned by investor Joel Freedman and Harrison Street Real Estate.

Far more openly enthusiastic about the prospect of an arena deal is property investor Mark Nicoletti, who plans to pitch the Sixers on a 12-acre parcel he owns on the edge of the stadium district at Packer Avenue and South Darien Street.

About a year ago, Nicoletti’s Philadelphia Suburban Development Corp. had already drawn up plans to develop the property as a complex of restaurants, offices, homes and apartments called Stadium Square that aimed to enliven the area.

Now he’s rejiggering those plans to include an arena among the other development.

“You’ve seen the development of these large sports-and-entertainment districts, not just in the U.S., it’s all over the world,” he said. “And yet, Philadelphia doesn’t have one: We have a sea of parking lots around our stadiums.”

Read more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/si...-20200916.html

[summersm343]

Places in my opinion, that make the most sense for a new Sixers Stadium:

-Packer Ave site, or another site down at the Sports Complex
-30th Street Station District
-Hahnemann University site
-Camden Waterfront

Sites that make no sense to me:

-Broad and Washington - rather Blatstein build his current proposal
-UCity Square - this should be a tech, medical, bio development as are the current plans
-Schuylkill Yards - rather the current tower plan move forward than a stadium worked onto that site
-8th and Market - don't think a stadium could fit here without demolishing whats left of the old Strawbridge's? building. Also, would rather 2 or 3 towers built here, and don't think you could fit a stadium and towers here.
-Philadelphia Energy Solutions site in South Philly - no transit and I'd rather the logistics center plan Hilco has for this area.

[Vince_]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Places in my opinion, that make the most sense for a new Sixers Stadium:

-Packer Ave site, or another site down at the Sports Complex
-30th Street Station District
-Hahnemann University site
-Camden Waterfront

Sites that make no sense to me:

-Broad and Washington - rather Blatstein build his current proposal
-UCity Square - this should be a tech, medical, bio development as are the current plans
-Schuylkill Yards - rather the current tower plan move forward than a stadium worked onto that site
-8th and Market - don't think a stadium could fit here without demolishing whats left of the old Strawbridge's? building. Also, would rather 2 or 3 towers built here, and don't think you could fit a stadium and towers here.
-Philadelphia Energy Solutions site in South Philly - no transit and I'd rather the logistics center plan Hilco has for this area.

Packer Ave makes no sense to me. It's a solid 20 minute walk to NRG station and too close to WFC. It would defeat the whole purpose of what the Sixers are trying to achieve in a new arena. Then you'd have 2 arenas next to each other trying to steal concerts from the other. The Sixers want to be the premiere no brainer choice for a concert coming to town, hence the Penn's Landing desired location.

I think 8th and Race and Callowhill and Delaware Ave would be great spots. 8th and Race has the El, Jefferson Station, Patco, BSL Spur, 676 and 95. Callowhill and Delaware Ave. has 95, 676, Delaware Ave and Spring Garden El stop.

[Justin7]

How about the Mint? Can we get rid of the Mint? An arena would fit in well in touristville. Lean into the '76 name. Replace Franklin the dog with The Ghost of Ben Franklin. Much better mascot. (Yes, I know some nearby old city residents would lose their minds.)

Decking the rail yards would be great, but not sure anyone is going to pay the added expense.

I hate the mint.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by summersm343

-8th and Market - don't think a stadium could fit here without demolishing whats left of the old Strawbridge's? building. Also, would rather 2 or 3 towers built here, and don't think you could fit a stadium and towers here.

*Gimbels, you meant.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

*Gimbels, you meant.

That's right. Thanks!

[summersm343]

Amazon to lease newly built Northeast Philly warehouse amid North American hiring binge

Amazon.com Inc. has a lease to fully occupy a newly built warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia’s Byberry East Industrial Park, as the e-commerce giant boosts its North American headcount in response to a surge in online-shopping demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Amazon will be the sole tenant of the 207,370-square-foot Philadelphia Logistics Center building at 3025 Meeting House Rd., according to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, whose board voted last week to lease a nearby city-owned property to the company for use as a parking lot.

