PHILADELPHIA | W Hotel & Element by Westin | 617 FT | 51 FLOORS

[1487]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Yes, but this is sadly impeded by Philadelphia's hostile business climate and tax and other policies that discourage business. Nearly half of all working Philadelphians commute to the suburbs for work. Driving is a necessity for many. If there were more jobs and more companies located their headquarters in the city, less people would feel the need to have cars. Hope is not lost. There are some positive proposals to improve the Philadelphia business climate.

With respect to the W, most of the work so far seems to be drilling of the wall where the scaffolding is. What is it they are doing exactly?

There are multiple reasons why people have cars within the city limits. Access to suburban jobs is only one of them. Many thousands of people (myself included) live within the city limits and use SEPTA but still have a vehicle. Outside of center city its a hassle to get all the things you need without access to a vehicle. This is especially true in NE and NW Philly as well as inner city areas that have a dearth of basic retail amenties and grocery stores. The good thing about being in the city and having access to a great transit system is that many people can get by without having one car per adult which is something that is almost impossible to say in the suburbs.

[1487]

Originally Posted by philatonian

The way I see it, Boomers are retiring now and I have to imagine they make up the largest proportion of commuters. Gen X was more willing to live downtown, and Millennials want nothing to do with the suburbs unless they live in their parents basement in NJ.

The suburbs aren't gonna die anytime soon, but I think we're going to see residential urban growth soon exceed suburban growth. The city could certainly speed things along by making it a little easier to do business here, but I think things are changing with or without City Hall.

People continue to repeat the same old tropes about the city being anti-government in spite of the fact that the trends are pointing the other way. You can look at the stream of companies moving here or setting up offices here, the vacancy rate that is lower than the suburbs, the overal # of jobs in the city (which is increasing) or the expansion of comcast. These things dont happen in a vacuum and whether people know it or not there is often a lot of coordination behind the scenes to attract these firms or get them to expand. The reality is that there isnt a lot of growth in the PA suburbs and there is very little out migration of jobs from Philly to the suburbs UNLESS a huge tax break is involved (think Sixers). As for more "better" tax structure- there is no free lunch. You are going to make someone unhappy if you enact a major reduction or restructuring of the tax system. And as with many things that affect this city, Harrisburg plays a key role in allowing Philadelphia to make any real change. We will see if the capital cooperates with this proposed tax change being pushed by Levy and others but typically Philly is only helped if its willing to cede something to Harriburg in exchange.

[thisisforreal]

Crews are working this morning. I hear jackhammers. Took a picture but it didn't show anything though. I'll keep monitoring this morning and post anything of value.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by 1487

There are multiple reasons why people have cars within the city limits. Access to suburban jobs is only one of them. Many thousands of people (myself included) live within the city limits and use SEPTA but still have a vehicle. Outside of center city its a hassle to get all the things you need without access to a vehicle. This is especially true in NE and NW Philly as well as inner city areas that have a dearth of basic retail amenties and grocery stores. The good thing about being in the city and having access to a great transit system is that many people can get by without having one car per adult which is something that is almost impossible to say in the suburbs.

Ugh. Not getting into a debate or even discussing this further on this thread. Let's just stop.

Thinking on it, it might be good to have an 'off-topic' or general 'development related' thread on which people could discuss tax policy and other issues that impact development. But that are not project-specific or directly focused on building/construction. Something for the mods to think about.

EDIT: actually nothing really offensive about this post. Just sort a knee-jerk reaction I had. But my thought on an off-topic thread still stands.

[1487]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Ugh. Not getting into a debate or even discussing this further on this thread. Let's just stop.

Thinking on it, it might be good to have an 'off-topic' or general 'development related' thread on which people could discuss tax policy and other issues that impact development. But that are not project-specific or directly focused on building/construction. Something for the mods to think about.

EDIT: actually nothing really offensive about this post. Just sort a knee-jerk reaction I had. But my thought on an off-topic thread still stands.

