PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Yes, I think that's a fair point. We should be hoping and striving for a retail component on most or all projects fronting a street like Walnut in Center City.

What the saturation point for retail/commercial business in a given neighborhood. As a resident of a neighborhood, I want my mix of restaurants, bars, dry cleaner, grocery store, retail clothing shops, gym. If I can get that all in a 4 or 5 block radius, I feel that completes a quintessential city living arrangement. Thoughts?

[MikeNigh]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

What the saturation point for retail/commercial business in a given neighborhood. As a resident of a neighborhood, I want my mix of restaurants, bars, dry cleaner, grocery store, retail clothing shops, gym. If I can get that all in a 4 or 5 block radius, I feel that completes a quintessential city living arrangement. Thoughts?

For a non core neighborhood yes. Otherwise core hoods have to cater to every imaginable use of street fronting real estate. Yoga, high end retail, theaters, museums, weird cat cafes, doctor's offices, studios, etc. The core ends when the rowhomes etc begin or otherwise stop building appropriately.

[McBane]

Originally Posted by Tlphila

Js I get what you're saying and agree in theory. I have no problem with all the townhouses being built, I like most of them (minus street facing garages and stucco etc). what I have issue with is them being built with no retail component on prime commercial streets. I just feel this kills the street energy that is attracting these affluent people to move to or stay in the city in the first place.

Bingo. Plenty of room for townhomes along Locust, Spruce, the small streets (Delancy, Panama, etc.) and the numbered streets below Walnut. Walnut needs to be reserved for mixed use. I think Walnut Street Estates is the minimum acceptable use for a commercial street.

And hey, new kid, don't tempt us with crazy stories about a supertall! LOL, if that's true, then that would be truly amazing. I think the new Comcast tower is decent but - at the risk of sounding very greedy - the fact that 1) it's roof height is shorter than the original Comcast; 2) it reaches 1,000 feet because of a spire; and 3) is "just" 59 floors (lowest floor count among all supertalls u/c), it kind of feels like the CITC isn't truly a supertall. Of course, all that is so very trivial. The tower itself, the height, the jobs, all good stuff. Please don't take my previous statement too seriously.

One last point regarding the CDR. I think it's great, but please tell me why we need a CDR AND a Planning Commission. I don't get why developers need a million hoops to jump thru. I imagine the differences are slight and so it doesn't make sense to me to have these redundant reviews. Combine that with community meetings, historical commission, art's commission, zoning board - it's just crazy. We really need to way to vet projects in a more streamlined fashion WITHOUT sacrificing design standards. Some of these bodies only make recommendations, so what's the point?

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by Macedonia is Greek

Hello to all on this forum. So Today at work I started talking to a customer of mine that happens to be a Foreman for pouring concrete cores, the technology they have is amazing he explains. His latest projects where at the summit , the part of FMC with all the steel structure and now has moved to the chop project . Really cool guy and easy to talk to . So I asked if has heard anything about Cira II and he said he found out a year ago . And I in turn asked him about details, like height and if his company would get the bid? So his response was that they where really hush because one of there goals was to build higher then Comcast and that was the reason they are so quite about details . Summers I want to ask you if you think there is any merit to this ? And if so when would we find out more details .

Wow that would be really cool

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Macedonia is Greek

Hello to all on this forum. So Today at work I started talking to a customer of mine that happens to be a Foreman for pouring concrete cores, the technology they have is amazing he explains. His latest projects where at the summit , the part of FMC with all the steel structure and now has moved to the chop project . Really cool guy and easy to talk to . So I asked if has heard anything about Cira II and he said he found out a year ago . And I in turn asked him about details, like height and if his company would get the bid? So his response was that they where really hush because one of there goals was to build higher then Comcast and that was the reason they are so quite about details . Summers I want to ask you if you think there is any merit to this ? And if so when would we find out more details .

