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Quote:

Originally Posted by logansquare (Post 4294430)

cubanChris' and Watusi's last comments are right on the mark, and unfortunately, are uniquely Philadelphia! I think there are a lot of cities where the concern over trash accumulation or inappropriate behavior would not be a concern, but of course, here in Philadelphia we have to worry about.

"are uniquely Philadelphia!"

Are you for real? :haha: :koko:

Do the people on this site always have to ruin these things? I guess they do.

I wouldn't say those things are uniquely Philadelphian... really, if you have a decent population density you'll get enough knuckleheads to cause a problem.

I'm sure there are a couple clever architects and designers out there that can take care of it without compromising what I think its a very cool re-imagining.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubanChris (Post 4295502)

I am more worried about the pigeons....and their droppings. Usually to keep pigeons off surfaces, they put those spike strips, but I don't know how attractive they would look up there.

from here with flyer: http://www.planphilly.com/node/9080

June 9, 2009

The community meeting for the draft of the Market East Plan will take place on Tuesday, June 23rd at 6:30 p.m. at the Center for Architecture (1216 Arch Street).

It really is amazing how fast this thing is coming along. I watch it everyday and it really is breez'n by. It seems, and at least I'm really hoping, that this is going to interact with North Broad, in a way that is completely changes the way people treat that part of town. Pretty exciting, :).

Council calls for Schuylkill trail action

June 18, 2009
planphilly.com

On Thursday, Council also unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs to hold hearings and form a working group of city, state and federal lawmakers and interested parties to look for money to complete the Schuylkill River Trail.

There are nine segments where the trail is incomplete: the 58th Street Connector, Bartram's Garden Path, Grey's Ferry Crossing, West Bank Schuylkill River Trail, Locust to South Street Boardwalk, Wissahickon Gateway, Cynwyd Trail Spur, Manayunk Trail Bridge and Ivy Ridge Trail. The cost of completing these projects is estimated at $22 million, and the working group will convene this fall, prior to the Federal Transportation Reauthorization Bill's consideration before Congress, as Council hopes money can be had via this bill. The working group will also attempt to secure city and state funding.

Posted by Kellie Patrick Gates

this should be very interesting

Anyone interested can learn more about the city's hopes and plans for Market Street East – both above and under ground – on Tuesday, June 23, when a draft of the proposed Market Street East Master Plan will be discussed at a 6:30 p.m. public meeting at the Center for Architecture, 1216 Arch Street.

Interested in an underground tour? The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia has one scheduled for 10 a.m. this Saturday, June 20. Cost is $10 for adults, $5 for members, $8 for students, and free for kids under 10 accompanied by an adult, plus one SEPTA fare. For more information, click here. Scroll down to the June 20 events.

Contact the reporter at kelliespatrick@gmail.com

I wonder if the underground tour will include any areas not open to the public. If so, I'd be interested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucks native;4228640
[IMG

http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/FeaturedAssetStream.ashx?id=18[/IMG]

Site of Independence Mall, looking north, with rear of Independence Hall in foreground. No date on this one. Sorry.

http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoAr...eam.ashx?id=18

credit: City of Philadelphia (phillyhistory.org)

QUICK POLL----does anyone else feel a sense of loss when they see the photo above? When I first saw a pic of the neighborhood torn down and obliterated to make way for the barren and lifeless Independence Mall, I was dismayed. Had the neighborhood remained, it would've doubled the size of Old City and the city would've been vastly better for it.

full text here: http://www.planphilly.com/node/9182

June 23

By Kellie Patrick Gates
For PlanPhilly

The lead architect of the city's plan to revitalize the Market East corridor gave the public a second look at his still-in-draft-form vision Tuesday evening.

The major themes presented by Stan Eckstut, principal of New York's Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, did not change from his first public presentation in Februrary: The area already has a lot going for it, including a large transit hub, Chinatown and other vibrant neighborhoods, Reading Terminal Market, the Convention Center, and Thomas Jefferson University. But none of these amenities have much of a presence on Market Street. What these good bones need is strong connective tissue to link them all together.

“The key is Market Street,” Eckstut said. “The answer is that Market Street once again becomes Philadelphia's Main Street, and that everybody gets back on Main Street.”

The Reading Terminal Market should extend through the HeadHouse area to Market Street, Eckstut said. Market Street should also be the “front door” for transit. And rather than the current separate Greyhound bus terminal on Filbert Street, buses should drive up a ramp to pick people up from waiting areas inside The Gallery’s exquisite space.

Eckstut imagines more hotels on Market Street. And more retail, office, and residential space, too.

“The only thing we'd like to get off of Market is some of the buses,” he said.

The proposal calls for making sections of Arch and Filbert Streets two-way for traffic, creating a new travel pattern. Removing buses will make Market Street more of a pedestrian destination, he said.

