PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[Groundhog]

Not the best shot, but Market East peaking up behind PSFS, The Bridge in the top left and a very barren LOVE Park as well.

[br323206]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

P.S. It's Dartmouth. Like dart + mouth. Mouth of the Dart? Is there a Dart river in New Hampshire?

It is named after the Earl of Dartmouth, a position that derives its name from the town of Dartmouth in Britain--which just so happens to be located near the mouth of the River Dart.

So you were on the right track.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by jjv007

Any way we can get the two threads above into the "Philadelphia Projects and Construction" Forum?

I requested to have them both added last week. Sometimes it takes the Admins a while to do it - not sure why.

[thisisforreal]

Originally Posted by summersm343

I requested to have them both added last week. Sometimes it takes the Admins a while to do it - not sure why.

Homeinmyshoes has always been responsive to my requests to get threads added.

[summersm343]

Historical Commission committee votes on Jewelers' Row properties

The nominations of two Jewelers’ Row buildings as historic took top billing at Friday’s meeting of the Historical Commission’s Committee on Historic Designation, which voted to support their designation.

Read more here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...historic-properties-la-salle-campus.html

[McBane]

^ Again, this is a waste of time that will only push Toll Bros. to demolish these properties ASAP. Resources would be better spent 1) engaging Toll Bros. to save the facades and rent the retail space to jewlers instead of a drug store, bank, or fast casual chain and 2) preserving the remaining buildings on Jewlers Row.

[donoteat]

Originally Posted by McBane

^ Again, this is a waste of time that will only push Toll Bros. to demolish these properties ASAP. Resources would be better spent 1) engaging Toll Bros. to save the facades and rent the retail space to jewlers instead of a drug store, bank, or fast casual chain and 2) preserving the remaining buildings on Jewlers Row.

Something tells me Paul Steinke has an ace up his sleeve for this one...

[rduffy5]

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by McBane

^ Again, this is a waste of time that will only push Toll Bros. to demolish these properties ASAP. Resources would be better spent 1) engaging Toll Bros. to save the facades and rent the retail space to jewlers instead of a drug store, bank, or fast casual chain and 2) preserving the remaining buildings on Jewlers Row.

As of a few weeks ago Toll only had the zoning permits pulled, not the demo permits. If City hall is having questions about this project I'm sure that the permitting process can be put in a low speed mode.
The last thing we need is for Toll to go ahead with the demo and then have nothing move forward for years to come. Personally I would tie demo permits to having building permits and contacts and financing all laid out, ready to go. That way demolition would just be the start of actual construction.

[summersm343]

Cash-strapped Archdiocese sees high-rise towers for Cathedral campus

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia envisions hundreds of new dwellings - including one for the archbishop - around its Center City cathedral.

The new housing is part of an ambitious proposal to transform acres of underused land around the historic Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter & Paul into an inviting enclave of high-rise buildings, verdant gardens, and pedestrian walkways.

Early conceptual plans call for the demolition of the three 20th-century buildings on the proposed development site to make way for two new mostly residential high-rises along landscaped paths.

The new building to the north, which appears as a 44-story tower in renderings presented to the neighborhood group, would feature ground-floor retail and restaurant space.

The second tower to the east, presented as a 33-story building, would accommodate on its lower floors administrative offices that are currently housed in a campus headquarters building Croke said is in need of millions of dollars of maintenance.

Also in that new building, the use of which would be guaranteed to the Archdiocese as part of the ground-lease negotiations, would be the cathedral's convent and social-service annex, both now in buildings also proposed for demolition.

Another component of the plan is the re-establishment of the campus' rectory, south of the cathedral, as the archbishop's residence for the first time since 1935, when Cardinal Dennis Dougherty moved into the then-new City Avenue mansion.

Read more here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/re...gh-rise_towers_for_Cathedral_campus.html

[Scottydont]

Wouldn't it be great for the area if the Archdiocese is trying to get into a keeping up with the Jones war with the Mormons?

