PHILADELPHIA | The Development Thread VIII

[sayitaintso]

Is it possible with all the chatter upstaging the news that a decision was made to push the announcement back?

Does anyone who works in PR know the procedure for an leak that pre-spoils an announcement? Do they delay to gain back the upper had in the flow of information?

[Plokoon11]

So there is a meeting at 7PM? So I guess all hope isn't lost then. Nevermind, that was for a different development.

[sayitaintso]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Not true at all. I got confirmation directly from someone at LPT who claims something is certainly happening. Of course they couldn't give out any specific dates but if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have even thought to call him to check in and see what's going on.

These things take a long time. As someone else pointed out, Comcast Center was 5 years in the making. Comcast isn't just going to announce something then start building tomorrow.

Major buzzkill is all. Time to play the waiting game.

[sayitaintso]

Originally Posted by Plokoon11

So there is a meeting at 7PM? So I guess all hope isn't lost then.

Sorry. I didn't see anything about 7pm?

[Plokoon11]

Oh well that's disappointing then.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by sayitaintso

Is it possible with all the chatter upstaging the news that a decision was made to push the announcement back?

Does anyone who works in PR know the procedure for an leak that pre-spoils an announcement? Do they delay to gain back the upper had in the flow of information?

I do a little PR as general contractor, though mostly my job is to write proposals to get us hired to build things.

Chatter is just as likely to speed things up as slow them down. When chatter is starting, it's important to take control so that real information can take precedence over false. The flip side would be that when chatter starts, hurdles can come out of the woodwork, and it can be better to address them first.

More than that, there are tons of hurdles for any project, and it's common for these to delay announcements. Maybe the annoucement relies upon agreements being signed (of any kind), or NBC wants to run it past one more board meeting, or the chatter brought out a key citizen group that's riled up their councilmember who needs to get calmed down, or they just got an updated budget that's a little over expectations, or they need to do a little extra review of shoring relative to the train tunnel before sticking their necks out, or who knows.

These things are generally quiet. One of our jobs was an example. For months people speculated where the new Four Seasons was going. Then one day the owner finally sent their press release. This coincided with an all-staff meeting at my office. We announced it to our staff at the same time the release was hitting the papers. There was a sizeable gasp and applause....we'd won the job months earlier and many people had been hard at work either pursuing the job or supporting the preconstruction effort, but they'd kept their mouths shut. That's probably going on right now in Philly.

[Kidphilly]

Originally Posted by sayitaintso

Is it possible with all the chatter upstaging the news that a decision was made to push the announcement back?

Does anyone who works in PR know the procedure for an leak that pre-spoils an announcement? Do they delay to gain back the upper had in the flow of information?

Genrally chatter can at times move a decision faster if becomes any operational issue. That is generally.

Truth is their timing may be contingent on many things none of which would these chat boards influence - at least without more tangible logistical leaks that could effect employees financing etc.

That said it may or may not be true, I am hoping it is and things in the formal sense are little delayed.

If the architect information is true, that is good

If the soil samples relevant, also good

Some of the PR statements from Comcast dont refute anything (not that they have to)

I would suspect that this type of announcement in Philly (if true, as until it is is it is speculation) would have some noticve and a Mayoral, Comcast, Liberty, and even architect showing (maybe even the governer if 5k jobs in expansion or relo etc) would be warranted so we will probably know a specific time when something is up at leasdt a day before.

just my two cents and I am hopeful regardless - it makes sense but is still speculation

FWIW you have a lot people posturing and excited, more than most posts here, dont beat yourself up, if this plays out in the next 30 days you still will have broken this to us geeks and that is worthy to me (timing good or bad) if not, well we will forget for the most part in short order. At least the Eagles won their opener....

[DIESELPOLO]

I don't remember seeing this updated rendering of the 38th & Walnut tower...
[IMG]http://assets.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/38th%20and%20Chestnut%20rendering*600.jpg[/IMG]

Article here.

[japmes]

*crickets*

Oh well, I'm sure Comcast/NBC will announce something someday. Its prudent to be a skeptic of dramatic game-changer claims.

[PhiLaw]

I feel like that kid from the movie 300 who was cheerful and whimsical until he had to go on a rite of passage, fight tigers and survive alone -only to return jaded

[aro1419]

Everyone stop being so cynical and whiney. Although it was previously stated that we would be hearing some big news today, the fact that the news was going to come today was never certain, nor will it ever be for any project in the future. For now, we can only optimistically wait for this news to come in the near future, as the eminence of this news seems to be probable. Until then, we still have the dozens of other mid to large scale projects that are under construction, approved, proposed etc. to look forward to and discuss.

[josef]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I'm pretty confident they aren't building a red box with a 150 foot question mark on the side of it.

Hilarious.

[acenturi]

Originally Posted by relnahe

More like 1 hour.