Thats all well and good, but many people are under the false impression that the development and pace of change in the city was inevitable and it has nothing to do with policies or leadership by various individuals/depts within local government. I think the head of CHOP said it doesnt matter who becomes mayor because all they need is for CH to stay out of the way while the hospitals and colleges and nonprofits run the city. That's an incredibly naive and shortsighted attitude.

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Ugh. Not getting into a debate or even discussing this further on this thread. Let's just stop.

Shhhh. No feeding. And definitely don't mention the word "Wendy's".

[MikeNigh]

That corner is considerably better now that the wendys moved...

[MetroSplash]

Parking lot says "Buh Bye"!

[MikeNigh]

[summersm343]

Update from Building Philly. Surface lot is gone suckas!



More photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/BuildingPhilly

[MetroSplash]

There's been a great deal of talk on this thread as to why construction of the W was being held up. I'd like to float a theory. Driving up 15th street every day after work (yes, I'm a city dweller working in the god forsaken suburbs), the traffic has been horrible because the Avenir project has had the right lane of 15th closed off for the better part of a year. It might be a coincidence, but about a week ago the Avenir project opened that lane of traffic up and almost immediately, the left hand lane was closed and the traffic lanes were repainted for the W project. Could it be that the city would not allow both the Avenir and the W to close lanes of traffic simultaneously? Being that 15th is the busiest street in CC, doing so would have been absolutely insane (we're talking Chris Christy bridge lane closing crazy.). Just a thought, but could the delays have been simply caused by which company got permits to close lanes first?

Just a thought.

[summersm343]

[MetroSplash]

Whoops, I double posted. Sorry

[MikeNigh]

Originally Posted by MetroSplash

There's been a great deal of talk on this thread as to why construction of the W was being held up. I'd like to float a theory. Driving up 15th street every day after work (yes, I'm a city dweller working in the god forsaken suburbs), the traffic has been horrible because the Avenir project has had the right lane of 15th closed off for the better part of a year. It might be a coincidence, but about a week ago the Avenir project opened that lane of traffic up and almost immediately, the left hand lane was closed and the traffic lanes were repainted for the W project. Could it be that the city would not allow both the Avenir and the W to close lanes of traffic simultaneously? Being that 15th is the busiest street in CC, doing so would have been absolutely insane (we're talking Chris Christy bridge lane closing crazy.). Just a thought, but could the delays have been simply caused by which company got permits to close lanes first?

Just a thought.

That makes sense, the W might have been held up by the Avenir.

[1487]

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

That corner is considerably better now that the wendys moved...

Id say its much better since they took down the scaffolding for the Avenir. That was a nightmare for such a heavily travelled section of sidewalk.

[Cro Burnham]

[MetroSplash]

Originally Posted by 1487

Id say its much better since they took down the scaffolding for the Avenir. That was a nightmare for such a heavily travelled section of sidewalk.

And I think they did a fantastic job rebuilding that first story facade. It really looks great.

Now about that Eternity Fashion and dollar store across the street.......

[Lincolndrive]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

With respect to the W, most of the work so far seems to be drilling of the wall where the scaffolding is. What is it they are doing exactly?

I'm no engineer but I would have to assume they are making sure the older building and rotunda doesn't collapse during site prep and construction. They are probably figuring out ways to reinforce it. When they originally were digging down in that area I can only imagine they were trying to figure out how stable it was, which I believe proved to be the issue which delayed site prep.

[loves development]

Originally Posted by Lincolndrive

I'm no engineer but I would have to assume they are making sure the older building and rotunda doesn't collapse during site prep and construction. They are probably figuring out ways to reinforce it. When they originally were digging down in that area I can only imagine they were trying to figure out how stable it was, which I believe proved to be the issue which delayed site prep.

- there is a basement and sub-basement on the east side of the lot next to the dome.

there are also underground tunnels that connect the dome, the ritz hotel and the W hotel site together

[Cro Burnham]

We know there is no lovefest going on between Lenfest and Craig Spencer. Perhaps Spencer has threatened to sue Brook to kingdom come if the tiniest damage occurs at the Ritz.