PHILADELPHIA | One Water Street | 198 FT | 16 FLOORS

[McBane]

The design could be better but folks please stop complaining. The Delaware Waterfront is at least 20 years behind the rest of the city in terms of development and so I don't think we can afford to be so selective. Frankly, I don't see any other developments on the waterfront that is as good as this one: Sugarhouse is set back from the street behind a huge driveway; Waterfront Square ditto, plus it's gated; all the townhouses have their backs against the street; and the shopping centers are totally auto-centric.

Right now, there should be only three criteria that determine the success of projects on Delaware Ave:

1) It must meet the street and not be set back behind a driveway, gate, parking lot, etc.

2) It must have some sort of active ground floor: at the very least the main entrance and no blank walls; retail is a plus

3) It must have density to create the necessary critical mass to attract more projects and retail

This project checks all those boxes. When we get another 10 projects like this along Columbus Blvd, we can start talking about materials, design, etc. On the flipside, if someone tried proposing this for Center City proper, I'd be right with the other detractors. Here though, it's fine.