PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[PhiLaw]

Originally Posted by josef

I wanna see them go artsy with it. Put 200 rats on Market Street. It can be an outdoor art installation. Keep it for the summer; close off the street, the horticultural society can put a beer garden in the middle of it all.

I wonder if John Doherty, with his new-found affinity for the free-market (see Your recent blog post), is feeling a bit conflicted right now.

[Outta here]

Originally Posted by domodeez

Look for a public feedback meeting to held in May or June. It's moving forward.

This is the kind of project that emulates a class act . Why something of this progressiveness hasn't come to pass is unfathomable ..... Sorry but I just had to get that off my chest . And not to take up more space but , is there any more info on the Pearl Properties 25/26 story high rise at 19th & Chestnut ??

[josef]

Originally Posted by PhiLaw

I wonder if John Doherty, with his new-found affinity for the free-market (see Your recent blog post), is feeling a bit conflicted right now.

Ha! Topical. I suspect Johnny Doc is for whatever gets him power at that exact instant. I'm sure cognitive dissonance ain't nothin for that guy.

[Londonee]

Installation of new Aramark sign, pardon the Gingham:

[BuildItBigger]

^ Nice shirt......I mean shot!

[Philly Fan]

^ Oppa Gingham Style!

[Baconboy007]

And so it begins

[josef]

Originally Posted by philly fan

^ oppa gingham style!

+1

Also, that rat is pathetic. Clearly unions' greatest downfall is their lack of understanding about urban density and scale.

Bring on the rat garden.

[EastSideHBG]

Trying to bring more 'green' to Bainbridge Street

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140507_Trying_to_bring_more__Green__to_Bainbridge_Street.html

[josef]

UNIQLO will eventually open in 1608 Chestnut, the Arts Institute building.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/style...res-in-Philadelphia-area-this-year-.html

[McBane]

The unions are really out of touch. That whole rat thing, what a joke. I would guess that the average person walking by thinks, "gee this place pissed off the unions...good for them!"

It's a shame b/c unions do a lot of good. But stunts like this really create a lot of hostility towards unions, which is well deserved in my opinion.

The tide does seem to be slowly turning. First Goldtext, then the closing of that union loophole in harrassment cases, and now this.

[PhiLaw]

Originally Posted by McBane

The unions are really out of touch. That whole rat thing, what a joke. I would guess that the average person walking by thinks, "gee this place pissed off the unions...good for them!"

It's a shame b/c unions do a lot of good. But stunts like this really create a lot of hostility towards unions, which is well deserved in my opinion.

The tide does seem to be slowly turning. First Goldtext, then the closing of that union loophole in harrassment cases, and now this.

Not to start a protracted debate, but Unions do not do a lot of good at the moment. They keep people with lower skills unemployed, suck investment capital from companies, raise the marginal cost of goods and services, and make US industry less competitive.

[philatonian]

Originally Posted by Mappy

The crux of the idea is basically what you are saying there - plus creating a greenway that feels like a continuation of the Ben Franklin Parkway from the street level, while also adding the amenities and built-in population that it lacks (flanking Vine Street).

It is essentially the same concept as the Penn's Landing redevelopment applied in a different location. Meaning; cover the highway to expand the recreation and tourism, while better connecting the newly desirable development sites to the city at large. One feeds the other.

.. I didnt really think the greenway design was really "extravagant" at all! I thought people might balk at how plain most of it would be (half the caps are essentially giant planters with no pedestrian access, just an elevated trail/bridge running above it.) I thought that might provide for a reclusive feel on parts of the trail where the trail is floating in full growth vegetation that blocks out the site noise and imposing build environment. But then the trail would slope back down to ground level plazas with city view/access and amenities on every other cap.

The elevated path could be at ground level the entire way, if that would be more simple... But then the continuous running/biking paths of the Schuylkill/ Parkway and the Viaduct trail would have a disjointed connected (stopping at 9 cross-streets). And a major motivation to designing this greenway was to make that uninterrupted connection so that the City Line would not be (misguidedly) used for it.

I love the notion of a congruous greenway from the Parkway to Vine Street. In fact that space already carries into the Schuylkill Banks and Fairmount Park, and could carry on to Penn's Landing.

