PHILADELPHIA | The Development Thread VIII - Page 366

ILovePhilly · #**7301** Posted **Jan 23, 2013, 4:25 PM**

I know people were talking about there being action at "Cira South" ... but they actually have a Foundation permit. Filed Jan 14 by Brandywine Cira South LP at 2930 Chestnut. And a Shell permit!! Filed 1/22!!! I just found that as I was writing about the foundation permit! So much excellent!

Quote:

FOR THE ERECTION OF CORE & SHELL OF A (36) STORY HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING OF PROTECTED NONCOMBUSTIBLE CONCRETE/STEEL CONSTRUCTION WITH EXTERIOR GLAZED CURTAIN WALL SYSTEM; BUILDING IS TO BE FULLY SPRINKLERED. ALL WORK PERMITTED HEREIN LIMITED TO ERECTION OF BUILDING ENVELOPE & SUPERSTRUCTURE ONLY; SEPARATE FIT-OUT & CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY PERMITS REQUIRED PRIOR TO OCCUPANCY.

And if you don't know yet about License to Inspect http://lti.planphilly.com then I have just ruined all of your free time.

Also, the tower crane came down last weekend at 2116 Chestnut. All of the floors look like they are full of construction materials and I bet that they are glad they finished up outside before this weather. brrr.

McBane · #**7302** Posted **Jan 23, 2013, 7:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by relnahe

Okay Mr. Negative can you tell me why this city generates more money from the wage tax then it has in decades even though its at its lowest in nearly 40 years? Or did you just want to make a vaguely covered bigoted comment?

WTF? Take a chill pill dude and stop being overly sensitive. I didn't say anything remotely bigoted. And I never definitively said that Philly was better back in the day - only that one could make the argument that it was. You bring up the wage tax revenue, I can bring up crime and graduation rates. I'm not advocating one position or the other. I was just pointing out the irony that CC has improved by leaps and bounds, while the rest of the city...well, that's an opinion that everyone is entitled to make.

Here's an interesting history of the wage tax (though it's a bit old, there's good stuff in here that tells the early history). http://economyleague.org/files/File/reports/Sterling%20Act.pdf

summersm343 · #**7303** Posted **Jan 23, 2013, 11:28 PM**

Looks like a few Law Firms are interested in the Liberty Property Tower at 19th and Arch. Also, some news on the possibility of office towers being viable in 2013 in Philadelphia

Quote:

Major space users in Center City are itching for more SF but being met by low vacancy. That’s a formula for new office development, a real possibility in 2013, according to Newmark Grubb Knight Frank executive managing director Wayne Fisher.

Quote:

Wayne says Center City’s trophy office buildings, mostly towers over 40 stories, benefited the most from last year’s uptick in leasing. The trophies didn’t have high vacancies going into the downturn, and aggressive rents attracted tenants who might have otherwise stuck with their previous digs. Deals could be had for around $30/SF, down from 2000s highs around $35 to $40/SF. Now trophy space is extremely tight, and rents will go up this year.

Quote:

There are only eight full floors of available space among trophy assets, Wayne adds—about 160k SF all together. Liberty Property Trust has plans for a roughly 400k SF office building, and a few law firms are kicking that tire, Wayne says. In Philly, new construction comes in at roughly a $45 to $50/SF proposition, but the higher cost would be partly offset by operating and layout efficiencies, LEED status, and other new-building advantages.

Quote:

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank says office leasing volume in Center City totaled about 2.8M SF in 2012, a 40% increase over 2011, driven by a handful of large renewals and new leases. The company predicts net absorption of 150k SF by the end of 2013. Vacancy, which ended 2012 at about 14.1% overall, is projected to drop to 13.7% by the end of 2013. Despite this modest improvement, rental rates will remain flat, with the exception of trophy assets, where direct vacancy was a healthy 5.1% at the end of 2012.

http://www.bisnow.com/commercial-real-estate/philadelphia/new-center-city-offices/

EastSideHBG · #**7304** Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 12:13 AM**

Cheesecake Factory in Center City?

POSTED: Wednesday, January 23, 2013, 10:48 AM
Michael Klein, Philly.com

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/the-insider/Cheesecake-Factory-gets-a-zoning-hearing.html

SkyscraperGuru · #**7305** Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 12:41 AM**

Well... Philadelphia is well on its way to a massively modern skyline. We might get something like ACC.

GarCastle · #**7306** Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 1:35 AM**

Hey PhiLaw, if the below is looking down 8th (southbound), then that is the new Penn Medicine building for outpatient physician offices/practices that belong to Pennsylvania Hospital. Though Will's Eye (Jefferson) is on the same block.

Cheers,
G.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhiLaw

Some perspective on the difference in height between the new Jefferson building and the St. James. Ps. do not try this at home - about a 20% accident rate.

GarCastle · #**7307** Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 1:40 AM**

I grew up in Connecticut, hung out in the Village downtown, saw Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and all that.

