PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[reparcsyks]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Jesus, really, the Plymouth Meeting Mall? Talk about the least inspiring location choices...

This would have been a great 3rd floor tenant of the Gallery.

I couldn't care less about Legos, but this is actually a huge Lego World or whatever they call it. It's definitely not a Lego Store on the 3rd floor of a mall. With that said, I agree with you that this should have been a street-front anchor tenant in the Gallery, but Lego wants to appeal to suburban moms.

[iheartphilly]

Certain taxes are obligatory and can't be avoided. But, the more you tax a commodity, the more you take away from those who don't benefit or the benefit is unproven at such an early stage. I like to see all levels of gov't run with on no corruption and be held accountable to their decision. Don't spend what you don't have, or spend it wisely. There's lots of financial waste in the system. Or shortfalls in this or that, that needs to be made up with increased taxes. Very inefficient and unfair to the taxpayer, IMO.

Oh, show us a balanced view of studies where pre-k education solely provides a backdrop of educational success from k-12 and beyond. I think some ideas sound great in a vacuum, but when a deeper dive is made, it doesn't support a benefit.

[1487]

Originally Posted by City Wide

If the City can pull off a large, reasonably well designed and run pre-K program, then more power to them. I remain doubtful not of the intent but with the City's ability to actually follow through, and I think I would unfortunately have way too many examples to back up my opinion.

Not that it matters hardly at all but the size of Kenney's victory means nothing. Bessy the cow could run as a repro and get 15% of the vote. Even in the primary Kenney really didn't have much meat to run against. All this is just to say that personally I don't think Kenney's victory had anything to do with any 'platform' he might have had.

its not a city run program. Its a privately provided function subsidized by city tax dollars. It's not the city's job to run the Pre-K centers or teach any kids.

It's far less complex than things the city already does such as picking up trash and recycling from 500k households per week.

[br323206]

Originally Posted by City Wide

Not that it matters hardly at all but the size of Kenney's victory means nothing. Bessy the cow could run as a repro and get 15% of the vote. Even in the primary Kenney really didn't have much meat to run against. All this is just to say that personally I don't think Kenney's victory had anything to do with any 'platform' he might have had.

That's why I recognized that any Dem would win a general election in Philly, but I do believe the size of his victory matters. It's the largest victory going back as far as I can find, and John Street, for example, only won by 0.4% as recently as 1999. Getting 85% of the vote is huge, even in liberal Philly.

[MyDadBuiltThat]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Oh, show us a balanced view of studies where pre-k education solely provides a backdrop of educational success from k-12 and beyond. I think some ideas sound great in a vacuum, but when a deeper dive is made, it doesn't support a benefit.

Put "benefits of pre K" into Google Scholar and you'll find numerous studies. There's a reason the Department of Defense supported the creation of Head Start back in the day - it leads to more high school graduates and therefore more eligible enlistees.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by MyDadBuiltThat

Put "benefits of pre K" into Google Scholar and you'll find numerous studies. There's a reason the Department of Defense supported the creation of Head Start back in the day - it leads to more high school graduates and therefore more eligible enlistees.

Here's one viewpoint:

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/pre-k-promise-actual-evidence-article-1.1587022

Learning is a lifelong process-spending more $$$ is not the answer at the pre-k stage. The opportunity to get a high quality eduction from K-12 in preparation of college is key. Not everyone has that opportunity or capitalizes on it. Problem solving, rationalizing, strategizing, critical thinking, deep analysis is not taught or experience until later in school life. It's also an evolving process and becomes more difficult in real world scenarios.

[summersm343]

New Thread Created: 4125 Chestnut - 215 FT - 17 FLOORS
Link:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=227200

[Frontst17]

Putting aside the fact that personally i think pre-k, kindergarten, early elementary ed are essential, perhaps more-so than later stages in life (of course no child is going to be asked to do calculus or micro-biology); the real point is how our schooling is funded in this country. If early-ed isn't taken seriously then secondary ed will suffer which the government sees as under-performing aka no money. I hate the system but we have to play by those rules and say pumping money into high schools would slap a wet band-aid on gaping wound. I'd rather find some way to avoid the cuts and bruises along the way.

One thing from having a taste of inner-city education, the difference between top performing schools and under-performing ones is that the kids (surprise surprise) understand which school people give a damn about. Therefore why should they care. People dont value their education why should they. Instruct that value early on maybe something changes....

Apologies this is pent-up frustration stemming from the state continuing to ignore the education crisis in cities like our own.

[Urbanthusiat]

Educating urban children would be a huge productivity boost and great for the economy.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by 1487

its not a city run program. Its a privately provided function subsidized by city tax dollars. It's not the city's job to run the Pre-K centers or teach any kids.

It's far less complex than things the city already does such as picking up trash and recycling from 500k households per week.

Do tell, if not the City who? If its some private for profit outfit then me and the mayor are going to be having a few heated words exchanged between us.

I doubt that you are trying to do so, but please don't compare education with picking up the trash.

[summersm343]

OFFICE MARKET: Why Philadelphia's West Market corridor will stay strong

A few years ago, a lot of people were pointing to 2017-18 as the time when the Central Business District (CBD) office market might start to soften up, providing relief to tenants who might be looking for space. A “perfect storm” of factors all indicated that vacancy should be picking up this year and into 2018. That really hasn’t happened. We’ll explain why.

