The National Condos - 2nd Street between Arch and Elfreth's Alley
Demo well underway. Replacing it will be a 6 floor condo building

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...12&oe=5744E613

http://www.bartonpartners.com/wp-con...1-1024x689.jpg

1100 Chestnut - apartments/retail - 7 floors

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...e3&oe=57367AE1

You could have said the same thing in 2011 and yet five years later it's still a dump there. At this point the Reading Viaduct is very likely to be built. But shovels aren't in the ground yet, nothing has changed yet. This neighborhood is a wasteland and I just don't get the contention that you would expect high quality architecture here, based solely on the hypothesis that in the future this neighborhood will be nicer. Something has to get the ball rolling. And places like this, and eventually the Reading Viaduct are what lead to people building the type of stuff you're looking for.

Those crappy buildings were there before the high line in NYC? Well this building is being proposed before the Viaduct in Philly.

Exactly lol. The neighborhood sucks. I just went through the area today, and there are certainly signs of improvement, but the whole thing from Broad to the River, Vine Street to Spring Garden is just a wasteland. Huge superblocks, large blocks filled with transformers and PECO power stations, empty lots, abandoned buildings, parking lots, car oriented development. It's got A LONG way to go, and I think this development is certainly a huge step in the right direction. Not sure what all the complaining is about.

1/22/2016

Here are some pics I grabbed real quick of the National on 2nd street in Old City. I had to grab the pics real quick from the street, with traffic going around me while I was standing against the fence.

http://s6.postimg.org/q5709ia1t/image.jpg

http://s6.postimg.org/r678ymr1d/image.jpg

You can see Elfreth's Alley on the far left.

1/22/2016

33rd and Mantua ave.

Thank God these thing are coming down. I couldn't help but to think of the gut wrenching feeling of the neighbors as these were getting built years ago. And then I thought about the people who had to live in them. If your going to help people get back on their feet, how could you put them in these? WTF?

http://s6.postimg.org/l93dht9wh/image.jpg

http://s6.postimg.org/lxc80r8m9/image.jpg

At least one of those is very recent and definitely after the high line. And there are tons of other examples of crappy architecture getting built after the high line. My point is that the viaduct is going to spur lots of development, just like the high line. Some of those buildings are going to be great architectural additions to the cit. Others will just blend in to the urban fabric. This is one of those buildings. It's not bad, not great. Every building is not going to be a show stopper, even in the most desirable neighborhoods.

Love this development but at a minimum, the red brick building needs a cornice or similar element to visually terminate the top of the structure. The last three buildings almost seem to be mimicking a set of badly remodeled South Philly rows that had their cornices lopped off.

Would people really want to live behind a strip mall off Columbus boulevard?

http://www.mscretail.com/wp-content/...ochure_sm1.pdf

http://www.phillymag.com/?p=3068116

I honestly can't think of a worse way to use that site. Even making it industrial would create a few hundred good jobs.

Is Blatstein Planning a Residential and Retail Complex at Former Foxwoods Site?

Renderings:
http://www.mscretail.com/wp-content/...ochure_sm1.pdf

Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/property/20...EtQp0vToMyu.99

Square peg in round hole. You'd think that prospective residents would want a bit more than a few trees separating them from the backside of Aldi and Wawa.:koko:

Whitman’s Chocolates Building Bids A Bittersweet Farewell

Currently being demolished
http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten...ns-660x451.jpg

What will be replacing it - 4 story apartment building with ground floor retail
http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten...ce-660x238.jpg

What could have been - 13 floor hotel with apartments facing 4th street and event space with ground floor retail
http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten...el-660x495.jpg

http://hiddencityphila.org/2016/01/w...weet-farewell/

^Horrible horrible wasted opportunity. What a gddamn shame.

Where's a recession when you need one?

I think homes are better than hotel only because the peculiar traffic arrangement around this area would be better for those residents conditioned to it rather than the transient hotel traveler who might accidentally merge onto the Ben Franklin bridge, creating an unfavorable tripadvisor review.

The use change isn't the beef, it's the form. It's lost all ambition in scale and is a dissapointment in both size and style for such a prominent site. It's a dog turd.

You are joking, hopefully? Or are you really suggesting planning decisions in Center City should be based primarily on how drivers experience associated traffic flows?

Sixers: Camden training facility will be NBA's biggest

Renderings in the article. Oof, I feel bad for Camden. This sort of development would have likely been a better fit for the Navy Yard.

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...ba-hinkie.html

Blatstein's ADD is peculiar. From Columbus Blvd to Northern Liberties to North Broad to Atlantic City to South Broad now back to Columbus Blvd, he just needs to focus and finish something.

Has he sold all of his Northern Liberties properties? What about his North Broad projects at the old Inky building? Any movement on Broad and Washington?