PHILADELPHIA | The Development Thread VIII

[Don098]

Originally Posted by We Got Five

The tax abatement has done nothing to grow business. Look at the facts - the downtown office environment has remained stagnant for the last 27 years.

The tax abatement moves companies around like puzzle pieces - ala Cira Center.

Cut taxes, show the city as a positive place to do business, and keep you're young talent from the 6 big Universities within arms distance of you.

Im' sorry, but simply lowering taxes is not going to dissuade young talent from departing to greener pastures. Philadelphia has TONS of work to do before it can reverse the brain drain, as much as it bothers me to admit it. It's going to take a generation to reverse that inertia. As much as I hate it, perception is reality and Philadelphia has not been doing itself any favors recently in that department.

[We Got Five]

Don - I agree with you. My comments were a brief synopsis of would could be deemed "early progress" should we even fathom the idea of lowering taxes.

The current trend shows the downtown office market looking about the same, maybe marginally worse in 2035.

I would love to ask the Mayor and City Council this question: How does it make you feel to know that 60-65% of your residents travel outside the city for work.

[brian.odonnell20]

Originally Posted by We Got Five

I would love to ask the Mayor and City Council this question: How does it make you feel to know that 60-65% of your residents travel outside the city for work.

Wow, that's pathetic. Substantially more than half. My theory is that this may be because this was mainly a port city of industry for its entire existence, and when the old recession in the 70s sent all of it in philly straight to hell, nobody could recover. So now now there are tons of abandoned warehouses that will never be revitalized because the jobs went overseas and we can't get them back, and we have a commerce sector that was never strong to begin with trying to pick up the slack of jobs and revenue that the industry lost, which has been impossible. So with the usual equation being residential space = commercial space + industrial space, Philly has increased the residential and lowered the commercial and industrial, forcing people to work outside the city.

(Just a theory, anyone correct me if i'm wrong)

[Jes44]

There was a story on the Daily News website that talked about how Philadelphia is ranked 15th out of 15 largest metro areas in the country for small business start-ups (Kauffman Foundation). Here is the link:

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/special/...reneurs.html?posted=y&viewAll=y#comments

Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce lured Mr. Tom Morr from the Washington, DC Chamber of Commerce to help develop a strategy on retaining and attracting young professionals to the city and area. The only thing he has done to date is to meet with local business leaders but then we have not heard boo from him afterwards. It is like wack a mole, we hear from him every so often just to show that he is alive and then goes back underground. What has Fast Eddie to stem the brain drain he loves to call home in 8 years? I must have missed his initiative on this. Oh that's right, he is too worried to make his next TV appearance on Comcast Sportsnet. As for Nutter, he is a more cleaned up version of John Street, but no different. Another waste of a mayor.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by We Got Five

I would love to ask the Mayor and City Council this question: How does it make you feel to know that 60-65% of your residents travel outside the city for work.

Well what are you waiting for, email them:
http://www.phila.gov/cityCouncil/CouncilMembers.html

Most will respond to you, let us know what they say.

[tower]

m. night shyamalan for mayor

well not really. but he was apparently mocked and laughed at by an nyc theater crowd when the words "from the mind of m. shyamalan" appeared on screen during the trailer for "devil"

besides that meaningless dribble, i saw the trailer and there are some pretty unique philly skyline shots throughout. towards the end though i can't really tell if they are filming buildings outside of the city because it didn't quite seem right. it could be the lighting though

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1736574489/

[EastSideHBG]

Pension fund takes control of Philadelphia's 10 Rittenhouse Square condo building

By Alan J. Heavens
Inquirer Real Estate Writer

A pension fund representing thousands of workers, mostly in the construction trades, has taken control of the luxury 10 Rittenhouse Square project in a dispute over the fund's $57 million stake in the building.

The 33-story Robert A.M. Stern signature building at 130 S. 18th St. - with 135 condominiums priced from $600,000 to $15 million, plus retail and restaurant space - opened in November, more than two years behind schedule, because of litigation over preservation and zoning issues.

That delay, coupled with a deepening recession, resulted in sales below what are considered necessary to begin repaying more than $300 million in debt owed to the project's senior lender, Istar Financial Group of New York, and the pension fund, the Delaware Valley Real Estate Investment Fund, which manages the retirement nest eggs of 47,200 workers in the region.

According to data from city Board of Revision of Taxes and other sources, only about three dozen units have sold or gone to settlement.

Because of those low numbers and concerns about Istar's intentions for the building, the pension fund filed suit Friday in Common Pleas Court, seeking "to save Center City's premier residential condominium development from the depredations of a troubled hedge fund and rogue lender."

In 2006, the pension fund provided 10 Rittenhouse's developer, ARCWheeler L.L.C., with two loans to launch the project - the first for $25 million, the second for $5 million. With late charges and accrued interest, the pension fund is now owed $57 million.

In 2007, Istar lent $216.5 million to ARCWheeler to build the high-rise.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_...0_Rittenhouse_Square_condo_building.html

[BCPhila]

Introducing the America’s Favorite Art Museum Tourney!

By Tyler Green
Modern Art Notes

http://blogs.artinfo.com/modernartnotes/...he-americas-favorite-art-museum-tourney/

[teeheee]

Originally Posted by tower

besides that meaningless dribble, i saw the trailer and there are some pretty unique philly skyline shots throughout. towards the end though i can't really tell if they are filming buildings outside of the city because it didn't quite seem right. it could be the lighting though

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1736574489/

Devil was actually filmed in Canada, specifically Toronto if I remember correctly. The reason behind this is because last year the state government was threatening to do away with the film tax credit. Night took personal offense to this and said, "If you're going to drop the tax credit, I'll take my business elsewhere."

