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

[1487]

9 months- wow. I was trying to recall how long this had been going on. If you look at how long it's taken 1601 Vine to get above ground it really reminds you of how long it will be before THIS building is above street level. They haven't even poured any real concrete here yet.....but 2018 is right around the corner.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by allovertown

Just wanted to remind everyone of the day we cheered the end of the surface lot here... NEARLY NINE MONTHS AGO.

Truly is incredible how slow this is moving.

For some perspective. On May 4th when they started digging here, over in the CITC thread we were still anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first tower crane. The CITC is now nearly 600 ft tall. This is still a hole in the ground... and not even a complete hole at that.

Whatever though, the wait will be worth it.

Don't forget this building has also had the Underground from Hell (TM) to deal with. It took the Mormon tower a long time to drill down because they had to blast through bedrock, but this building has had to deal with layers and layers of foundations that weren't supposed to have been there to begin with.

[1487]

As of today it looks like they are finally making progress on NW corner of the site. Much of the perimeter is exposed. They were also drilling for caissons in the eastern part of the site. They installed several huge horizontal support beams on the north side of the pit to brace the shoring beams.

[McBane]

It seems like we go through this with every project. The foundation takes a long time always and worse, it yields nothing tangible or visible. Relax. Once the foundation is finished, like all projects, it will sprout quickly. The projects that don't have underground parking are much quicker than those that do but I think we can all agree that underground parking is worth the extra time.

I think if go through this thread and eliminate every post that complains about the pace of construction/digging, we could probably eliminate like 1/2 the posts.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by McBane

It seems like we go through this with every project. The foundation takes a long time always and worse, it yields nothing tangible or visible. Relax. Once the foundation is finished, like all projects, it will sprout quickly. The projects that don't have underground parking are much quicker than those that do but I think we can all agree that underground parking is worth the extra time.

I think if go through this thread and eliminate every post that complains about the pace of construction/digging, we could probably eliminate like 1/2 the posts.

Haha if we did that I think we'd have nothing left but thisisforreal's updates.

Wasn't complaining, just saw everyone talking about how long it was taking and I thought I'd find out how long it's actually been. 9 months was even more than I expected, thought it'd be interesting to share.

As I said though, I'm of the opinion that it will be worth the wait.

[boxbot]

Originally Posted by McBane

It seems like we go through this with every project. The foundation takes a long time always and worse, it yields nothing tangible or visible. Relax. Once the foundation is finished, like all projects, it will sprout quickly. The projects that don't have underground parking are much quicker than those that do but I think we can all agree that underground parking is worth the extra time.

I think if go through this thread and eliminate every post that complains about the pace of construction/digging, we could probably eliminate like 1/2 the posts.

Mods please remove this to the posts complaining about complaining posts forum #Wendys

[summersm343]

1/22/2016

[Philly-Drew]

Like this project needed anything else to slow it down. Now we get almost two feet of snow.

[Boku]

Originally Posted by Philly-Drew

Like this project needed anything else to slow it down. Now we get almost two feet of snow.

No need to worry, Lenfest's hot tears will melt it all away.

[summersm343]

Structural Engineering

W Philadelphia and Element Philadelphia Dual Hotel Tower Structural Engineering Hospitality Spotlight Parking Garage LEED Location: Philadelphia, PA Owner: Chestlen Development Developer: Vine Street Matthews Development Architect: Cope Linder Associates O’Donnell & Naccarato is providing ongoing structural engineering design services for the 51-story W Philadelphia / Element Philadelphia dual hotel tower. A total of 755 guest rooms operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts will be housed in the 773,500 SF, cast-in-place concrete structure under the banners of two distinctive and unique brands. Separate lobbies will provide access to suites, ground-level retail, amenities, event and restaurant spaces, as well as below-grade parking for up to 171 vehicles. The 295-room W Philadelphia boasts a number of luxury amenities including the W Living Room, VIP room and a 150-seat restaurant, a 2,900 SF spa, a 1,400 SF gym, a 7,000 SF WET outdoor terrace with a year-round heated outdoor pool and bar, and a 45,000 SF meeting and event space. With 460 rooms, Element Philadelphia offers a 1,400 SF breakfast and lounge area, a 1,600 SF fitness center, and 560 SF of branded meeting space.

http://www.o-n.com/portfolio/w-philadelphia-and-element-philadelphia-dual-hotel-tower/

[Human Scale]

^That looks like the skeleton of the old Waldorf-Astoria concept.

https://www.google.com/search?q=waldorf+...HXyDBegQ_AUICSgD#imgrc=UGTTGGeV1DEx2M%3A

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Human Scale

^That looks like the skeleton of the old Waldorf-Astoria concept.

https://www.google.com/search?q=waldorf+...HXyDBegQ_AUICSgD#imgrc=UGTTGGeV1DEx2M%3A

Could be... but if you click on the link, they have the new W renderings.

[Philly-Drew]

Originally Posted by Human Scale

^That looks like the skeleton of the old Waldorf-Astoria concept.

With a little imagination, I can see it to!

Interesting call.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by McBane

It seems like we go through this with every project. The foundation takes a long time always and worse, it yields nothing tangible or visible. Relax. Once the foundation is finished, like all projects, it will sprout quickly. The projects that don't have underground parking are much quicker than those that do but I think we can all agree that underground parking is worth the extra time.

I think if go through this thread and eliminate every post that complains about the pace of construction/digging, we could probably eliminate like 1/2 the posts.

With this one, though, it's significantly worse because there's a whole lotta crap down there that wasn't supposed to be. So it's not just like we're watching them dig for an interminable about of time -- it's that they're actually behind schedule.

I'd guess that if this project was on or close to schedule most of the caissons would have been installed already.

[Arch+Eng]

I'm pretty sure that they are trying to create the batcave down there now...

W Hotel

*coughwayneenterprisescoughcough*

[thisisforreal]

Jan 20th:


Jan 28th:


White trucks became yellow trucks, and yellow trucks were replaced with white trucks. Not much else.

[boxbot]

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by thisisforreal

White trucks became yellow trucks, and yellow trucks were replaced with white trucks. Not much else.

Except that it appears in today's photo that shoring beams have now been installed along the eastern third or so of the northern border of the site, with a stack of some fairly long ones waiting nearby to be installed. Looks like they're about to start digging a lot deeper on a large portion of the site.

[thisisforreal]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

Except that it appears in today's photo that shoring beams have now been installed along the eastern third or so of the northern border of the site, with a stack of some fairly long ones waiting nearby to be installed. Looks like they're about to start digging a lot deeper on a large portion of the site.

Didn't take long either. I could hear them cutting the wood from my office, so I snapped this just now:



I did think the truck swap was funny, though.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by thisisforreal

I did think the truck swap was funny, though.

Oh, it definitely was!

I just figured that I'd point out a small ray of hope that this thing finally may be getting underway in earnest, since we've all been watching so patiently (impatiently?) for months now. And speaking of which, thanks for your terrific progress photos and comparisons. They let us all pretend we're NSA or CIA analysts scouring top secret satellite or drone photos for any sort of intelligence or clue of significant progress. Keep up the good work. Your country, er, um, your fellow forumites, are depending on you.