PHILADELPHIA | 300 N. Columbus Boulevard | 316 FT | 26 FLOORS | ON HOLD
 

This project is ON HOLD as of 12/21/2022

I don't expect this thread to be very busy anytime soon, considering they don't plan on starting until 2021.

Title: 300 N. Columbus Boulevard
Project: Apartments, ground floor retail
Architect: Handel Architects
Developer: Durst
Location: 300 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA
District: Center City
Neighborhood: Penn's Landing
Floors: 24
Height: 314 Ft

https://i.imgur.com/WwFknrw.jpg


Durst closes on Delaware River waterfront development site in $10 million deal with Philadelphia

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20200114.html

Looks great! The Delaware Waterfront needs more development. Build it!

Good density. Hopefully they'll improve the street level.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f7240c7d_b.jpgDelaware River Boulevard 1-17-20

I made it about 290'

I give this a 12.7% chance of being built.

:haha:

kidding, just tryina beat that other guy to the punch

I didn’t think you could build that high there. Terrible scale. Make the height lower, or break it up with two slender towers.

I disagree. I think SEFTA made it a bit too high in his renderings. I'm also probably lowballing the height at 290' in the thread title, so we'll just say it's 310 ft. I think that is perfectly appropriate for the area.

Hell, if this tower was 400+' I'd be fine with it. We need more density on the waterfront.

Also, this is my obligatory comment for any thread dealing with the waterfront:

Bring back the Delaware Ave trolley.

we need more density on the water front but i'd hope that the buildings closest to the bridge preserve views of the most impressive features, like the base, etc.

this is super blocky. happy to see development but personally i don't like the design. looks like a throw back to the 1980s.

Yeah, I think the model is a little off, PMC's One Water Street is what 16-17 floors. The rendering makes this look like it is 40 floors tall.

Either way, build it! Remember we once had Bridgeman View Tower over 900ft proposed in the area, and a Trump Tower over 500 feet, and the World Trade Square. BVT might've been a bonkers proposal, but if the riverfront ended up with a long stretch of 250-500 footers, hell yeah.

Also, if this gets built I am sure the plot of land next to it finally gets built as well. Remember the more recent plans for 'Renaissance Plaza' - nothing wrong with height here.

I revised the image above to be 290'

190' or 290'?
This definitely clears the 200' mark.

Doesn't PMC's 'tower' just south of here already do that? I agree that theres not much positive to say about the design. I was hoping for something better coming from Durst, but I guess they don't want to be the ones who rock the build it basic boat that seems to sail here in Philly.

Sefta's model should be a bit narrower, I believe. It does not extend all the way to the corner; there is a pocket park on the northern end, where the major archeological remains of the 17th-century shipyard are believed to be buried. Likewise, the drawing indicates it is seven bays wide, not ten.

I'm not nitpicking but the building also doesn't take up the whole lot . The NE corner of the property will be a park.

^ Yes, looks like maybe 1/3 of the block or so on the north side will be park + the other property.

Model looks good though. Appreciate these, SEFTA.

It should also be angled - the rendering appears to show that the building massing isn't perpendicular to the road. See how on the near side, the massing starts on the right, but on the far side it has gone diagonal across the base to the left side. Presumably done to make for better views and maximize sunlight on the western side.

Yes. I meant 290'

Frankly, the closer I look at the project, the less I like it.

I agree. It’s not a good looking building. The way it interacts with the street reminds me of the Society Hill Towers for some reason.

The 1970's called. They want their building design back.

Not a fan of how this looks currently.

Such lazy architects

^^^
DRWC should of stipulated the design be bold and not boring or run of the mill as part of the condition of the award. We have too many of that already...LOL.

Rendering Revealed For 24-Story Building At 300 North Christopher Columbus Boulevard In Center City

https://phillyyimby.com/wp-content/u...FM-777x517.jpg

https://phillyyimby.com/wp-content/u...6-944x1024.jpg

Read more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2020/09/rend...nter-city.html

...in January?

Why are you spamming a bunch of old news?

Thought it was cool to revisit some of these projects. Stumbled upon that website this weekend. Plus, I think that website is from a forum member here, so cool to support him. Why does it matter to you so much that you felt the need to comment? Lol

Penn's Landing developer Durst talks Philadelphia appeal for first project outside of New York

Article behind paywall here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...investing.html

“We don’t want to put a lot of residences onto the market during a significant downturn of the economy,” Durst said. “That wouldn’t work well for DRWC, the city or for us, so we’re looking at that very closely.”

^ I’ll be surprised if one shovel hits the ground before 2030 on any of their projects here

Agreed.

