PHILADELPHIA | The Development Thread VIII

[sayitaintso]

Just over looking at the new Evo and FMC drawings and they both seem to be undersized and not to scale. On another note why isn't city hall on the diagram page? Its gotta be in the top 10-15 tallest bldgs in the city?

[tsarstruck]

I think the "not building all of it" argument is damning against Market8, but I'm not so convinced how damning it is against Provence. Market8 would prohibit other development at the Disney Hole and, if built as a miserable shed, would harm Market East's inevitable revitalization. Provence is cut off by 676 ramps in one direction, disrupted to the south by Vine St, and surrounded by non-active uses like Hahnemann's, the School District building, etc. Even if Blatstein doesn't create the hotel (seemingly unlikely, right: what else would he do with the rest of the building so close to the convention center?) or the rooftop village (more likely), I don't buy the downside being as high as Market8 and the upside is much higher than the South Philly sites.

Sure, a downturn in demand would (will) hurt Blatstein's investment, but as far as I remember, the city and state's return is based on gambling revenue. If he loses his shirt, another investor will buy it at a discount, and the state and city will be no worse off.

[Plokoon11]

sayitaintso: I've noticed the same thing as well.

[Larry King]

Family court building to become offices? 1 tenant taking the whole building?

Anyone hear this rumor?

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Larry King

Family court building to become offices? 1 tenant taking the whole building?

Anyone hear this rumor?

Doubt it. I heard rumors of a possible 19 floor office building at 1528 Cherry Street (the parking lot behind 1515 Arch and next to the Family Court Building). Whatever you heard could of been a mix up with the Family Court Building. But it could be a possibility for 1528 Cherry for a tenant taking up an entire building. There are a few tenants in Philly searching for a lot of office space.

[Salonica city]

I think that officials should try anything and everything to get Wynn back for the remaining casino license. After reading Wynns future plan to bring back the grand hotels and exclusive services my opinion is that he is the only one the city should allow a second license too. Because otherwise,like someone already wrote urban casinos will only be a part of an everyday routine.So I think that there is room for one of the Wynnesk type properties here in the 95 corridor and that one should be in philadelphia so the right officials should contact Wynn and make this grand hotel happen. Otherwise we as a city would probably benefit if AC remains a player and the region could hang its hat on south jersey cause they are in our metro and employee a lot of Philadelphians. The one thing they need is Sports betting and after that it should be caped to Las Vegas and Atlantic city.

[Capsule F]

Wynn was always full of crap, he showed the exact same proposal in other cities. He was going to do a bait and switch like scum Sugarhouse did. If any good would come out of his proposal it would be that it might put Sugarhouse out of business, which is what they deserve for such a piece of garbage they put on the waterfront.

My two favorite proposals are Provence and Market 8...sadly its probably just best to have a casino near the stadiums though.

[ScreamShatter]

I’ve always been a fan of the Blatstein proposal. North Broad is a wasteland that starts to go downhill between the convention center and Vine st. Like it or hate it, Del Ave has started to clean-up and get more dynamic proposals and restaurants mainly due to a combination of spillover from NoLibs, Del Ave riverfront park proposals, and Sugarhouse. I believe if Blatstein’s proposal is truly geared towards a higher end crowd and resort-like amenities that its existence along with some other city projects could help make N Broad much more dynamic. It all depends on execution though. Years ago, no one would have ever thought his NoLib projects would be nearly as successful as they currently are, and I’m hoping this project could help spur growth and excitement on N.Broad.

[Jelly Roll]

La Salle University plans to build a $35 million, 78,000-square-foot, multitiered business school that will be wireless and allow students to interact with executives around the world 24 hours a day, officials said Tuesday.

Images and more information from Philly.com article http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20131113_LaSalle_to_build__35M_business_school.html

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Doubt it. I heard rumors of a possible 19 floor office building at 1528 Cherry Street (the parking lot behind 1515 Arch and next to the Family Court Building). Whatever you heard could of been a mix up with the Family Court Building. But it could be a possibility for 1528 Cherry for a tenant taking up an entire building. There are a few tenants in Philly searching for a lot of office space.

Ya the rumor seems odd but the building makes 0 sense as a hotel imo

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Larry King

Ya the rumor seems odd but the building makes 0 sense as a hotel imo

Ahhh you meant the old family court building on Vine Street? I got confused and thought you meant the new one under construction haha. It's possible it will becoming offices. I could see it being a government building though lol

I thought it made sense as a hotel though. Good location right on the Parkway.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Jelly Roll

La Salle University plans to build a $35 million, 78,000-square-foot, multitiered business school that will be wireless and allow students to interact with executives around the world 24 hours a day, officials said Tuesday.

