Posted Apr 20, 2016, 2:58 AM
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Philly -> Osaka -> Tokyo
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: The biggest city on earth. Literally
Posts: 5,630
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Quote:
Originally Posted by philatonian
Blatstein isn't interested in fostering a neighborhood here. Yes, a boring Big Box corner with 600+ parking spaces is going to suck the life out of the surrounding neighborhoods and kill small businesses, but for that exact reason it will be a cash-cow for Blatstein, and that's all he wants. Whatever Center City doesn't already have - Walmart, Home Depot, Best Buy - can fit in this spot, and every Center City and South Philadelphia resident will be walking to it, while those with cars will have ample parking. This is his answer to a stripmall where he knows a stripmall would never get approved.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending it. I think it's horrible, namely because Blatstein is being so shady about it. And perhaps worse, because no one - not even Inga Saffron - has pointed out what's really going on here. Anyone who thinks Bart is actually planning on building these monoliths has been blinded by his deliberately absurd sales pitch. It's classic bait-and-switch. He's thrown us a flashy rendering to argue over while he gets approval for his massive Big Box parking podium. As soon as the shovel hits the dirt, you can bet those towers are going to go away.
At best we'll get a clumsy, stunted apartment building on top of a garage. At worst, all we'll ever see is the podium with a PlanetFitness and a couple other major discounters. It's basically just the Gallery for the next generation.
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The problem with this theory, though, is that the city's already zoned CMX-5. If he actually just wanted to build a vertical strip mall with a parking podium, he could by right ... he wouldn't need to make drama drama with this poorly-conceived plan of his. (And tbh I'd be fine with a vertical strip mall being here.) I don't think there's anything shady going on here -- I think he's just gotten enamored with something nearly everybody around him is saying is a bad idea, and he might be one of those types that just gets more fired up about realizing it the more he feels like it's being detracted.
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