Welcome to the forum! Unfortunately I am not able to say much more than I have already shared on this forum.

[Boku]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Welcome to the forum! Unfortunately I am not able to say much more than I have already shared on this forum.

We'll take that as a yes, ha ha.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Welcome to the forum! Unfortunately I am not able to say much more than I have already shared on this forum.

An exceedingly tantalizing "no comment!" What if I said that I heard (from a guy at NASA) that there's going to be a space elevator as part of the building.

[Williard Mouse]

Having spent last week in Chicago, I couldn't help but admire the degree of certitude and bravado displayed in the dozens of high-rise projects being developed in the Windy City. Returning to Philly, the projects on our Developments and General Developments forums pale in comparison. An all around lack of confidence seems to be the culprit.

[summersm343]

Spotted in Old City: 6-Story Condo Building Planned for Tucked-Away Lot
20-22 Bank Street - Bank Street and Elbow Lane







Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/property/2015/11/20/old-city-philadelphia-bank-street/#OvEjK0Yx7DQ4WQWD.99

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by Williard Mouse

Having spent last week in Chicago, I couldn't help but admire the degree of certitude and bravado displayed . . . in the Windy City. . . . . Philly . . . . pale in comparison. An all around lack of confidence seems to be the culprit.

That's been true at least since probably 1872.

Nothing new under the sun.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

That's been true at least since probably 1872.

Nothing new under the sun.

There are a ton of reasons, I'm sure -- social, economic, geographic. I'm not really sure how useful urban pop psychology is. Somebody forgot to tell the folks who planned City Hall to be the world's tallest that thy lacked confidence in 1871. I guess they lost it the following year. Philadelphia (and every other American city) is not New York or Chicago. My Volvo is not a Rolls. Whatever.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by Williard Mouse

Having spent last week in Chicago, I couldn't help but admire the degree of certitude and bravado displayed in the dozens of high-rise projects being developed in the Windy City. Returning to Philly, the projects on our Developments and General Developments forums pale in comparison. An all around lack of confidence seems to be the culprit.

It would help if we had a robust financial sector here in Philly. Part of the reason why our skyline doesn't look like Chicago or NYC. Unfortunately, Philly is not one of the major epicenter for stocks, bonds, or other derivative trading. And the collateral white collar office jobs associated with them.

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

It would help if we had a robust financial sector here in Philly. Part of the reason why our skyline doesn't look like Chicago or NYC. Unfortunately, Philly is not one of the major epicenter for stocks, bonds, or other derivative trading. And the collateral white collar office jobs associated with them.

I've put NYC and Chicago in a category all their own for North America a long time ago. Is what it is.

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by Williard Mouse

Having spent last week in Chicago, I couldn't help but admire the degree of certitude and bravado displayed in the dozens of high-rise projects being developed in the Windy City. Returning to Philly, the projects on our Developments and General Developments forums pale in comparison. An all around lack of confidence seems to be the culprit.

Needs more jobs in CC for more skyscrapers. I think in a lot of ways philly is a victim to how nice and desirable our suburbs are.

[SimCity2000]

Glad to have found somewhere else to talk about Philadelphia’s growth and skyline. I thought I was the only one weirdly obsessed with skyline’s my entire life, and now I have found there are other people just like me !!!

One of my bias interests is the Penns Landing Waterfront development and surrounding areas (since I live there). When I moved here about 6 years ago, I used to say my neighborhood was Old City, now I can say Penns Landing – and people understand. Penns Landing has become a new hood, between the dog parks, LaPeg/Fringe Arts theater, a new convenient deli, race street pier, and morgans Pier – there is some local life now. Obviously you all know about the 2 high-rise condo’s going up on Columbus Blvd and Race St (The Bridge and 1 Water Street is what they are called??).

I haven’t seen much discussion about a real estate group buying Festival Pier on the river? I understand Cecil Baker is putting a 500 unit building with retail.. Anyone know anything more?

