PHILADELPHIA | One Riverside | 260 FT | 22 FLOORS

[summersm343]

Title: One Riverside
Project: 88 condominium units, parking
Architect: Cecil Baker & Partners
Developer: Dranoff Properties, Inc.
Location: 25th and Locust, Philadelphia, PA
Neighborhood: Fitler Square
District: Center City
Floors: 22
Height: 260 feet









Dranoff Properties Inc. is proposing to construct a new residential tower in Center City called One Riverside.

The Philadelphia developer is looking to build a 21-story structure on a parking lot at 25th Street between Locust and Manning streets in the Fitler Square neighborhood of the city, according to people familiar with the plans. It would sit near Locust on the Park, another one of Dranoff’s developments.

One Riverside would have about 167 units and roughly 1,000 square feet of retail and amenity space such as a fitness center, game room and club room, according to various sources familiar with the proposal. The project would front the Schuylkill River Trail. Apartments would occupy floors 3 through 20 and the top floor would have five penthouse units. The site is currently zoned industrial.

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...le+Feedfetcher

[SJPhillyBoy]

summersm343, as with all of the fantastic work, reporting and photographing you do of the Philadelphia scene, thank you very much for starting this thread. You are a great contributor.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by SJPhillyBoy

summersm343, as with all of the fantastic work, reporting and photographing you do of the Philadelphia scene, thank you very much for starting this thread. You are a great contributor.

No problem Glad to do it.

[Jelly Roll]

some more info on the project
http://www.centercityresidents.org/R...%2006%2013.pdf

[Jelly Roll]

Philadelphia Real Estate Blog post on the development
http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.c...iverside-park/

[mPhilly]

Love this plan. Love the green roof on the first floor parking and the idea of a cafe where Locust meets the trail. Would love even more to see this development incorporate a capping of the rail there to provide access to the trail (such as CHOP is proposing I believe). Eitherway, I totally understand that would be a huge cost and this looks good.

[Flyers2001]

Updated article to keep everyone in the loop.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/ho...neighbors.html

Carl Dranoff's One Riverside project, a 21-story, 167,000-square-foot apartment tower at 25th and Locust, adjacent to a community garden and the Schuylkill River Trail, could be built as proposed entirely by right, without a trip to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. In Philadelphia, that is a rarity. Developers often claim they can't make projects of that scale work within the confines of the zoning code, and seek community support for zoning variances. Neighborhood groups often use that to their advantage by negotiating their support for changes in design, public amenities, or other agreements. But when a by-right project is proposed, communities have no legal leverage. Sometimes they protest anyway. At a meeting of the Center City Residents Association on Tuesday night, a string of residents who live in immediate proximity to the One Riverside proposal asked the group's zoning committee to oppose the project when it goes before the Civic Design Review Committee, likely next month. The CCRA zoning committee said it would consider their comments and deliberate next week. As the local Registered Community Organization, CCRA gets to put a representative on the review committee. Civic Design Review is, as a former PlanPhilly reporter put it, “a process with no decision.” The group’s reviews are advisory only, and unless the property’s zoning were to be changed, Dranoff could pull permits for One Riverside tomorrow. He has already received a conditional zoning approval, which requires that he go through the CDR process. MORE COVERAGE A design challenge on the Schuylkill waterfront Some residents at Tuesday night’s meeting seemed to feel a zoning change should be pursued. Many of the speakers said the property should be zoned for recreational use and incorporated into the Schuylkill River waterfront park system, which would mean the city would have to compensate Dranoff for the parcel. One resident said the city should trade Dranoff a property it owns in some other neighborhood for the parcel, at 210 South 25th Street, and turn the latter into a park. Residents' objections to the proposal were not surprising. Its 21 stories are too many, said some. Its 84 parking spaces are too few, said others. Though architect Cecil Baker said he felt it was his responsibility to keep the "view shed"open to the river by designing a narrow facade facing east and west, some residents feel the sheer scale of the building will degrade the character of the neighborhood and the experience of the riverfront trail. Many were concerned about the project’s impact on the adjacent community garden. In the Inquirer last week, Inga Saffron worried that the building, if clothed in glass, could reflect too much sun and burn the garden’s plants, a phenomenon that apparently came to pass near a new glass tower in Dallas. Baker said the facade facing the garden would be half glass and half metal panels, and that the reflectivity of the glass would be far less than that of the glass on the Dallas building. Dranoff, Baker said, is "a guy who puts money on the outsides of buildings." Many noted that the development would violate aspects of the neighborhood plan that Center City Residents Association adopted in 2009. John Randolph, a former president of the Schuylkill River Development Council, said that the project is only allowed by a “quirk” of the zoning code, and that the site should not be zoned RMX-3. The neighborhood doesn’t need a monument to commemorate a zoning mistake," said another resident. Kiki Bolender, an architect who co-created the report Common Ground for Rebuilding Our City during the zoning reform process, took an alternate view. Density is good, Bolender said, and new neighbors would make the neighborhood and its parks and trails safer. Bolender said she didn’t believe years ago that the Schuylkill River trail would ever be safe, but that new residents and visitors are proving it can be. She said residents should focus on negotiating for improved design and site planning, rather than opposing the project outright, which she said is futile given its zoning classification. The line of speakers skewed toward opposition, but there was also slightly fainter applause for the few speakers who supported the project, including one man who told residents concerned about parking to "get rid of your cars." The last speaker of the evening pointed out that the neighborhood is on “the sunset side of the city.” "It’s our privilege to enjoy that," he said. Privilege, yes. But not a right. PlanPhilly.com is a seven-year old alternative media news website dedicated to covering design, planning and development issues in Philadelphia. It is a project of PennPraxis, the clinical arm of the School of Design of the University of Pennsylvania. It is funded by the William Penn Foundation.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/classif...3E5IW6mAmep.99