Here are five unexpected events that helped save the CBD office market for landlords.

1. Comcast grew faster than expected. While nothing definitive has been decided, it does NOT look like Comcast will be vacating most of the office space it currently occupies outside of their two-building urban campus. The 500,000-600,000sf of space that many landlords feared would open up in Two Logan and Three Logan may only be a fraction of that now. Comcast will not only fill up it’s beautiful new Innovation and Technology Center, but it appears they will also still need several hundred thousands of square feet of overflow space on top of that. Even if Comcast goes ahead with their third tower currently on the drawing board, that will be at least four or five years down the road and Comcast will need interim space to house their growth while that building gets developed.

2. Aramark moved west. Facing a 500,000-square-foot office development down the street at 2400 Market, West Market Street landlords were praying that an out of town tenant would come along and soak that up before their own tenants defected there. They got the next best thing. Aramark surprisingly announced that it would be relocating its headquarters from Aramark Tower at 11th and Market into approximately 300,000 square feet at 2400. While this move was clearly a blow to the East Market Street sub-market, it was a Godsend to the landlords on West Market Street. Though there’s still close to 200,000 square feet of office space available at 2400 Market, this big office project won’t have the negative impact on West Market Street that many initially feared.

3. WeWork loves Philadelphia. If corporate tenants were taking less office space and no big, new companies were moving into town, landlords needed some sort of miracle to absorb the pending vacancies. Enter WeWork. They have quietly leased close to 100,000sf of space between 1900 Market Street and 1601 Market Street that won’t be occupied by their own employees. It will ultimately be occupied by lots of entrepreneurs, small businesses and even large companies with temporary staffing needs. In many cases, these occupants would never have ended up in these buildings because they are too small, don’t have the credit or wouldn’t commit to long enough lease terms. By packaging up all of these types of users under one roof, they have increased demand for Class A office space across the country. With WeWork, the whole is more than the sum of it’s parts.

4. Spark Therapeutics came out of nowhere. Remember all that new space in FMC Tower that was going to draw existing tenants from the trophy towers along West Market Street? Well, a firm very few people had ever heard of, Spark Therapeutics, who has been quietly knocking the cover off the ball in University City, just leased 75,000 square feet of space at FMC Tower and are rumored to be taking a bunch more at Schuylkill Yards. They are a Philadelphia success story that landlords around town should be lining up to thank.

5. Two distinguished law firms finally join their friends along West Market. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the center of the universe for Philadelphia’s law firms moved from South Broad Street to the shiny new, trophy towers being built along West Market Street and north 18th Street. There had been some holdout firms in non-mainstream locations including Montgomery McCracken at 123 South Broad Street and Berger Montague at 1622 Locust Street. Well, they are now unexpectedly joining their friends on West Market and soaking up another 100,000 square feet of space in the process.

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...marketwhy-philadelphias-west-market.html

[summersm343]

Philly Council members propose plan to boost development near transit stops

Read more here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/re...oost-development-near-transit-stops.html

[summersm343]

Accused of being anti-business, Council looks to deregulate

Following complaints that City Council has passed too much anti-business legislation, Council President Darrell L. Clarke on Thursday announced plans to rid the city’s regulator laws of archaic, conflicting, and confusing codes.

Clarke said some of those regulations were passed with good intentions but must be scrutinized.

“When you look at the code, there are a number of things that you actually in most cases have to pay a lawyer to go through,” he said. “It is somewhat ridiculous.”

Mayor Kenney endorsed the effort. His spokesman, Mike Dunn, said in a statement that the administration was focused on finding "ways to make this government more effective and efficient."

The move comes a month after the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia issued a news release listing nearly a dozen of what it described as “restrictive, anti-job growth measures” passed by Council since 2011.

Read more here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politi...usiness-Council-looks-to-deregulate.html

[summersm343]

One Franklin Tower - redevelopment/recladding - luxury apartments/office/retail - 16th and Race

[summersm343]

CHOP Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care

Tower crane erected on the roof. Steel going up? Anybody have any idea what's going on?

[summersm343]

Took a bunch of photo updates today. I just finished uploading them all. Enjoy

[GtownFriend]

Awesome update!! thankx

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by summersm343

OFFICE MARKET: Why Philadelphia's West Market corridor will stay strong



http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/...marketwhy-philadelphias-west-market.html

Yep. Good news!

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Accused of being anti-business, Council looks to deregulate



Read more here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politi...usiness-Council-looks-to-deregulate.html

More good news!

[1487]

Originally Posted by City Wide

Do tell, if not the City who? If its some private for profit outfit then me and the mayor are going to be having a few heated words exchanged between us.

I doubt that you are trying to do so, but please don't compare education with picking up the trash.

I am saying the City is administering acceptance into the program and approving providers such that they meet standards. Someone said they would be surprised if the City is capable of doing this- meaning running an operation that will grant a few thousand kids access to Pre-K. That is far less complicated than many things the city already does- it's really not an overwhelming task although I understand the sentiment which is "government is too stupid to do anything, not matter how simple". The actual Pre-K services are not being provided by the government.