PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[Pennsgrant]

Originally Posted by summersm343

You're beginning to piss me off lol. Must you complain about the height of everything? There is still PLENTY of developable land in University City for more height.

Any developer with a ounce of vison/long term outlook goes 25 stories there. That is a first class dud right there my friends.

Construction begins on IPAC,Where Boyd Theater Once Stood

http://weeklypress.com/index1.htm

[relnahe]

Originally Posted by summersm343

You're beginning to piss me off lol. Must you complain about the height of everything? There is still PLENTY of developable land in University City for more height.

I'm pretty sure he was joking.

[bucks native]

Construction to begin on $10M apartment project in Brewerytown

with render: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...0m-apartment-project-in-brewerytown.html

Natalie Kostelni
Reporter- Philadelphia Business Journal

A roughly $10 million apartment community called 31 Brewerytown on an acre at N. 31st Street at West Thompson Street. The site is bordered by Fairmount Park.

It will have two four-story buildings and a total of 64 units. The apartments will range from 662 square feet to 1,225 square feet and monthly rents will start at $1,200. Some will have garages. Construction will start next week.

[domodeez]

I guess I'm already in the minority on here but I like this design.

I love it. DIGSAU does incredible work. I find that I really like almost all of their projects. This newest rendering is a bit different from the original rendering they did, but I still, you know, DIG it.

I like this too! Huge improvement over what is currently there. Now if they can only develop the two surface parking lots on this block with midrises/highrises

Penn owns the surface parking lot and the parking garage structure on the western half of this block. I don't believe they're in any hurry to move on those. Pretty sure Penn also has the surface lot immediately west of the hotel site.

[mmikeyphilly]

Maybe a little off topic, but on the Channel 6 News tonight there was a reporter at the scene where the ugliest garage in the city had a HUGE chunk of concrete fall off of it and smashed to the sidewalk. Fortunately, no one was hurt or even worse, (crushed to death).....so these residents need to be busy getting after the owner instead of trying to be too Nimbyfied(if that's a word?)with other projects other than their own domain.

Hint, hint, it's right near 1900 Arch St, and it's the JFK House! (OH NO!)

[Plokoon11]

Maybe its karma.

[AlexG]

Looks like the Divine Lorraine redevelopment can finally move forward. Huge news!

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140503_New_hope_-_and_funding_-_for_Divine_Lorraine.html

[domodeez]

Penn's Hill Field College House is coming along.

Looking south, this is the west side of the future dorm along 3300 Chestnut.


This is the east side of the dorm, across the street from Drexel's new (awesomer) Chestnut Square dorm:

[Muji]

I also like the 33rd and Chestnut design. DIGSAU already had a great hit with the Sister Cities Park cafe, so I'm happy to see them getting another major project in Philadelphia. Who would've believed 5 years ago that 33rd and Chestnut would become one of UCity's hottest intersections so quickly?

[cubanChris]

Originally Posted by domodeez

I love it. DIGSAU does incredible work. I find that I really like almost all of their projects. This newest rendering is a bit different from the original rendering they did, but I still, you know, DIG it.



Penn owns the surface parking lot and the parking garage structure on the western half of this block. I don't believe they're in any hurry to move on those. Pretty sure Penn also has the surface lot immediately west of the hotel site.

100% with you on the Drexel Hotel project. DIGSAU is a talented bunch that have a keen eye for detail. Eager to see this one break ground on a corner that couldnt be more different than it was when I went to school there =)

[Cro Burnham]

I like the Drexel hotel design too.

But that jawn needs to be at least 10,000 feet high. Why don't these people have any god damn vision? They could easily fill 15,000 rooms per night at that location.

Ralnahe, i'm dead fuckin' serious, in case you were wondering.

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by Pennsgrant

Construction begins on IPAC,Where Boyd Theater Once Stood

http://weeklypress.com/index1.htm

See, what they need to do here is build the world's tallest multiplex. Three theaters per double height floor, 20 floors, 60 theaters, 500 feet tall minimum.

Only a pussy with no vision or concave balls would build a foot less. At this location? C'mon.

[philatonian]

Originally Posted by summersm343

It doesn't even need to be that extravagent. Even something as simple as capping the holes over 676 from 10th Street to 22nd street with green space similar to what was done in Boston:

example here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Boston...!1s0x89e3652d0d3d311b:0x787cbf240162e8a0

This would more than suffice

I was thinking, if Vine Street was lined with tall buildings, even midrises, the expressway wouldn't be nearly as noticeable. There's a really similar highway that runs through Portland, but because there's so much development on both sides, you kind of forget it's there. I think the problem with 676 has as much to do with Vine Street itself as it does the highway. Maybe if we get more infill like the Mormon apartment building and (hopefully) the Chinatown Tower we'll forget the expressway was ever an obstacle.