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by SimCity2000

I haven’t seen much discussion about a real estate group buying Festival Pier on the river? I understand Cecil Baker is putting a 500 unit building with retail.. Anyone know anything more?

Go back to October 28-30 on this thread (pages 463-464) and you'll see some discussion. There is not a dedicated thread for it yet. FYI, you can search terms by post, which is how I found them (I would never have remembered when the discussion had happened on my own).

[acenturi]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

It would help if we had a robust financial sector here in Philly. Part of the reason why our skyline doesn't look like Chicago or NYC. Unfortunately, Philly is not one of the major epicenter for stocks, bonds, or other derivative trading. And the collateral white collar office jobs associated with them.

I'm not certain this poster is talking about "numbers", but the typical "negadelphian" attitude of Philadelphians. If you review the Under Construction threads, Philly is actually somewhat ahead of Chicago in both numbers and sizes. It's interesting how, in this and many other internet Forums, a negadelphian comment frequently seems to create a mountain of supporting negadelphian comments, rather than rebuttals. Philadelphians need to be much more defensive and positive about their city and maybe take a lesson from Pittsburghers.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by SimCity2000

Glad to have found somewhere else to talk about Philadelphia’s growth and skyline. I thought I was the only one weirdly obsessed with skyline’s my entire life, and now I have found there are other people just like me !!!

One of my bias interests is the Penns Landing Waterfront development and surrounding areas (since I live there). When I moved here about 6 years ago, I used to say my neighborhood was Old City, now I can say Penns Landing – and people understand. Penns Landing has become a new hood, between the dog parks, LaPeg/Fringe Arts theater, a new convenient deli, race street pier, and morgans Pier – there is some local life now. Obviously you all know about the 2 high-rise condo’s going up on Columbus Blvd and Race St (The Bridge and 1 Water Street is what they are called??).

I haven’t seen much discussion about a real estate group buying Festival Pier on the river? I understand Cecil Baker is putting a 500 unit building with retail.. Anyone know anything more?

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for joining

There was some discussion on it about a month back. I don't think it will be highrise. An article noted 5 or 6 floors with ground floor retail and an extension of Spring Garden street onto the lot with public/green space. Sounds like a nice development although not too tall.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by acenturi

I'm not certain this poster is talking about "numbers", but the typical "negadelphian" attitude of Philadelphians. If you review the Under Construction threads, Philly is actually somewhat ahead of Chicago in both numbers and sizes. It's interesting how, in this and many other internet Forums, a negadelphian comment frequently seems to create a mountain of supporting negadelphian comments, rather than rebuttals. Philadelphians need to be much more defensive and positive about their city and maybe take a lesson from Pittsburghers.

Agreed. I think a lot of the projects happening in the city are very nice. Sure, we have the not so great projects now and again (1900 Arch, Hilton Home2Suites, 200 block of Arch), but I feel like we're also getting a ton of superb projects (Mormon Tower, Comcast II, FMC, One Riverside, CHOP Tower, 500 Walnut, 1900 Chestnut, etc.). People definitely need to be more proud of their city. There is a ton of great stuff happening here.

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by acenturi

I'm not certain this poster is talking about "numbers", but the typical "negadelphian" attitude of Philadelphians. If you review the Under Construction threads, Philly is actually somewhat ahead of Chicago in both numbers and sizes. It's interesting how, in this and many other internet Forums, a negadelphian comment frequently seems to create a mountain of supporting negadelphian comments, rather than rebuttals. Philadelphians need to be much more defensive and positive about their city and maybe take a lesson from Pittsburghers.

Hey I'm a huuuge pro-pro-Philly guy. In fact, I often feel like I'm a PR person for the City when talking to friends, work ppl, etc etc. Don't take my comment above as negative, I'm pro. That stated, NYC and Chicago is way different, have to be honest. Also, they had a gigantic head start w/ building tall (like 50+ years!).