^Why in the world would the DRWC choose a development partner that was going to do nothing for the next 10 years when their giant crown jewel (Penn's Landing Park) is being built and ready for the public? While that statement above is clearly not what is ideal, I can't imagine that the head of the DRWC is thinking "My job will be secure if we make these big announcements and nothing ever happens - this seems like the right move."

Basically, I am hoping you both are very wrong about this start date lol (though i definitely agree with your concerns).

I don’t know, why would they pick a development partner that’s owned land in the city since 2017 and hasn’t even filed for a zoning permit ? The city’s track record at picking developers is awful.

Good point - expecting people to make rational, thoughtful decisions for the right reasons is always a dangerous thing to assume here.

Let's hope they know something we don't know about all of this and that the 8-9 year timeline for completing these projects is indeed realistic :cheers:

Just wanted to note that the DWRC isn't part of the city government (though 2 current City employees, and 1 former high-level city employee, appear to be on their 16 member board of directors).

^^^^
What's their funding sources? Follow the money.

I think the likely reason why Durst was picked was because they put forth what was by far the best plan. I don't think there's anything particularly head scratching about it. Nothing is set in stone yet though, and hopefully the DWRC makes sure any finalized agreement includes assurances the project will get started well before 2030.

Even if it is a few years before we see any progress though, keep in mind, it's not like the economic downturn is a figment of their imagination. Pretty unlikely we'd see quick action here regardless of who was picked.

http://www.rising.realestate/permits...elaware-river/

looks like this is going to get moving before 2030 - i’m hoping that we’ll get some more details in the cdr packet soon.

^^Permits Pulled for 25-Story, 360-Unit Building Near the Delaware River

Read/view more here:
http://www.rising.realestate/permits...elaware-river/

Construction Anticipated At 300 North Columbus Street

Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2020/11/300-...in-bridge.html

Do we have any renderings for this other than the drawing above? I feel like we don't have a good enough idea of what this will look like.

Not an exciting building. The many angles will allow for some great apartments with great views. I think these will be very popular. The density for the waterfront is great. I'm hoping there will be a very innovative and inviting ground floor with restaurant space

This will make a huge difference on that stretch. The possibilities for Del Ave are yuuuuge.

Morgan's Pier is salivating at the notion of this.

They print money there as it is. You'll never be able to into that place now.

Hopefully more places open up along the riverfront now that there will be a decent population living nearby. Cavanaugh's could definitely use some new management...

Some photos of the site from PhillyYIMBY

Looks like test bores and/or soil samples were done at some point at the site. Not sure if that was reported here or not.

https://phillyyimby.com/wp-content/u...7-1024x683.jpg

https://phillyyimby.com/wp-content/u...6-1024x683.jpg

Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2020/12/work...ladelphia.html

what permits have been issued for this site? Test bores can be taken a long time before you get to permitting or construction.

I saw that was for sale before all this insanity. I think it sold for around 4 milly.

Post from the highrise thread:

Archaeological studies are tentatively scheduled to begin in early 2022, with construction following soon after.

Candidly, I'm going to miss my view of the bridge, but compared to One Water Street or Renaissance Plaza, this is pretty amazing. There are concessions to the historic elements of the neighborhood I'm so happy to see - preservation of the archaeology under a public park, developing context around the Wood Street Steps. Again, compared to One Water Street, who half-heartedly suggested they'd be open to the idea of preserving the Belgian block streets and installing granite curbs, and then snapping together modular garbage, ripping out the block streets and throwing down asphalt, it's a whole other universe of context, architecture, and community engagement.

Still, it's a bit of a bummer that it basically turns Water Street into an alley, and for the folks who live there now, it's a pretty unfriendly set of ground floors to have your windows facing.

Water St is technically kind of an Alley now? I like the street though gives me a real nice post Dock & Riverfront Vibe.

If this is 26 floors as opposed to 24, it probably will top 300 ft.

You're not wrong, but along this particular stretch, it retains its seawall vibe, even though so much of the river's been filled in over the intervening centuries.

In the oldest map of Philadelphia, you can see where Water meets Front and turned into Willow Street in a way that echoes the 1600s shore of the Delaware
https://i.imgur.com/WyEj30J.png

But hey, they're only building on half the lot. You'll still be able to look out to the river from the steps. It's kind of astonishing the steps even exist, and that they were incorporated into the plans like that.

https://i.imgur.com/7nDlc3Q.png

The new height tops out at 316' (elevation 322') when you include the mechanical space, the roof is 275' (elevation 281')

https://i.imgur.com/EsGmdKp.png