PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by emathias

Mid-18th century they were arguably peers. Through the Revolution, really, and for several decades afterwards. It was around 1840 that New York's trajectory started to diverge dramatically from Philly's through a combination of the Erie Canal and massive immigration from Ireland and what is now Germany.

Thank you. I should of qualify my initial statement. It was meant at the "current" time and space when I thought of it.

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Thank you. I should of qualify my initial statement. It was meant at the "current" time and space when I thought of it.

yeah I should have clarified as well. When I said peers, I didn't really mean equals. I meant more along the lines of fellow major American cities, of which most would consider about 12-15.

[summersm343]

Judge clears Post Bros.'s N. Philly warehouse-to-apartment rehab, reversing zoning board decision

A Philadelphia judge has granted the Post Bros. property group zoning clearance to convert the decayed North Philadelphia warehouse known as the Quaker Building into high-end apartments, with lower-floor retail and office space.

This week’s decision by Judge Daniel J. Anders reverses a ruling in September by the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment against allowing residences at the 900 N. Ninth St. building, which stands on a parcel designated for industrial use.

Attorneys for Post Bros., led by Ronald Patterson, argued in their appeal of the ZBA’s ruling that the developer’s plan for the building in the Poplar neighborhood is consistent with the residential uses that surround it and that the zoning board has routinely awarded variances for similar proposals around the city.

“The ZBA’s decision was contrary to the law and in conflict with the unanimous support of community groups and area residents,” the lawyers wrote.

Anders’ order Wednesday reversed the ZBA decision and granted Post Bros.’s appeal. It did not include any explanatory remarks.

ZBA spokesman Paul Chrystie said the city panel “believes it made the correct legal decision” but “respects the judge’s ruling.” Messages left with Patterson and Post Bros. president Matthew Pestronk were not immediately returned.

Post Bros.’s plan calls for renovating the six- and 10-story Quaker Building warehouse, built in 1918 for Strawbridge & Clothier, into a 350-unit apartment building. A new parking structure would be built on an adjacent lot with space for about 135 vehicles.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/re...eared-to-become-apartments-20171229.html

[McBane]

Originally Posted by iamrobk

Agreed re: needing a small-format Home Depot/Lowe's/etc. in Center City. I can understand why they'd be hesitant (and hence why we don't have one yet), but they'd have a very large customer base when you consider all of the CC/UC/Fairmount/GHo/etc. residents who would go. While we're on the topic, I think a Best Buy in CC would be crazy popular as well, and I don't think it would be too hard for them to find an appropriately sized space.

Container Store? Eh. How about a Bed Bath and Beyond? And jeez, with all the families staying in the city, it's about time we get a Babies R Us already. Both stores would fit perfectly in East Market. These are common stores that today, require city dwellers to travel to the burbs.

Re Robinsons - that building is atrocious. Disappointed the NIMBYs are dragging this out further.

Re Comcast 3 - I do like how Comcast has gone with different architects for its buildings which tells me they will use someone different for their third building. The first two buildings are quite different from each other and I'd expect that trend to continue.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by McBane

Re Robinsons - that building is atrocious. Disappointed the NIMBYs are dragging this out further.

I'm not aware of any nimby involvement here. The Preservation Alliance, beyond the fact that they submitted the nomination for designation, is obviously concerned that the law was ignored in overturning the Robinson Store designation. The way the appeal was handled is totally in conflict with Philadelphia city ordinances. The City and the PREIT/Macerich joint venture last spring agreed to have the appeal of the historic designation heard de novo by the L&I Review Board and in the same agreement both sides waived rights to any further appeal. There is no provision in the City Code for the L&I Review board to consider an historic designation, as it is beyond their area of expertise. What's more, they decided to annul the designation on the basis of financial hardship, which is not something that is even allowed to be considered in designating a property, as per the criteria for designation in the City Code. The Historical Commission has its own separate process for hearing hardship cases, but that process can only be invoked after the property is designated.

As Preservation Alliance head Paul Steinke stated in the comments to the philly dot com article today, "Our appeal is about more than just this one building. It's about making sure the proper processes are followed once a building gets historic designation, and calling a foul when they're not."