[Don098]

Originally Posted by We Got Five

Don - I agree with you. My comments were a brief synopsis of would could be deemed "early progress" should we even fathom the idea of lowering taxes.

The current trend shows the downtown office market looking about the same, maybe marginally worse in 2035.

I would love to ask the Mayor and City Council this question: How does it make you feel to know that 60-65% of your residents travel outside the city for work.

And I agree with you as well...the business privilege tax is definitely an issue and I think it would help ameliorate the difficulties of attracting major corporations to Philadelphia. I think the city could really benefit from increasing the manufacturing/industrial sector as that's where a large portion of the city's current population could be qualified for work. That would provide a stronger tax base that would (perhaps?) allow the city to remove the handcuffs of the city wage tax. However, I would guess that the taxes haven't been lowered because the city simply can't afford to lose that income. With the country obsessing over reducing debt, lifting those taxes would certainly be a step in the wrong direction. I don't think the city can afford to lose that much money up front before seeing the long-term effect of lower taxes. However, that could come with a downside as well. It would be sad to see Philadelphia turn too far towards a corporate america culture where every single restaurant suddenly has a second and third location like here in DC, for example. More than anything, the city could really use a world-class PR firm. Note the bold text.

[rricci]

Pension fund takes control of Philadelphia's 10 Rittenhouse Square condo building

By Alan J. Heavens
Inquirer Real Estate Writer

A pension fund representing thousands of workers, mostly in the construction trades, has taken control of the luxury 10 Rittenhouse Square project in a dispute over the fund's $57 million stake in the building.

In 2006, the pension fund provided 10 Rittenhouse's developer, ARCWheeler L.L.C., with two loans to launch the project - the first for $25 million, the second for $5 million. With late charges and accrued interest, the pension fund is now owed $57 million.

In 2007, Istar lent $216.5 million to ARCWheeler to build the high-rise.

What does this do to the prospects of they Boyd Theatre Restoration? I believe this is the same developer. That is one of my pet projects I would love to see get off the ground. I love old theatres. The Boyd is said to be spectacular inside. It's currently an eyesore on Chestnut

[JorgeGeorgy]

Are you sure about that? Just doesn't look right to me...hmmm.........

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Aaamazarite

Here's what happens when you build right next to the chinese wall:

What is this building?!? It is massive.

[blorkishdork]

suburban station, I think the official name is one penn center? could be wrong, but yeah take away all those other high rises in the area and it looks rather large!

[We Got Five]

Styron to make HQ in Phila.-area, bring at least 40 jobs
by Natalie Kostelni

Read more: Styron to make HQ in Phila.-area, bring at least 40 jobs - Philadelphia Business Journal

http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/phil...bring_at_least_40_jobs.html?surround=lfn

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by blorkishdork

suburban station, I think the official name is one penn center? could be wrong, but yeah take away all those other high rises in the area and it looks rather large!

Yes, its official name is One Penn Center, and its traditional name is the Suburban Station building (AFAIK it was originally the Suburban Station building until the Penn Center project went into full swing, when it became known as One Penn Center). It's 19 floors of pure Art Deco goodness and was once the HQ of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Its western façade abuts the Comcast Center plaza, so if you go into the Comcast Center thread it'll be a constant lurker in the background, and its eastern façade, LOVE Park.

[We Got Five]

Quick note -

Last week's week's PBJ reported that Philadelphia has roughly 12,000 hotel rooms compared to Boston's 18,000. We're short about 2,000 for the expanded convention center (which is a whole other concern - will we lose conventions now?), but I always thought we were comparable to Boston. I'm curious as to why the state kicked 10M to the 4th and Race Hotel project but not another convention style hotel closer to the center? Broad and Race? Or dare I say 15th and Arch? Wouldn't that help the continued gentrification around Love Park? Owners at The Phoenix would love it!

[teeheee]

Originally Posted by We Got Five

I'm curious as to why the state kicked 10M to the 4th and Race Hotel project but not another convention style hotel closer to the center? Broad and Race? Or dare I say 15th and Arch? Wouldn't that help the continued gentrification around Love Park? Owners at The Phoenix would love it!

How about traveling up Broad?

[hammersklavier]

I was in the Macy's in the Wanamaker Building earlier today and I was wondering, how the eff is it that a place that sells Juicy Couture not a Bloomingdale's?

[McBane]

Originally Posted by We Got Five

Styron to make HQ in Phila.-area, bring at least 40 jobs
by Natalie Kostelni

Read more: Styron to make HQ in Phila.-area, bring at least 40 jobs - Philadelphia Business Journal

http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/phil...bring_at_least_40_jobs.html?surround=lfn

Small win? Possible. Article says they are looking at offices in Center City and the suburbs. Here is what will likely happen:

1. They will see all the great things that make locating in the city good (i.e. proximity to airport, mass transit, energy, etc.)

2. Eye opening lesson on how much more expensive it is to run a business in the city.

3. Settle in the suburbs.

The city might have many distinct advantages over the suburbs but the tax thing - it's just so much higher in the city that for the vast majority of businesses out there, it completely negates all those advantages.

Also if we're still talking about the Hillman, a blank wall on Chestnut St. has a MUCH more negative impact on the streetscape and urban fabric than a blank wall on Cherry St. Hillman's blank wall is PRIME retail or restaurant space on one of Center City's most heavily trafficked streets (both pedestrian and Vehicular). Cherry St? How many people in day walk/drive along Cherry St?