The plan includes new uses for vacant spots, including the abandoned elevated viaduct, which would become a park that comes down to grade at Broad Street. Eckstut proposes putting tall, residential towers on large parcels of vacant, city-owned land surrounding Franklin Square. This would be “a city within a city,” similar to Vancouver's Chinatown, he said.

During his presentation, Eckstut hardly mentioned the proposed Foxwoods Casino. “The casino is just another building, another tenant on Market, another use,” he said.

City planning boss Alan Greenberger said the goal is actually to get bus traffic out of Chinatown.

Eckstut, and Philadelphia Planning Department Executive Director Greenberger, were emphatic that Foxwoods does not drive the proposal. If the casino project dissolved tomorrow, Eckstut said, “nothing changes.” Said Greenberger: “PREIT would have to find a new tenant.”

One thing about the proposal that could benefit Chinatown: Developing the vacant property around Franklin Square. The key, however, would be that any development must include affordable housing.

The Planning Commission will have to approve the plan to make it official, and Greenberger said he hopes the final version comes before them in August or September.

Meanwhile, his staff will this summer work on an action plan – an outline of how to make some of these ideas real. Their first three bites: Bringing the Reading Terminal Market to Market Street. Determining how an intermodal transit hub would work. Changing traffic patterns so that “bus trains” are no longer congesting Arch Street.

Greenberger said there have already been talks with the folks at Reading Terminal, and they are interested. The project is simplified because the Head House area into which Reading Terminal would expand is owned by the city's Redevelopment Authority. “It's a beautiful space,” Greenberger said. There's a small bit of retail there now: A bank, a bar and a Dunkin Donuts. But a lot of the beauty is hidden by two huge escalators that take people to the convention space.

Other portions of the plan are much more long-term, but equally important, Greenberger said. Conversations have also taken place with PREIT about revitalizing the portions of The Gallery they own. PREIT officials have said in the past they have wanted to improve the property. Greenberger is hopeful that now that PREIT's Cherry Hill Mall revitalization is completed, they will turn their attention to The Gallery. It's an important piece of the puzzle, Greenberger said, because a revamped Gallery would signal to other businesses and investors that a new, improved Market East was really happening.

Contact the reporter at kelliespatrick@gmail.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by the article

Market Street should also be the “front door” for transit. And rather than the current separate Greyhound bus terminal on Filbert Street, buses should drive up a ramp to pick people up from waiting areas inside The Gallery’s exquisite space.

Is there any kind of rendering for this idea? I can't for the life of me picture what they are talking about.

I figured more picture can't hurt any

Thanks for the updates. Looks like there is some decent progress.

PHILADELPHIA l American Revolution Center

American Revolution Center headed for Center City
By Jeff Gammage
Inquirer Staff Writer

After spending millions of dollars and years of effort, executives with the American Revolution Center have abandoned their controversial plan to build the museum inside the boundaries of Valley Forge National Park and will move the project to Center City.

The museum, which exists only on paper, will be relocated to Third and Chestnut Streets, once the site of a National Park Service visitors center. The building now houses classrooms and archaeology stations.

"We're off to a fresh, promising, exciting start," ARC president Bruce Cole said yesterday after the official announcement of the move.

more

Existing site at Third and Chestnut Streets.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...on/ARC_now.jpg
Photo credit: Philadelphia Inquirer

I'll post renderings of the new center as they become available.

I actually like the brick tower. The blend of historical red brick executed a in crisp, articulated form seems to work. It's a good height. I say keep the tower and lose the rest.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion...d_mistake.html

Quote:

Editorial: Fixing an old mistake
Dilworth Plaza could benefit greatly from this new plan.

As the crowds gathered around City Hall for the Phillies World Series parade last fall, fans would have been foolish to stand in the sunken reaches of Dilworth Plaza - since they couldn't see much from there.

That's why the lower plaza appears completely deserted in a telling photograph taken that day by one of the Philadelphia architects now working on a make-over of the 32-year-old plaza.

Phils fans, though, aren't the only ones who steer clear of Dilworth Plaza's multilevel granite labyrinth of benches, staircases, and vagrant-friendly environs.

Most people just hurry through this uninviting plaza that flanks the west portal of City Hall, but for the occasional concert or seasonal event. LOVE park, with its iconic Robert Indiana sculpture, long ago lured away the lunch and leisure crowd to the foot of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

At its most utilitarian, the plaza provides little more than entry points to the city subway, trolley, and commuter rail lines.

Like the barren plaza at the Municipal Services Building - where Frank Rizzo's statute appears to direct SEPTA riders to their buses each evening rush-hour - Dilworth Plaza is a concrete wasteland.

The good news: There's a promising makeover on the drawing board. The not-so-good news: The estimated cost is $45 million.

In record time over the last year or so, the Center City District has come up with an answer to many of Dilworth Plaza's problems. The business-funded agency is shopping a plan to city officials, civic leaders, and downtown stakeholders that would transform the plaza into a more attractive and useful space that mixes grass, fountains, trees, and attractive lighting.