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/re...preit-maserich-market-east-20171229.html

It is more than a little ironic that PREIT, a shopping mall operator, wants the option to demolish a facade the represents probably the only Philadelphia work by retail architects Victor Gruen and Elsie Krummeck (they were a couple), when Gruen is widely credited as the father of the shopping mall. This facade could easily be cleaned up and restored to look as fabulous as it was originally and integrated into a larger project.

Here's the link to the nomination:
http://www.phila.gov/historical/Document...1024%20Market%20St.PRHP%20Nomination.pdf

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

^
Stern has played it conservatively for his Philly works. We need someone who is willing to present more of a daring/bold design. SHoP is known to fit this bill. CC3 needs to be bold in design, shit, I don't need it to be a super-tall-something in the 500 ft range is fine as long as the design is daring and bold.

agreed #2

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by McBane

Container Store? Eh. How about a Bed Bath and Beyond? And jeez, with all the families staying in the city, it's about time we get a Babies R Us already. Both stores would fit perfectly in East Market. These are common stores that today, require city dwellers to travel to the burbs.

This. A home depot would be nice in Center City, but from their prespective, how much new business would they do versus how much would they simply lose in South Philly? Frankly I'm shocked at Targets expansion plan as they're really cannabalizing a lot of business from their larger locations with this crazy rapid expansion strategy they're going with.

Stores that aren't able to tap the city population as easily - like Bed Bath and Beyond or Wegmans (some day) are more likely.

Even if we didn't get Amazon HQ, I think we'd be more likely to get an Amazon retail store before we get a Best Buy in Center City. As for Babies R Us, won't their recent bankruptcy filing impact any future expansion?

[Larry King]

The city should’ve picked a more competent developer than Peebles for the family court project. Are the terms of the agreement public? Has Peebles even closed on the building? I’d love for someone else to take over.

[ePlanningPhila]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Wolf distributes $35M for real estate projects in Philadelphia



https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...ent-dollars-mission-first-sls-hotel.html

I really hate to say it, but if Dranoff needs 20 million from Taxpayers to build a 5 star hotel and luxury residences most likely starting in the million dollar price range, I feel no empathy for his project. To be honest I find it ridiculous. There is definitely a need to invest in development, as you will gain a return on values with elevating real estate values and the residual effects on property tax values. But I really think this is out of hand to be honest. I rather invest 20 million in a program to incentivize transit oriented development around our legacy transit nodes, or incentivize the investment and redevelopment of Pennsylvania's many small walkable towns. A small little rant, the SLS site is a PRIME location in Center City. Why should the state be shelling out $20 Million? Ridiculous.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by ePlanningPhila

I really hate to say it, but if Dranoff needs 20 million from Taxpayers to build a 5 star hotel and luxury residences most likely starting in the million dollar price range, I feel no empathy for his project. To be honest I find it ridiculous. There is definitely a need to invest in development, as you will gain a return on values with elevating real estate values and the residual effects on property tax values. But I really think this is out of hand to be honest. I rather invest 20 million in a program to incentivize transit oriented development around our legacy transit nodes, or incentivize the investment and redevelopment of Pennsylvania's many small walkable towns. A small little rant, the SLS site is a PRIME location in Center City. Why should the state be shelling out $20 Million? Ridiculous.

It is a fanciful ask. He can't be expecting to get anywhere near that. If you look at the RACP requests, most are many multiples more than the award. I'm not sure why developers don't study the past grants and make more realistic requests. It seems to me it it'd be a more effective strategy. But what do I know.

[Mr Saturn64]

Originally Posted by jjv007

The same Pei responsible for the Commerce Square twins and the Foster who is already doing CITC? I agree we don’t need Stern either but Pelli or Vinoly wouldn’t be bad imo.

I'd like for Pelli to do it. His buildings are consistently good, and he's already done the work here. Vinoly is better off with buildings that aren't skyscrapers. After all, the Kimmel Center is one of Philly's best 21st Century buildings, and that was Vinoly.

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by mr saturn64

i'd like for pelli to do it. His buildings are consistently good, and he's already done the work here. Vinoly is better off with buildings that aren't skyscrapers. After all, the kimmel center is one of philly's best 21st century buildings, and that was vinoly.