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Scottydont

Wouldn't it be great for the area if the Archdiocese is trying to get into a keeping up with the Jones war with the Mormons?

More like keeping up with the Smiths. As in Joseph Smith.

[Urbanthusiat]

44 stories!! That's msssive, I hope it happens. Given the location I have no doubt it would be a success.

[summersm343]

New Thread Created: Cathedral Campus Plan - office/apartments/retail - 508 & 381 FT - 44 & 33 floors



Thread here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=225593

[PhilliesPhan]

Originally Posted by rduffy5

That skyline view (and the elevated structure) sure have changed since my boyhood days of living in West Philly! Excellent image!

[PhillySteaks]

Originally Posted by summersm343

New Thread Created: Cathedral Campus Plan - office/apartments/retail - 508 & 381 FT - 44 & 33 floors


Thread here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=225593

They aren't the developer are they? They have to be partnering with someone, it'd be very foolish to take that kind of risk this late in the cycle - especially for someone who doesn't have much of any experience in development. I thought they were just gonna give a 99 year ground lease to someone else who was going to take all the risk and any upside.

Edit: Just read the whole thread. From my understanding this is waaaay far from realization.

[SEFTA]

Originally Posted by summersm343

New Thread Created: Cathedral Campus Plan - office/apartments/retail - 508 & 381 FT - 44 & 33 floors



Thread here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=225593

Exciting project. It'll have a great impact on the skyline. Love the curves

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by PhillySteaks

They aren't the developer are they? They have to be partnering with someone, it'd be very foolish to take that kind of risk this late in the cycle - especially for someone who doesn't have much of any experience in development. I thought they were just gonna give a 99 year ground lease to someone else who was going to take all the risk and any upside.

Edit: Just read the whole thread. From my understanding this is waaaay far from realization.

Well they would be partial developer, and supply some of the financing, but they are going to partner with a developer on this.

[sayitaintso]

Couple of items. I am good friends with a couple of people deeply involved in this project. They are not happy with the headline. The Archdiocese is no longer in a financial hardship and haven't been for some time. Inquirer trying to subliminally cast a negative light on the project by implying this project will "save" it is disingenuous and typical Inky bias.

Archdiocese was actually already involved with a developer before Mormons broke ground to develop this plot but... our dear leader Lord Councilmaniac Clark was blackmailing them. He told them he wouldn't consider a zoning change (somehow its currently zoned residential while they are surrounded by CMX 4 and 5!)...don't even ask until you cave on St Laurentius... not because he cares about St Laurentius mind you, but because he cares about votes. You see he lives in Fishtown which is somehow in the same councilmaniac district as the Cathedral which he Gerrymandered himself. So anyway our dear leader is the one who is currently holding this project hostage for the last 2 or 3 years.

Finally ground breaking is a ways off, hopefully 3 years.

The drawings are based on what the plot will legally allow and they are bullish that those massings will be achieved.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by sayitaintso

Couple of items. I am good friends with a couple of people deeply involved in this project. They are not happy with the headline. The Archdiocese is no longer in a financial hardship and haven't been for some time. Inquirer trying to subliminally cast a negative light on the project by implying this project will "save" it is disingenuous and typical Inky bias.

Archdiocese was actually already involved with a developer before Mormons broke ground to develop this plot but... our dear leader Lord Councilmaniac Clark was blackmailing them. He told them he wouldn't consider a zoning change (somehow its currently zoned residential while they are surrounded by CMX 4 and 5!)...don't even ask until you cave on St Laurentius... not because he cares about St Laurentius mind you, but because he cares about votes. You see he lives in Fishtown which is somehow in the same councilmaniac district as the Cathedral which he Gerrymandered himself. So anyway our dear leader is the one who is currently holding this project hostage for the last 2 or 3 years.

Finally ground breaking is a ways off, hopefully 3 years.

The drawings are based on what the plot will legally allow and they are bullish that those massings will be achieved.

Not surprising on the back story. Everything got to be about politics and self-interest-which is a shame. Talk about taking the air out of the tires on this one.