[Londonee]

isn't it a shame that Philly seems to be compromised only of a long, rectangular lots--which creates the trend of this bland, broad, rectangular box?

City's with great skylines seem to have more square lots, where the building must gain its floor space from verticality and the shape of the plot lends itself to more elegant forms.

With the exception of the Comcast Center and 1701 Rittenhouse, are there other recent/future examples of square plot construction?

[Flyers2001]

Originally Posted by Londonee

isn't it a shame that Philly seems to be compromised only of a long, rectangular lots--which creates the trend of this bland, broad, rectangular box?

City's with great skylines seem to have more square lots, where the building must gain its floor space from verticality and the shape of the plot lends itself to more elegant forms.

With the exception of the Comcast Center and 1701 Rittenhouse, are there other recent/future examples of square plot construction?

When you say "gain their floor space vertically" I believe that really has to do with demand and whether they can get things approved. There are many square lots around town, but that does not guarantee anything.

In the coming weeks/months rumor has it some of the big time spaces that are zoned for highrise/supertall will have announcements. They hopefully will not be your typical rectangle box.

[Kidphilly]

Originally Posted by Flyers2001

When you say "gain their floor space vertically" I believe that really has to do with demand and whether they can get things approved. There are many square lots around town, but that does not guarantee anything.

In the coming weeks/months rumor has it some of the big time spaces that are zoned for highrise/supertall will have announcements. They hopefully will not be your typical rectangle box.

What is all this discussion, would love to see/hear more but guess time will tell...

[Flyers2001]

Originally Posted by Kidphilly

What is all this discussion, would love to see/hear more but guess time will tell...

Check the Philly thread, some have talked about it a few days ago.

[Aaamazarite]

About 1.5 million renderings:

http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...PPLICATION.pdf

[NYC2ATX]

Those suspended balconies on that one end facing the Schuylkill are soooo sick. Love it, the NIMBYs can shove it.

[Flyers2001]

Originally Posted by Aaamazarite

About 1.5 million renderings:

http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...PPLICATION.pdf

I think it looks like a fine project.

[summersm343]

A bunch of renders:











http://philly.curbed.com/archives/20...ity-garden.php

[summersm343]

One Riverside in the skyline:



http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/08/o...-skyline-view/

[volguus zildrohar]

The choice of materials is going to make a big difference in how well this building works with its surroundings. It is unique in being about the only tall building anywhere around that almost directly abuts the river. If the slab effect can be mitigated then this could be a very nice looking project.

[Flyers2001]

From that picture, the boardwalk is coming along nicely.

[summersm343]

The CDR offered some recommendations for changes tonight. The project DOES NOT have to go through the ZBA for approval. Dranoff has to go through L&I for final zoning permit once the CDR submits documentation of the meeting which will be in about 2 weeks

http://planphilly.com/articles/2013/...rside-proposal

[summersm343]

Article about this from PhillyShark

http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2013...ide-tower.html