Totally off base or not, I always assumed NYC's population explosion was due to Ellis Island and it being a super huge immigration landing point. Many immigrants would not have had money to travel any farther and would have planted roots. I had many ancestors that did exactly that. Some worked their way up to Albany and stayed while others migrated to central Jersey. My great grandfather was an architect in Manhattan so he obviously didn't travel too far heh. I have yet to visit some of the buildings he designed that are still standing - nothing too grand at least that I know of.

Philly had far more breweries towards the end of the 1800s though I believe. Something like 57+ breweries? (but yeah, we lost that too LOL) I homebrew so it's all good.

Cheers,
G.

PhiLaw · #**7308** Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 4:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GarCastle

Hey PhiLaw, if the below is looking down 8th (southbound), then that is the new Penn Medicine building for outpatient physician offices/practices that belong to Pennsylvania Hospital. Though Will's Eye (Jefferson) is on the same block.

Cheers,
G.

Yes that is the new Penn Medicine building. I mistakenly assumed it was affiliated with Jefferson, given the neighborhood. Also, you can see Will's Eye to the far right (fortunately it is too far away to see the hideous sculpture on the front lawn)

Austinlee · #**7309** Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 8:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyscraperGuru

Well... Philadelphia is well on its way to a massively modern skyline. We might get something like ACC.

I hope so. Already got a very dense downtown and a few really nice scrapers built the last couple years but for being like the 5th largest city in the US, I think it needs a couple more huge landmark towers. Like a couple ACC style towers would be incredible. Boston and San Fran need this too and both seem to be about to get new "tallest landmarks" as well.

i<3philly · #**7310** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 12:18 AM**

whats going on at the chestnut side of the cira south, i walked by yesterday (sorry didn't have my phone on me) and it was gated up and there was a backhoe digging something out?

summersm343 · #**7311** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 12:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by i<3philly

whats going on at the chestnut side of the cira south, i walked by yesterday (sorry didn't have my phone on me) and it was gated up and there was a backhoe digging something out?

Site prep for the residential tower. 36 floors.

aro1419 · #**7312** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 2:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by summersm343

Site prep for the residential tower. 36 floors.

There also seemed to be site prep on Liberty's site for the proposed office tower at 19th and Arch. There appeared to be some machines parked in the parking lot, which is still in business. I can post a picture that I took of this tomorrow. Has anyone received any recent news on this?

hammersklavier · #**7313** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 3:20 AM**

For Cira South info, you might want to check this thread.

As for 1901 Arch, the work in (part of) the parking lot seemed to be drilling a soil sample. No definitive tenant info is known, although it's rumored some law tenants are sniffing around the space.

There is something of a dearth of Class A office space in CC. It seems to go straight from top-of-the-line "trophy" space down to Class B...and current rents are not far from the sweet spot where Class A construction is viable.

ILovePhilly · #**7314** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 4:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aro1419

There also seemed to be site prep on Liberty's site for the proposed office tower at 19th and Arch. There appeared to be some machines parked in the parking lot, which is still in business. I can post a picture that I took of this tomorrow. Has anyone received any recent news on this?

1/8/13 Foundation permit, #430963

Quote:

FOUNDATION ONLY (THIS PERMIT SHALL SUPERCEDE PERMIT # 410205) - EXCAVATION AND INSTALLATION OF SECANT PILE FOUNDATION WALL PER PLANS; CHANGE ENGINEER OF RECORD FOR REQUIRED SPECIAL INSPECTIONS; ALL INSPECTION REPORTS SHALL BE FURNISHED TO FIELD INSPECTOR. SEPARATE PERMITS REQUIRED FOR ANY ADDITIONAL WORK.

http://lti.planphilly.com/documents/p-430963

jn00 · #**7315** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 3:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILovePhilly

1/8/13 Foundation permit, #430963

http://lti.planphilly.com/documents/p-430963

That is for the PMC apartment building across the street (1900 Arch), not the Liberty building.

sayitaintso · #**7316** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 4:01 PM**

26 Story Multifamily/Hotel 1200 block of Walnut seems to be back on track.
Not a bad rendering/design.

http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.com/midtown-village-residential-tower-clears-legal-hurdle/

teeheee · #**7317** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 4:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sayitaintso

26 Story Multifamily/Hotel 1200 block of Walnut seems to be back on track.
Not a bad rendering/design.

http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.com/midtown-village-residential-tower-clears-legal-hurdle/

Love that breezeway.

volguus zildrohar · #**7318** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 6:00 PM**

Midtown Village...my God...

McBane · #**7319** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 6:10 PM**

Is that an old rendering? I ask b/c of the Apple store on the ground floor. Sidebar: did they think that Apple would end up east of Broad???

A very exciting proposal nonetheless and will add some much needed height east of Broad. Hard to believe, but at 300 feet, it would be one of the taller buildings in that part of the city and should hopefully be visible in the skyline.

summersm343 · #**7320** Posted **Jan 25, 2013, 7:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aro1419

There also seemed to be site prep on Liberty's site for the proposed office tower at 19th and Arch. There appeared to be some machines parked in the parking lot, which is still in business. I can post a picture that I took of this tomorrow. Has anyone received any recent news on this?

Very nice. Glad to hear this.