Images and more information from Philly.com article http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20131113_LaSalle_to_build__35M_business_school.html

The business journal has another rendering. I think it looks good.

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...-salle-building-35m-business-school.html

[Cro Burnham]

Anybody notice:

1) Beneficial signage at top of 1818 Market Street

2) 6-story concrete-frame building going up on 1900 block on Spring Garden; nice in-fill

3) new JBJ Soul building at 15th & Fairmount is remarkably ugly

4) Toll Brothers building at 24th and South has a concrete frame - at least the first floor; hoping the whole building is concrete frame but guessing upper floors will be cheap-o stick-framing

5) South Star facade seems, unfortunately, to consist of putty-colored Dryvit foam panels (so CHEAP-O, Mr. Dranoff)

[PhiLaw]

Looks like the now-defunct Sole Food in the Loews Hotel will be reimagined (and renamed) way atop the building.

http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/forum/...ws-teases-big-changes-psfs-building.html

[PhiLaw]

Someone a while back asked what is going on at the Blue Cross building. I spoke with a manager of a REIT today and he told me to expect more ground-level improvements on East Market St. buildings. Apparently there is a huge amount of competition (landlord-side) for tenants on east market, which comports with speculation that a huge (Comcast) tower is imminent. Commerce Square did it this spring. Now Blue Cross, and I believe there is one more around 17th or 18th st doing the same thing.

Goods signs folks

[sayitaintso]

Originally Posted by PhiLaw

Someone a while back asked what is going on at the Blue Cross building. I spoke with a manager of a REIT today and he told me to expect more ground-level improvements on East Market St. buildings. Apparently there is a huge amount of competition (landlord-side) for tenants on east market, which comports with speculation that a huge (Comcast) tower is imminent. Commerce Square did it this spring. Now Blue Cross, and I believe there is one more around 17th or 18th st doing the same thing.

Goods signs folks

1601 and 1700.

Not sure how this "comports with speculation that a huge (Comcast) tower is imminent. " Is this a reference to the discontiguous( yes I just made up a word) 100,000sf around CC Comcast will take off the market? Not sure this relatively small blip in negative adsorption justifies these massive renovations.

BTW I do believe the announcement is close, but don't have anything at the minute to back it up.

[ILovePhilly]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

Anybody notice:

1) Beneficial signage at top of 1818 Market Street

Yes! I thought I was going insane!! I had just been talking to a friend who moved to Philadelphia about the new FMC building and I pointed out that, in general, Philadelphia doesn't DO marquee signage on buildings - it's part of our Quaker modesty heritage blah blah blah. The next day (maybe two weeks ago) I saw the Beneficial sign and thought "am I crazy? I interviewed in that building once, I think I would have remembered that." I see it every day on my walk to work. Thank you for letting me know I'm not crazy.

[Plokoon11]

Man I wonder when they are going to announce Comcast II, or whatever it is going to be. Its nice tho that we have the W, and FMC, and the in progress university City currently under construction.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Plokoon11

Man I wonder when they are going to announce Comcast II, or whatever it is going to be.

I've said this elsewhere, but THIS (on November 20th) would certainly be a great occasion for that:

It was Nov. 13, 1963, nine days before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, that Ralph J. Roberts, now 93 years old, purchased a 1,500-subscriber cable system in Tupelo, Miss., and two unbuilt Mississippi cable-TV franchises, in Laurel and West Point, for about $250,000. The legal papers were signed at a Philadelphia law firm on Chestnut Street.

Comcast won't celebrate the anniversary internally Wednesday because of a scheduling conflict. Instead it will be marked Nov. 20, when the corporation offers its 129,000 employees free breakfast or lunch. Executives will serve free breakfast at Ralph's Café in the company's Center City tower. Executives will participate in a live video broadcast via closed-circuit television from corporate offices in Philadelphia, the Silicon Valley, New York, and the Comcast-owned Telemundo studios in the Miami area.

http://articles.philly.com/2013-11-11/news/43889689_1_comcast-corp-other-cable-tv-companies-roberts

[theSisko]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

Wouldn't a 50th Anniversary celebration (on November 20th according to the Inquirer article, if memory serves) be an excellent occasion to announce a new tower?

Exactly. I'm with Philly Fan on this one. If an announcement is close, Nov. 20th would be an excellent day to reveal.....