The Philadelphia Logistics Center lease comes amid a hiring push that Amazon said this week would add 100,000 full- and part-time logistics jobs over an unspecified period of time in the United States and Canada, paying a minimum of $15 an hour. About 5,000 of those jobs will be in Philadelphia, a company spokesperson said.

The company will employ 280 full- and part-time workers at the Philadelphia Logistics Center warehouse, according to PAID documents.

Including the new lease, Amazon has deals at 24 existing or under-construction warehouses comprising 9.4 million square feet of space in an area that includes Philadelphia and surrounding Pennsylvania and South Jersey counties, plus New Castle County in Delaware and Cecil County in Maryland, according to real-estate-data tracker the CoStar Group.

Three of those properties, comprising 655,870 square feet, are in Philadelphia itself, according to CoStar. Some of Amazon’s biggest facilities in the region are in Logan Township and Burlington, N.J.

Read more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/am...-20200916.html

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Places in my opinion, that make the most sense for a new Sixers Stadium:

-Packer Ave site, or another site down at the Sports Complex
-30th Street Station District
-Hahnemann University site
-Camden Waterfront

Packer Avenue and Camden make no sense.

They've explicitly said they want to be on transit. And we know why.

I think the most potential synergy exists at 8th & Market. It would provide a lifeline to Market East, which though improving, will continue to struggle as long as PREIT is the main landlord.

I also like the idea of being somewhere on N Broad or at Broad and Washington.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Places in my opinion, that make the most sense for a new Sixers Stadium:

-Packer Ave site, or another site down at the Sports Complex
-30th Street Station District
-Hahnemann University site
-Camden Waterfront

Sites that make no sense to me:

-Broad and Washington - rather Blatstein build his current proposal
-UCity Square - this should be a tech, medical, bio development as are the current plans
-Schuylkill Yards - rather the current tower plan move forward than a stadium worked onto that site
-8th and Market - don't think a stadium could fit here without demolishing whats left of the old Strawbridge's? building. Also, would rather 2 or 3 towers built here, and don't think you could fit a stadium and towers here.
-Philadelphia Energy Solutions site in South Philly - no transit and I'd rather the logistics center plan Hilco has for this area.

I would bet my life that the sixers under current ownership will not build at packer Ave or the sports complex. Simply not happening.

I know that hahnemann is a site sixers looked at with multiple configurations massed out. This was over a year ago however, well before i heard of waterfront proposal though. So don't know if it's something they're still considering.

[DudeGuy]

People on Reddit/Facebook/Twitter are getting so pissy about the proposals. I think it's because a lot of fans currently drive to the stadiums and are only thinking about an urban arena with that mindset.

"Driving and parking into Center City would be a nightmare!", etc.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by DudeGuy

People on Reddit/Facebook/Twitter are getting so pissy about the proposals. I think it's because a lot of fans currently drive to the stadiums and are only thinking about an urban arena with that mindset.

"Driving and parking into Center City would be a nightmare!", etc.

They don't care about these fans. They know plenty will suck it up and deal with it but they also know how many people in the city are interested in sixers tickets.

The sixers have had a season ticket" waiting list " called Club 76 the past few years that has been total bullshit. They artificially inflated season ticket numbers and then ran a big email campaign to convince people that if you were considering getting season tickets at any point in the next decade, you needed to get on the list.

It was nothing more than a data collection campaign. They're confident they can lose suburban fans and not miss them.

[Vince_]

Originally Posted by DudeGuy

People on Reddit/Facebook/Twitter are getting so pissy about the proposals. I think it's because a lot of fans currently drive to the stadiums and are only thinking about an urban arena with that mindset.

"Driving and parking into Center City would be a nightmare!", etc.

Yep. There is a certain attitude in Philly that because it's been done one way forever, it should continue that way. There are a bunch of cities including DC, LA, NYC, Milwaukee etc. that all have downtown arenas. DC's Capitol One Arena should be the main example of what Philly's new arena could and should can be. There's a subway stop, bars/restaurants everywhere, a movie theater, a mall etc...it's almost exactly what 8th and Market offers. Also everyone gets hung up on it being Sixers games. They'll have concerts 3 nights a week at least along with Villanova games and likely more neutral events like Penn State basketball.

Just look around on street view and see how cool their setup is: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8987...7i16384!8i8192