PHILADELPHIA | THE LAUREL @ 1911 Walnut | 604 FT | 48 FLOORS

[Philly Fan]

"We’re so worried about how beautiful it is that we keep tweaking and working on it."

Talk about raising expectations.

[Knight Hospitaller]

^^^ The tan dryvit or the gray dryvit? The tan dryvit or the gray dryvit? Can't let go!

[Philly Fan]

^ You're such a Dryvit fanboy.

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by McBane

But the Warick is a 7 story building. We're not talking about an ordinary 3 story row of old buildings, which are ubiquitous throughout the city.

The Rittenhouse Coffee shop is cute but still just a glorified row house. The funeral home is nothing special in my opinion. But I love the Warwick, always have. A perfect little urban midrise. For all these years it's been sitting empty, someone could have been making alot of money off it as a nice little apartment building in a spectacular location. I would be sad to see it go. These others are nice, but their loss would not be heartbreaking. But losing the Warwick would be sad. I hope they find a way to keep it, or at least the front of it. Doesn't sound like it though.

Well, this sounds like it may turn into an iconic project if they get round to doing it, so maybe it'll be worth it. I just hope there will be some way to make sure SLC delays demolition until the larger project is a done deal. It would be sickening to see it become just a bigger empty lot and then have the whole parcel be flipped to yet another speculative developer if SLC doesn't, in the end, have what it takes to pull it off.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by summersm343

More from the Philadelphia Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...emo-permit-rittnhouse-walnut-coffee.html

3 levels of retail here would probably yield ~100k sf (based off a quick Google Maps site measurement and a bit of number crunching). Interesting...It would appear Southern Land does want to sign a big boy.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

The Rittenhouse Coffee shop is cute but still just a glorified row house. The funeral home is nothing special in my opinion. But I love the Warwick, always have. A perfect little urban midrise. For all these years it's been sitting empty, someone could have been making alot of money off it as a nice little apartment building in a spectacular location. I would be sad to see it go. These others are nice, but their loss would not be heartbreaking. But losing the Warwick would be sad. I hope they find a way to keep it, or at least the front of it. Doesn't sound like it though.

Well, this sounds like it may turn into an iconic project if they get round to doing it, so maybe it'll be worth it. I just hope there will be some way to make sure SLC delays demolition until the larger project is a done deal. It would be sickening to see it become just a bigger empty lot and then have the whole parcel be flipped to yet another speculative developer if SLC doesn't, in the end, have what it takes to pull it off.

Well, cute wins because it's small and at the far edge of the property. The Warwick is probably too big to fit into Southern's master plan. The Bair Funeral Home has to be a goner. Maybe "facade-ectomies" might work, but I doubt it.

I guess that other small property between Sophie Curson and the coffee shop is not part of this. That's derelict too, as I recall.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

3 levels of retail here would probably yield ~100k sf (based off a quick Google Maps site measurement and a bit of number crunching). Interesting...It would appear Southern Land does want to sign a big boy.

Come on, Bloomingdales. Just do it.

[Plokoon11]

So can someone explain what today's news means?

[McBane]

From Philly.com:

Southern Land said it would be a financial hardship to preserve the deteriorated structures in its request to demolish them as part of its plan for a 600,000- to 700,000-square-foot building on a now-empty lot at 1911 Walnut St.

From Wikipedia:

The St. James contains 415,790 square feet (39,000 m2) of residential and commercial space. This includes 8,290 square feet (770 m2) of office space, 14,500 square feet (1,300 m2) of retail space, and 393,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of residential space.

St. James is 45 stories and 498 feet tall.

Even counting for the large amount of retail, this has to be at least 50 stories. The "rumored" 599 feet seems right.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Come on, Bloomingdales. Just do it.

Well they are known to be actively scouting for Center City locations (unlike a few others that most of us here -- moi inclus -- would like to see).

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

Well they are known to be actively scouting for Center City locations (unlike a few others that most of us here -- moi inclus -- would like to see).

I'd love to see a Bloomingdale's here, but somehow - and not being very knowledgeable of retail - my sense is a location at East Market is more likely. You need a lot of traffic to support a high end department store, and in all but a few large very wealthy urban locales, that seems to require a constantly replenished turnover of moneyed tourists and business travelers in addition to locals. With the convention center, its many nearby upscale hotels, the regional rail connections, the traffic already generated by Macy's, the impending completion of East Market, all the new goings on around 12th & 13th and Chestnut, I keep thinking Bloomingdale's will settle in at East Market, if anywhere, in Center City. That seems to be the place for large scale retail in Center City.

1911 Walnut just seems to me to be better suited to the upscale boutique thing already on Walnut. These days, that stretch is absolutely teeming with, among others, what appear to me to be well-to-do undergraduates, graduate students, and young faculty from University City. many of these people live in Center City SW of City Hall and can be seen commuting back and forth up Walnut and Chestnut at all hours. Many of them, given the multiple languages I hear whenever I'm around Rittenhouse Square, seem to be foreign. To my untrained eye, 19th and Walnut seems like the right place to extend the boutique retail we already see concentrating on Walnut that appeals to the well-off young people streaming in from UC. It just doesn't seem like department store territory to me.

Again, I'll be glad to be wrong. I usually am. BUt I'd also love to see Bloomingdale's at East Market. Either way we can't lose.