So far, the official response has been encouraging, with the Historical Commission signing off, and with Planning Commission executive director Alan Greenberger talking up the design.

CCD chief Paul R. Levy says the idea is to create a "connector" between the expanding Convention Center's new front door on North Broad Street and the entertainment and growing condo neighborhood along South Broad.

Thomas Muldoon, head of the city Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the "gateway to transit" will be a great feature for visitors who want to explore the city and region using transit. As for the new plaza, Muldoon predicts that "it is destined to become the gathering place" for events, as well as casual lunches.

That said, some believe Dilworth Plaza isn't broken and doesn't need fixing. The existing plaza complements City Hall, and the estimated $45 million cost could be devoted to more pressing needs, they say.

Philadelphia architect Alvin Holm recently wrote on The Inquirer's Commentary Page, "The heavy granite pavers and parapets echo the base of City Hall." As for the plaza's sunken area being lifeless, Holm says that's because city planners never added the "shops, cafes, newsstands, and drugstores below grade and around the perimeter of the sunken area" that would bring it to life.

After three decades, that plan is outmoded and isn't going to happen. It's time to move forward with a much better vision that will generate more activity in the heart of the city.

Other planners worry that the city has taken a backseat on this privately funded planning effort so far, a legacy of moribund city planning during two previous city administrations.

But Greenberger, the city planning chief, says his agency has been kept in the loop. Indeed, the CCD design team of KieranTimberlake and the Olin Partnership made several improvements to their design in response to public comments. For his part, Greenberger has his staff properly focusing on a big-picture look at the entire City Hall area.

A number of civic leaders, city officials, tourism experts, and surrounding property owners have raised support for the plaza makeover. SEPTA officials also should welcome a new above-ground look, since they're nearing the long-delayed overhaul of the City Hall subway station.

The next challenge is to raise the funds for Dilworth Plaza's transformation. Clearly, this is an economic- development and transit-related public-works project worthy of state and federal support. For foundation and other private donors, it's a way for them to put their stamp on a Center City landmark.

Sounds almost like a public appeal for philanthropic money :shrug:

PHILADELPHIA: Free Library expansion

PARKWAY CENTRAL LIBRARY

current frontage on Parkway:

http://z.about.com/d/philadelphia/1/0/Q/b/parkway19.jpg

photo credit: www.philadelphia.about.com

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2385/...13ae30.jpg?v=0

photo credit: flickr; kchbrown's photostream

expansion at rear of current structure:

http://libwww.freelibrary.org/expans...pandDesign.jpg

image credit, Free Library website: http://libwww.freelibrary.org/expans...pandDesign.cfm

Parkway Central Library's Green Roof

from here: http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/....html?ana=e_ph

July 10, 2009

Philadelphia Parkway Central Library needs $70M to start renovation

Philadelphia Business Journal - by Athena D. Merritt Staff Writer

The Philadelphia Parkway Central Library must raise another $70 million to break ground on its $175 million renovation project.

Officials hope to close nearly half of that funding gap by securing $30 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Appeals for federal stimulus funding have been taken to local, state and federal officials. The library is also preparing to launch a marketing and branding effort, which would emphasize the importance of their resources, William Sasso, chairman of the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, said.

“There’s not any base we’ve left untouched, we’ve had a lot of meetings,” Sasso said.

With funding in place, construction could begin in as little as 60 days on the project which would add 180,0000 square feet of new space. The project would add a new teen center, 550-seat auditorium, double the space in the children’s library and increase the number of public access computers from 80 to 300. Reading lounges and a glass-enclosed pavilion with a cafe and shops would also be added under the expansion.

“Not only is there space constraints but there are physical issues all over the library that need to be addressed,” Siobhan A. Reardon, president and director said of the 80-year building.

Five thousand visitors pass through the library daily and 1 million each year. The branch gets 1,000 requests daily from those hoping to land a slice of time on one of the 80 computers, Reardon said.

Problems with the heating and air ventilation systems, which result in uneven temperatures throughout the library would also be addressed under the renovation, Reardon said.

“We really have to do a lot of work because we are losing a lot of fabulous materials,” Reardon said.

The $4 billion in ARRA grants and loans announced July 1 to increase broadband access is one potential source of funding the library is reviewing, Sasso said.

“Just based on our first run it seems we are very well positioned to qualify for that initiative,” Sasso said.

Federal stimulus funding for energy improvements and community development and block grants are also being explored, Sasso said. The building would be Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified upon completion of the project, Sasso said. With the project’s components, library officials immediately thought of going after funds when the federal stimulus package was announced, he said.

“When you look at the fact that this is a project that is shovel-ready, will create 1,400 jobs and the building itself is Silver LEED certified,” Sasso said, “it was just a matter of looking at the categories of support to see what categories we fit into.”

amerritt@bizjournals.com | 215-238-5149

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