Originally Posted by City Wide (Post 8105576)

This could have been so much different from a PR basis-------and I think they could have easily avoided 95% of the controversy and probably would have been welcomed with open arms.
1. save the facades,-----a no brainer
2. included retail at least on the ground floor, so the idea of jewelers row might have continued
3. before releasing any designs they should have had a informational meeting with the neighbors (Washington Sq. west?) to hear just in general their concerns and worries and desires (something many developers do)
4. not try to play games with the lot lines and including a City alley in their plans
5. tried to include some parking (doubtful considering the site, but show that they tried)
6. if they wanted more height or other factors from the City they could have talked to the mayor/others before going public

And then as the first tower they are building in Philly, I think it would have served them well to have designed a much better building.

Does any of this directly make them more profit? Who knows. But they could have been under construction by now, and time equals money.

As it is I don't think you could have drawn a pre-construction roadmap as poorly as the one they have traveled. They've had problems from day 1 and in my observation not that many people like the project as it now stands.

Originally Posted by City Wide (Post 8126762)

^^^ very true, a very low bar to cross.

This plan includes some balconies, which is always a good feature. But it also means that Toll is still playing around trying to decide what the market wants. It might just be the perspective of the drawing, but to me this appears very top heavy, the crown is TALL.

Originally Posted by iheartphilly (Post 8126844)

Toll could do a masonry build to blend in with jeweler’s row and make a lot of people happy but they have gone rogue by going mostly glass. If it stood alone, I wouldn’t care and actually would be happy with the design and glass wrap.

Originally Posted by iheartphilly (Post 8126844)

Kinda reminds me of the 500 walnut project standing next to masonary and brutalist builds. Just build it already.

Originally Posted by McBane (Post 8127303)

The old "blend in the base with like materials so NIMBYs can pretend there is no tower" trick is so cheesy and played out. The end product always looks disjointed and the brick/limestone panels used today always look painfully bad next to the real thing. I much prefer this look, although I agree with others that it's still just "meh". I will say however, that a true facadectomy can look really good.

Originally Posted by allovertown (Post 8127151)

The renders finally look "ok." But in nearly every project, the renders look a lot better than the finished project. If this project suffers from a similar degradation I think the finished project will slip back into the "Steaming Pile of Shit" category.

The way they just radically change the base with every redesign, seemingly without any rhyme or reason, really goes to show how little they care, how weak they are in their vision. If you had a really purpose driven design here, they'd be reluctant to make changes. They're just throwing shit at a wall until they can get a demo permit.

I was in Phoenix recently and I saw their name on numerous mcmansion developments, it seems like they're building a ton out there. I wish they'd just stick to doing shit like that. They're comically not up to the task here.