[BenKatzPhillytoParis]

Originally Posted by summersm343

More from the Philadelphia Business Journal



http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...emo-permit-rittnhouse-walnut-coffee.html

Of course they are giving great signals, here. But with all due respect to that, the fact that there is no high-profile outside architect they've announced—does that mean it's in-house design like I presume most of their projects? That's the part that isn't encouraging to me.

[boxbot]

Originally Posted by BenKatzPhillytoParis

Of course they are giving great signals, here. But with all due respect to that, the fact that there is no high-profile outside architect they've announced—does that mean it's in-house design like I presume most of their projects? That's the part that isn't encouraging to me.

They announced they hired Solomon Cordwell Buenz back in September (designers of the Murano and St. James)

Originally Posted by 1487

Same company that designed the Murano out of chicago is doing this building.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20..._planned_for_Rittenhouse_Square_lot.html

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

I'd love to see a Bloomingdale's here, but somehow - and not being very knowledgeable of retail - my sense is a location at East Market is more likely. You need a lot of traffic to support a high end department store, and in all but a few large very wealthy urban locales, that seems to require a constantly replenished turnover of moneyed tourists and business travelers in addition to locals. With the convention center, its many nearby upscale hotels, the regional rail connections, the traffic already generated by Macy's, the impending completion of East Market, all the new goings on around 12th & 13th and Chestnut, I keep thinking Bloomingdale's will settle in at East Market, if anywhere, in Center City. That seems to be the place for large scale retail in Center City.

1911 Walnut just seems to me to be better suited to the upscale boutique thing already on Walnut. These days, that stretch is absolutely teeming with, among others, what appear to me to be well-to-do undergraduates, graduate students, and young faculty from University City. many of these people live in Center City SW of City Hall and can be seen commuting back and forth up Walnut and Chestnut at all hours. Many of them, given the multiple languages I hear whenever I'm around Rittenhouse Square, seem to be foreign. To my untrained eye, 19th and Walnut seems like the right place to extend the boutique retail we already see concentrating on Walnut that appeals to the well-off young people streaming in from UC. It just doesn't seem like department store territory to me.

Again, I'll be glad to be wrong. I usually am. BUt I'd also love to see Bloomingdale's at East Market. Either way we can't lose.

Yes, either location would be fine with me! Agree that Rittenhouse may be more suited to upscale boutiques. But the 100,000 sq feet hammer cites seems big to fill with a bunch of boutiques. I don't really know, though.

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

I'd love to see a Bloomingdale's here, but somehow - and not being very knowledgeable of retail - my sense is a location at East Market is more likely. You need a lot of traffic to support a high end department store, and in all but a few large very wealthy urban locales, that seems to require a constantly replenished turnover of moneyed tourists and business travelers in addition to locals. With the convention center, its many nearby upscale hotels, the regional rail connections, the traffic already generated by Macy's, the impending completion of East Market, all the new goings on around 12th & 13th and Chestnut, I keep thinking Bloomingdale's will settle in at East Market, if anywhere, in Center City. That seems to be the place for large scale retail in Center City.

1911 Walnut just seems to me to be better suited to the upscale boutique thing already on Walnut. These days, that stretch is absolutely teeming with, among others, what appear to me to be well-to-do undergraduates, graduate students, and young faculty from University City. many of these people live in Center City SW of City Hall and can be seen commuting back and forth up Walnut and Chestnut at all hours. Many of them, given the multiple languages I hear whenever I'm around Rittenhouse Square, seem to be foreign. To my untrained eye, 19th and Walnut seems like the right place to extend the boutique retail we already see concentrating on Walnut that appeals to the well-off young people streaming in from UC. It just doesn't seem like department store territory to me.

Again, I'll be glad to be wrong. I usually am. BUt I'd also love to see Bloomingdale's at East Market. Either way we can't lose.

it's a unique opportunity for any retailer, 100k+ sq ft on Rittenhouse Square, only other chance for this is at Barnes and Noble space - just about ever other retail space on walnut is way smaller.. some will say the prime retail strip ends before the site but really if you build here then the 1800 block is fully part of the strip, especially when the banks on the block finally turn over. I can see someone big signing on for sure. Maybe Eataly finally comes to town


and I hope historic commission preserves all 3 buildings, what's the point of designating buildings historic if you can just knock them down when a development comes up

[BenKatzPhillytoParis]

Originally Posted by boxbot

They announced they hired Solomon Cordwell Buenz back in September (designers of the Murano and St. James)

Thanks, I stand corrected!

[SJPhillyBoy]

Originally Posted by boxbot

They announced they hired Solomon Cordwell Buenz back in September (designers of the Murano and St. James)

They have done some nice work (and some tall buildings).

http://www.scb.com/work/commercial/residential/murano

[brenster]

Originally Posted by SJPhillyBoy

They have done some nice work (and some tall buildings).

http://www.scb.com/work/commercial/residential/murano

Look how they incorporated the old facades into the Legacy at millinium park. Nice work.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by brenster

Look how they incorporated the old facades into the Legacy at millinium park. Nice work.

Agreed. If I was the historical commission/planning commission, I would say to keep and re-purpose the coffee shop and preserve the facade of the Warwick, and we'll allow you to demolish the funeral home and grant you the height/zoning variance.

[skyscraper]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Agreed. If I was the historical commission/planning commission, I would say to keep and re-purpose the coffee shop and preserve the facade of the Warwick, and we'll allow you to demolish the funeral home and grant you the height/zoning variance.

I'll never understand this kind of thinking. Just preserve the facade, so we can *pretend* the building is there?
Either keep the building or don't.