PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Fourth, the forumer is half right. The decision may not be final, which might explain the otherwise "playin wichyouse" drip of eliminated cities that he is releasing.

That, for me, was part of #1 as he/she has insisted that they've made a choice already.

[Philly Kid]

City Council passed the 1% tax hike on new construction. Will Kenney veto?

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by Philly Kid

City Council passed the 1% tax hike on new construction. Will Kenney veto?

I sure hope so.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by Philly Kid

City Council passed the 1% tax hike on new construction. Will Kenney veto?

Decent chance, I think. He expressed a lot of skepticism. And 8 council members voted against and 9 for so politically probably an easier choice than if it had more support.

[acenturi]

Philly needs a little more panache from someone like this guy (Christo). He normally doesn't charge for his work, but is incredibly selfish about where he does it. Put something on the Parkway - Remember the Calder Garden? Better hurry though, he's 83.
http://christojeanneclaude.net/

[sayitaintso]

Originally Posted by acenturi

Philly needs a little more panache from someone like this guy (Christo). He normally doesn't charge for his work, but is incredibly selfish about where he does it. Put something on the Parkway - Remember the Calder Garden? Better hurry though, he's 83.
http://christojeanneclaude.net/

Working for free is the opposite of selfish. I think you mean selective.

[acenturi]

Originally Posted by sayitaintso

Working for free is the opposite of selfish. I think you mean selective.

I DO NOT NEED A LESSON IN ENGLISH ! I MEAN "SELFISH". BTW, where is your really, really big inside HQ2 Scoop

[summersm343]

15-story apartment building planned for the corner of Delaware Ave and Fairmount Ave

[El Duderino]

Originally Posted by summersm343

15-story apartment building planned for the corner of Delaware Ave and Fairmount Ave

beat me to it, more info: http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/no...artment-building-planned-front-fairmount

love the height for the location, but an auto dealer is an absolutely brutal use of space here. per the article, the NoLibs Neighbors Assoc. is discussing on Monday.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by El Duderino

beat me to it, more info:

love the height for the location, but an auto dealer is an absolutely brutal use of space here. per the article, the NoLibs Neighbors Assoc. is discussing on Monday.

One of the true signs of ultimate urbanity is a car showroom in town. This is going to be beautifully pristine polished cars glowing under elegantly designed LED lights behind a plate glass window. Its not going to be an overweight mustachioed italian man in a plaid jacket and cotton tie winking at you in front of a ‘93 Ford beater. It’s gonna look awesome. I’ve been hoping for a showroom in center city for a long time.

[El Duderino]

Originally Posted by Londonee

One of the true signs of ultimate urbanity is a car showroom in town. This is going to be beautifully pristine polished cars glowing under elegantly designed LED lights behind a plate glass window. Its not going to be an overweight mustachioed italian man in a plaid jacket and cotton tie winking at you in front of a ‘93 Ford beater. It’s gonna look awesome. I’ve been hoping for a showroom in center city for a long time.

looking awesome (which it very well might) and functioning in an awesome way are two very different things. not many people are going to engage with a car showroom who live in the neighborhood, so the people who will find value in this space will likely get there via car. walking along this stretch of columbus is desolate at best and this ground floor usage won’t help with that - where are the local services for those who will live here? the walk up fairmount from here is also not the most pleasant experience (the street and 95 bridge are not well kept) and it would take enough time to get to the drag on 2nd to discourage people from doing so.

also, i very much don’t appreciate you assuming what my idea of a dealership/showroom is - a tesla showroom with elon manning the door would still not be a good use.

additionally, this sort of business is discouraged by the central delaware overlay, so there’s only years of civic planning that highlights this use as suboptimal.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Londonee

One of the true signs of ultimate urbanity is a car showroom in town. This is going to be beautifully pristine polished cars glowing under elegantly designed LED lights behind a plate glass window. Its not going to be an overweight mustachioed italian man in a plaid jacket and cotton tie winking at you in front of a ‘93 Ford beater. It’s gonna look awesome. I’ve been hoping for a showroom in center city for a long time.

Gotta agree. After visiting London and seeing all of the glistening car show rooms in Mayfair, I’ve been envious.

If there’s going to be a place for urban car show rooms in Central Philadelphia, Delaware Ave/Columbus Blvd is definitely the place.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Gotta agree. After visiting London and seeing all of the glistening car show rooms in Mayfair, I’ve been envious.

If there’s going to be a place for urban car show rooms in Central Philadelphia, Delaware Ave/Columbus Blvd is definitely the place.