[japmes]

Urgent help needed. Greene Towne Montessori School, located at 22nd and Arch, suffered severe flooding in the storm last week. They are in urgent need of short-term temporary space for their toddler kids. They need about 2000 sq ft in the Logan Square/West CC area. Looking for ideas/leads/contacts. Thank you.

[hammersklavier]

Mappy, while that's not a bad idea per se it has the significant disadvantage of doubling down on the traffic clusterf**k that is Logan Circle. The area west of Broad also has quite a lot of green space already--most of it unused--so I am wary of proposing a green space solution unless there isn't a good way of implemented a more development-oriented one.

http://philadelphia2050.blogspot.com/2011/11/expressway-caps.html
http://philadelphia2050.blogspot.com/2014/03/capping-vine-redux.html

Originally Posted by summersm343

It doesn't even need to be that extravagent. Even something as simple as capping the holes over 676 from 10th Street to 22nd street with green space similar to what was done in Boston:

example here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Boston...!1s0x89e3652d0d3d311b:0x787cbf240162e8a0

This would more than suffice

http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/04/they-made-desert-and-called-it-park.html

P.S. There is now an awesome pop-up park at South and Grays Ferry. I should know, because me and SOSNA and This Old City staff helped put it together.

[philatonian]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

Mappy, while that's not a bad idea per se it has the significant disadvantage of doubling down on the traffic clusterf**k that is Logan Circle. The area west of Broad also has quite a lot of green space already--most of it unused--so I am wary of proposing a green space solution unless there isn't a good way of implemented a more development-oriented one.

http://philadelphia2050.blogspot.com/2011/11/expressway-caps.html
http://philadelphia2050.blogspot.com/2014/03/capping-vine-redux.html

http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/04/they-made-desert-and-called-it-park.html

P.S. There is now an awesome pop-up park at South and Grays Ferry. I should know, because me and SOSNA and This Old City staff helped put it together.

I think mappy's design for Logan Square and the Parkway would be an attempt to slow down traffic, making the Parkway more on par with the National Mall than a fast-paced route out of town. It would certainly slow down traffic and ease the transition from the Parkway to Eakins Oval and Kelly Drive. Also, getting rid of that traffic would make the unused park space more inviting.

Two problems though. One, that traffic has to go somewhere. Maybe it would go to Spring Garden. But the second problem is that the city has already attempted to address the fast paced traffic by cutting down the Parkway's outer lanes to one lane, with one for parking. You'd be sending four lanes of traffic to one very slow street.

Again, I think it would be to be great, and deterring thru traffic would make the Parkway and Logan Square a real park instead of just a landscaped highway. But a lot of factors would need to be considered and addressed.

I know it's not as exciting to think about, but the traffic headaches on the Parkway and Kelly Drive exist because of problems with the highways leading to the suburbs. Both the Parkway and Kelly Drive should be slow moving thoroughfares for tourists and Sunday Drivers. The reason they're driven like a highway - and so dangerous and thusly unappealing to recreationalists - is because people use them as an alternative to real highways that suck. If the Schuylkill Expressway was eight lanes, fairly straight, and moved like it should, the Parkway and Kelly Drive would be the leisurely drives they should be and lanes could be cut for more green.

Better yet, here's a fun idea: throw out the Reading Viaduct Park and run a highspeed line from the Convention Center to KOP - not a regional rail, but a fast moving subway/el line with stops at Broad, Rodin, the Art Museum, Zoo, Manayunk, Conshohocken, and KOP. Dare to dream, Punchie, dare to dream.

[hammersklavier]

I would daresay that many of the Parkway's problems would be solved by rerouting the various traffic streams it acts as a funnel for, and that would need to happen up at Eakins Oval. I worked out a scheme a long time ago for a comprehensive rerouting of the traffic system, which principally involved:

1. Shifting Kelly Drive traffic onto Fairmount and Pennsylvania Avenues, to sponge into the grid;
2. Directly connecting West River Drive into Schuylkill Ave. (also acts as a relief valve for 30th Street);
3. Reclaiming Logan Square from Logan Circle, and closing the Parkway to all traffic south of it; and
4. Redesign of Eakins Oval to emphasize a role as Fairmount Park gateway.

(The latter would go along with upzoning of the underutilized "green" parcels between Logan and Eakins.)