When you can get from 30th St to Penn Station on Amtrak in 1.0 Hours, Philly will have two 1500 Ft Talls. 1.2 hours = 1 Hour and 12 minutes. Now if Amtrak's "Dream" for the NE Corridor ever gets funded, we MAY see 62 minutes by 2020-2025.

[relnahe]

Originally Posted by acenturi

When you can get from 30th St to Penn Station on Amtrak in 1.0 Hours, Philly will have two 1500 Ft Talls. 1.2 hours = 1 Hour and 12 minutes. Now if Amtrak's "Dream" for the NE Corridor ever gets funded, we MAY see 62 minutes by 2020-2025.

Well then Acela stinks then. I've taken the regular amtrak train from 30th st to Penn in about 80 minutes. The Eurostar train that goes through France and England goes about 186mph. If they had that here (and a new rail that ran through Jersey straight through instead of North Philly) it would be 25-30 minutes between 30th and Penn.

[ILovePhilly]

Originally Posted by relnahe

Well then Acela stinks then. I've taken the regular amtrak train from 30th st to Penn in about 80 minutes. The Eurostar train that goes through France and England goes about 186mph. If they had that here (and a new rail that ran through Jersey straight through instead of North Philly) it would be 25-30 minutes between 30th and Penn.

Acela's time PHL-NYP is about 72 minutes, sometimes a little faster. The PHL-NYP segment is where the Acela has the least time advantage because there are so few places where the Acela can really pick up speed vs a Regional and because even the Acela has to make so many stops.

IF high speed rail is going to stick to the existing corridor then given physical constraints true European style HSR could do the PHL-NYP trip in 45ish. You can only get below that range if you deviate from the existing alignment (curves near Philly, maybe Market East not 30th Street, completely separate tunnels into New York City, stuff like that). Then the question is, how much are those additional 15 minutes worth?

And so you know Amtrak is currently working to get Trenton-Elizabeth up to 160 mph which could cut another 5-10 minutes off existing trip times. Pretty good, eh?

In terms of rail NOTHING would do more to advance the cause for high speed rail than some of America's largest companies having interests in New York and Philadelphia (and Washington). Because once corporations want something the Congress is willing to listen.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by ILovePhilly

Acela's time PHL-NYP is about 72 minutes, sometimes a little faster. The PHL-NYP segment is where the Acela has the least time advantage because there are so few places where the Acela can really pick up speed vs a Regional and because even the Acela has to make so many stops.

IF high speed rail is going to stick to the existing corridor then given physical constraints true European style HSR could do the PHL-NYP trip in 45ish. You can only get below that range if you deviate from the existing alignment (curves near Philly, maybe Market East not 30th Street, completely separate tunnels into New York City, stuff like that). Then the question is, how much are those additional 15 minutes worth?

And so you know Amtrak is currently working to get Trenton-Elizabeth up to 160 mph which could cut another 5-10 minutes off existing trip times. Pretty good, eh?

In terms of rail NOTHING would do more to advance the cause for high speed rail than some of America's largest companies having interests in New York and Philadelphia (and Washington). Because once corporations want something the Congress is willing to listen.

Philly video on Philly.com

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Philly_is_Ugly.html

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by relnahe

Well then Acela stinks then. I've taken the regular amtrak train from 30th st to Penn in about 80 minutes. The Eurostar train that goes through France and England goes about 186mph. If they had that here (and a new rail that ran through Jersey straight through instead of North Philly) it would be 25-30 minutes between 30th and Penn.

The NEC between 30th St. and NYP is actually almost HSR standard, from a track geometry perspective, between Frankford Jct. and Newark, with a single curve at Metuchen restricting the speed limit. The key actually lies in the electrical end of things: the catenary needs to be constant-tension because of contact and wave-propagation issues once you pass the 110 mph mark, and that is what is currently driving speed limits in a surprisingly large chunk of the ex-PRR NEC.

[Nightman]

The last couple paragraphs of this article are interesting. I was shocked to hear that Brandywine Realty trust owns 4 delaware riverfront parcels/piers, however according to them they are not cost effective to develop yet.

http://planphilly.com/articles/2013/09/11/developers-discuss-transit-trends-impact-on-development

[palvar]

Originally Posted by ILovePhilly

In terms of rail NOTHING would do more to advance the cause for high speed rail than some of America's largest companies having interests in New York and Philadelphia (and Washington). Because once corporations want something the Congress is willing to listen.

I love trains as much as the next guy, but my friends who visit from New York always take Bolt Bus/Megabus. They complain that Amtrak is too expensive, rather than too slow. Could Amtrak focus instead on reducing its ticket prices?

[Jelly Roll]

Originally Posted by palvar

I love trains as much as the next guy, but my friends who visit from New York always take Bolt Bus/Megabus. They complain that Amtrak is too expensive, rather than too slow. Could Amtrak focus instead on reducing its ticket prices?

Amtrak won't lower the prices as that route subsidizes other routes throughout the country.