When I lived in Chicago in the Gold Coast area, I lived near a luxury car showroom that specialized in Bentleys, Lambourginis, Maseratis, and Mclarens. Was right on North Rush. Seemed to work fine without dragging down the neighborhood or "deadening" the streetscape.

[MichaelScottsOffice]

^The central Delaware isn’ the Gold Coast or Mayfair unfortunately, these aren’t close comparisons. In affluent areas like those where there is so much more existing development, luxury car dealers definitely enhance the streetscape but the outcome would be far different on Delaware ave at least for now.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by iamrobk

IMO this, but also with the caveat that the first round (i.e. before they narrowed it to 20) was really nothing but a dog and pony show meant to get as much interest in them as possible. The second round (what they're doing now) is the serious part.

Unless someone has inside info, and that hasn't seemed to be the case, how can anyone in all honesty claim to know what Amazon is doing or where they are in their so called search. They are in the 2nd round, down to the 20 finalist, might there not be a further cut to the top 5? If one of the cities that didn't make it into the final 20 decided that they really wanted to blow Amazon's brain and give them whatever Amazon wanted, do we think that Amazon wouldn't suddenly find room for this 21st City to be part of the discussion? We are reading tea leaves and thinking we see smoke signals amidst the clouds. Who the hell knows where the finish line is. The longer this 'search' takes the more I think it's actually a true search and not just a rubber stamp on a pre determined choice.

[iheartphilly]

^
NJ offered $7 billion in incentives, if I remember it correctly. I haven't heard any other city publicly offer more, and I'm not saying that more hasn't been offered. But, that offer sets the bar pretty high for the other cities and I don't believe anyone of us forumers here think Newark will get it. As I said from the get go, I think Amazon already knew where they want to be, but pitted the cities against each other, hoping that the city they already know that they want to be in offer them a sweetheart deal because in essence they made the cities compete and offer them the best monetary incentive package by artificially inflating the package. Clever strategy on their part. A win-win for them no matter what.

[rricci]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Trader Joe’s is likely moving to the new Riverwalk development at the base of the first tower.

PMC will be redeveloping the ground floor of 2121 Market and building a 25+ story tower on the parking lot behind fronting JFK. Most likely apartments but maybe office component incorporated as well.

Summer,
Is your information at the rumor stage? Or something more concrete from the PMC site or similar?

[McBane]

I don't have an issue with an auto dealership at Front and Fairmount. Assuming the cars are parked inside the building and they're not proposing a cheesy used car lot with a whacky inflatable arm tube man and a chain link fence, then is it really that much different than retail stores selling furniture, electronics, etc.? There's a huge difference between this and other "auto-centric businesses" like gas stations, car washes, and drive thru's.

But I do question the wisdom of such a location, from the auto dealer's perspective. Just seems like an odd location. Even for a high end dealership, which I could see working in various locations along Market East or the west end of Market or JFK; South Broad Street; or along Spring Garden east of Broad. (Not advocating, just pointing out locations that would probably work better from the dealer's point of view.)

This particular intersection doesn't seem to garner enough foot or vehicular traffic to make sense for a car dealership. There's a few apartment buildings in this vicinity without any retail whatsoever, so my guess is that the choices for the first floor is either the dealership or no retail space at all.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by McBane

I don't have an issue with an auto dealership at Front and Fairmount. Assuming the cars are parked inside the building and they're not proposing a cheesy used car lot with a whacky inflatable arm tube man and a chain link fence, then is it really that much different than retail stores selling furniture, electronics, etc.? There's a huge difference between this and other "auto-centric businesses" like gas stations, car washes, and drive thru's.

But I do question the wisdom of such a location, from the auto dealer's perspective. Just seems like an odd location. Even for a high end dealership, which I could see working in various locations along Market East or the west end of Market or JFK; South Broad Street; or along Spring Garden east of Broad. (Not advocating, just pointing out locations that would probably work better from the dealer's point of view.)

This particular intersection doesn't seem to garner enough foot or vehicular traffic to make sense for a car dealership. There's a few apartment buildings in this vicinity without any retail whatsoever, so my guess is that the choices for the first floor is either the dealership or no retail space at all.

With only parking spots for 31 cars, which I assume includes customers, this very much sounds more like a car showroom, and not a full fledged dealership, with service bays and 100's of cars parked in surrounding lots. If so, if the concept doesn't make it, isn't successful, the space would probably lend itself to another 'normal' type usage, so why not. Its those particular style uses that demand special one usage design that cause me more concern.

[ScreamShatter]

Business diversity is good for the local economy and neighborhoods. Not every small business can be a cafe, beer garden, and clothing store. It's a good thing to have lots of different types of businesses within an area and, overall, makes the neighborhood more livable and walkable to have access to a broad range of different kinds of businesses.