+1

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by Mr Saturn64

I'd like for Pelli to do it. His buildings are consistently good, and he's already done the work here. Vinoly is better off with buildings that aren't skyscrapers. After all, the Kimmel Center is one of Philly's best 21st Century buildings, and that was Vinoly.

Forgot to mention that Kimmel Center sued Vinoly for deficient designs and cost over-runs (later reached a settlement).

Vinoly sued over Kimmel Center | ArchPaper.com

After months of mediation, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts sued the building’s architect, Rafael Viñoly, for breach of contract. The suit, filed on November 23 in U.S. District Court, alleges that Viñoly’s office, Rafael Viñoly Architects (RVA), failed to provide timely and complete construction documents, resulting in delays and cost overruns.

“RVA breached the Agreement and failed to perform in accordance with the professional standards of care it fixed for itself (highest professional standards of a nationally-recognized architectural firm) therein by, inter alia, providing late and deficient documents and drawings,” the suit states.

The Regional Performing Arts Center (RPAC), which operates the Kimmel Center, claims that the delays cost the center $23 million, resulting in a total expenditure of $180 million. “This action arises from an architect who had a grand vision but was unable to convert that vision into reality,” the suit reads, “causing the owner to incur significant additional expenses to correct and overcome the architect’s errors and delays.”

[snip]

Also, a more detailed piece:

Life Getting Hot For Architect Rafael Viñoly | Observer.com

“The architect never identified how the roof would be attached to the building. The general contractor had to hire someone to figure it out and they had to be paid.”

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

Forgot to mention that Kimmel Center sued Vinoly for deficient designs and cost over-runs (later reached a settlement).

Vinoly sued over Kimmel Center | ArchPaper.com



Also, a more detailed piece:

Life Getting Hot For Architect Rafael Viñoly | Observer.com

“The architect never identified how the roof would be attached to the building. The general contractor had to hire someone to figure it out and they had to be paid.”

Architects are engineers. Did he use that argument? It's like let me draw something, and you guys figure it out on how to put it together...LOL.

[skyscraper]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Architects aren't engineers.

Fixed.

[hammersklavier]

Didn't they recently carve a couple of restaurants along the Kimmel's Spruce Street façade in an attempt to enliven the street? It's such a monolith, that building. Crazy deadening. Viñoly's Penn Med building (the one with the annex tumors all over it) isn't much better, either, according to rumors. I wouldn't want Viñoly to touch this town again with a ten-foot pole.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

Didn't they recently carve a couple of restaurants along the Kimmel's Spruce Street façade in an attempt to enliven the street? It's such a monolith, that building. Crazy deadening. Viñoly's Penn Med building (the one with the annex tumors all over it) isn't much better, either, according to rumors. I wouldn't want Viñoly to touch this town again with a ten-foot pole.

Volver is in there now. That's it as far as restaurants. I like the Kimmel Center architecture, though. Great ambiance inside: great outdoor space/terraces and space under the dome. The Atlantic building next door will further enliven the streetscape. And SLS if it ever gets off the ground. I think there is also a coffee place inside Kimmel, but they could do with some outdoor seating on Broad when the weather is nice like the Wilma Theater added. There is nothing about the Kimmel Center I think is inherently deadening. It just needs to be used appropriately.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Vinoly to me is as overrated as they come. The big glass cube at Penn is a fail too, in my book.

[City Wide]

If Comcast III ever happens, and that's a really big "if", I'd like to see a open contest for deciding who they pick as the prime architects. Just think of the fun this forum would have shifting through 100 different concepts.

General question------if Amazon comes to Philly, especially if they choose something other then the (dumb) navy yard, do you think that would almost immediately prompt a number of new, in town, (CC and UC) high rise projects?

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by City Wide

If Comcast III ever happens, and that's a really big "if", I'd like to see a open contest for deciding who they pick as the prime architects. Just think of the fun this forum would have shifting through 100 different concepts.

General question------if Amazon comes to Philly, especially if they choose something other then the (dumb) navy yard, do you think that almost immediately prompt a number of new, in town, (CC and UC) high rise projects?

Amazon's not coming here.