I was thinking (dreaming) more about the potential built surroundings. If you took out one lane of traffic on Vine Street, the buildings surrounding it could be even taller, especially if you took out the aging rowhouses and parking lots between 11th and Broad. Granted, you'd have to tear down my house in the process, but (strictly daydreaming here), imagine a Vine Street that looks like a narrow Sheikh Zeyed Highway...with your greenway running down the middle.

[Philly-Drew]

In the last 40 years most unions have hurt Philadelphia, and have driven business away from Philadelphia. It just isn't fair.

[bucks native]

I've been waiting for someone here to note that the Divine Lorraine conversion has funding. Did I miss that?

http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-04/ne...raine-eric-blumenfeld-north-broad-street

The apartments, meanwhile, would rent for an average of $1,400 and be "charming . . . with nooks and crannies and balconies."

Procida sees the North Broad Street corridor as a turnaround waiting to happen. "If there was ever a great real estate investment opportunity since Tribeca, the Meatpacking District, South Bronx and Harlem," he said, "it's definitely Philly."

[techchallenger]

Originally Posted by PhiLaw

Not to start a protracted debate, but Unions do not do a lot of good at the moment. They keep people with lower skills unemployed, suck investment capital from companies, raise the marginal cost of goods and services, and make US industry less competitive.

RE: "lower skills"

Would you sign a lease to live in a high rise built or overhauled by non-union labor? I wouldn't.

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by techchallenger

RE: "lower skills"

Would you sign a lease to live in a high rise built or overhauled by non-union labor? I wouldn't.

I'm not anti-union in general, but the Philadelphia building trades and public worker unions are largely short-sighted and pigheaded.

Having said that, sure I would live in such a high rise. I'm sure the Goldtex is great, for example. To generalize that non-union built highrises are unsafe is as silly and ridiculous as saying that all unions are bad.

I wonder why so many people feel compelled to view this issue in extreme terms when it is obvious that it far more nuanced than that.

Unions are not evil.

Non-union buildings are not unsafe.

[skyscraper]

Originally Posted by techchallenger

RE: "lower skills"

Would you sign a lease to live in a high rise built or overhauled by non-union labor? I wouldn't.

The Empire State Building was built with non-union labor. I think it's held up pretty well.

[Outta here]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

I'm not anti-union in general, but the Philadelphia building trades and public worker unions are largely short-sighted and pigheaded.

Having said that, sure I would live in such a high rise. I'm sure the Goldtex is great, for example. To generalize that non-union built highrises are unsafe is as silly and ridiculous as saying that all unions are bad.

I wonder why so many people feel compelled to view this issue in extreme terms when it is obvious that it far more nuanced than that.

Unions are not evil.

Non-union buildings are not unsafe.

Thank you sir for your insightful , nuance repartee . And your avatar logo , is spot on .

[PhiLaw]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

I'm not anti-union in general, but the Philadelphia building trades and public worker unions are largely short-sighted and pigheaded.

Having said that, sure I would live in such a high rise. I'm sure the Goldtex is great, for example. To generalize that non-union built highrises are unsafe is as silly and ridiculous as saying that all unions are bad.

I wonder why so many people feel compelled to view this issue in extreme terms when it is obvious that it far more nuanced than that.

Unions are not evil.

Non-union buildings are not unsafe.

Nobody is arguing that unions are "Evil." That's hyperbole that you injected into the debate. I merely said that their activities result in harmful consequences for our local economy.

(1) By driving up the wages of a particular group above their level of productivity, they absorb most of the available capital. The more expensive labor becomes, the more it's worth it to replace labor with capital. Thus, capital is attracted to industries with unionized labor at the expense of the others. This results in less capital investment (and thus less productivity) for non-labor employees - which suppresses their wages.

(2) To the extent unionized industries do not find more efficiencies to make up for higher labor costs, the cost of the goods/services is elevated. This hurts both the consumers and the economy at large, putting us at a competitive disadvantage.

(3) Capital which would otherwise go to research and other investments gets sucked up by labor, stifling innovation and resulting in inferior goods services (See 1900 Arch

(4) Unions have a history of, and still do, keep people with less skills (usually minorities and immigrants) unemployed. They drive up the cost of labor (usually through arguing for a higher minimum wage), thereby making it illegal for an employer to hire lower skilled people at their level of productivity.

(5) I can go on and on.

Just because I abhor something you may feel nostalgic about, it doesn't mean it comes from a place of malice. I don't think their evil, it's just that the facts point to one conclusion - unions are bad for society.