Fairmount can actually handle a bit more traffic east to Broad than it currently does, and I would propose rerouting Kelly Drive to terminate at the Anne d'Harnoncourt intersection (the one with the gilt equestrian statue). The current Kelly Drive roadbed would be returned to park space. Most traffic is shifted onto Pennsylvania Avenue and from there onto firstly Spring Garden and secondly 21st St. The upper Parkway becomes a far more sedate boulevard, which I would have feeding into 20th N-S and Race E, and being fed from Vine. A bike route can then be run down the wholly-pedestrianized lower Parkway, and the remaining scraps of adjoining green space (*cough* Blanche Levy Park *cough*) can then be developed.

But you'll notice that to do that the heavy lifting consists of unplugging Eakins Oval to the point that it is solely accessible via Spring Garden.

[philatonian]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

I would daresay that many of the Parkway's problems would be solved by rerouting the various traffic streams it acts as a funnel for, and that would need to happen up at Eakins Oval. I worked out a scheme a long time ago for a comprehensive rerouting of the traffic system, which principally involved:

1. Shifting Kelly Drive traffic onto Fairmount and Pennsylvania Avenues, to sponge into the grid;
2. Directly connecting West River Drive into Schuylkill Ave. (also acts as a relief valve for 30th Street);
3. Reclaiming Logan Square from Logan Circle, and closing the Parkway to all traffic south of it; and
4. Redesign of Eakins Oval to emphasize a role as Fairmount Park gateway.

(The latter would go along with upzoning of the underutilized "green" parcels between Logan and Eakins.)

Fairmount can actually handle a bit more traffic east to Broad than it currently does, and I would propose rerouting Kelly Drive to terminate at the Anne d'Harnoncourt intersection (the one with the gilt equestrian statue). The current Kelly Drive roadbed would be returned to park space. Most traffic is shifted onto Pennsylvania Avenue and from there onto firstly Spring Garden and secondly 21st St. The upper Parkway becomes a far more sedate boulevard, which I would have feeding into 20th N-S and Race E, and being fed from Vine. A bike route can then be run down the wholly-pedestrianized lower Parkway, and the remaining scraps of adjoining green space (*cough* Blanche Levy Park *cough*) can then be developed.

But you'll notice that to do that the heavy lifting consists of unplugging Eakins Oval to the point that it is solely accessible via Spring Garden.

I really like your redesigned Eakins Oval and closing the Parkway to traffic between Logan Square and City Hall.

I think most of the problem with the Parkway and Kelly Drive, and the others you brought up, is they were all designed for early 20th Century traffic at a time when KOP was farmland. It's never going to get better until it no longer serves as an alternative to the Schuylkill Expressway.

I don't mind keeping Kelly Drive open to traffic, I just think it needs some relief and control. I mentioned on PhiladelphiaSpeaks a botched attempt to walk to the zoo from Center City. It really could be a nice quick walk from Boathouse Row, but when you get to Girard there's no way to get to the bridge without darting blindly across Kelly Drive. A few pedestrian stoplights would slow people down, and if 76 could handle all of the traffic, Kelly Drive could even be widdled down to one lane in each direction.

A stoplight isn't the kind of glamorous thing people talk about on here, but it would make it so easy to get to the Zoo. As crazy popular as the Schuylkill River Trail is in the summer, it would get so many people across the river, even into Parkside and Centennial Park. That's money. I've always found it so weird that the Zoo is an island in such a crappy neighborhood so geographically close to the action.

[mPhilly]

I think East Falls and half of Roxborough and Manayunk would all collectively sh** a brick if you proposed anything involving getting rid of Kelly Drive. And I wouldn't blame them. Expand 76, everybody knows it needs to be done, but it would cost a fortune. No unnecessary stop lights on Kelly Drive until 76 is expanded.

[philatonian]

Originally Posted by mPhilly

I think East Falls and half of Roxborough and Manayunk would all collectively sh** a brick if you proposed anything involving getting rid of Kelly Drive. And I wouldn't blame them. Expand 76, everybody knows it needs to be done, but it would cost a fortune. No unnecessary stop lights on Kelly Drive until 76 is expanded.

I wouldn't want to get rid of Kelly Drive unless it became as irrelevant as Forbidden Drive. Still, I don't think a stoplight at Girard would be unnecessary. People dart across the drive all the time and there's a street there with a blind spot caused by the rock-tunnel. It wouldn't impact traffic anymore than the stoplight by Strawberry Mansion. I could even slow traffic to its 35MPH speed limit to help keep it from bottlenecking down the road. The problem is that it's used as an alternative to 76 by residents in the NW and it's not supposed to be a highway.