PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-WILMINGTON-ATLANTIC CITY-READING | Metro Development Thread

[jslice]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

I agree 100% with you guys. BP Group has renovated and preserved a lot of older buildings on Market Street— so I assumed when I saw the fences put up this summer that these buildings would be converted into luxury apts/lofts, like BP Group has done up and down Market St. I’m not sure why these had to go?
Ironically, the Delaware Historical Society is only 2 blocks up Market Street—where 4 buildings from the 18th century are beautifully preserved (including Old Town Hall). There’s a stellar Frank Furness building a few blocks up Market St. as well. The historic Queen Theater is at 4th and Market... some really good new restaurants as well.
The area has great, great old architectural bones. Market Street was vacant and falling a part for a few decades, but thanks to BP Group it is alive again. Hopefully they answer our questions...

The worst is 319 Market street where that barber shop is. Nice corner lot - can't believe they haven't rehabbed that yet. Blight on the area.

[AudiDriver]

Originally Posted by jonesrmj

I think I know what is going here, but man. Why demolish historic buildings that look like they could have the potential to be revived?

Yes I agree with you. Sad thought.

[UrbanRevival]

Some interesting news from Redfin this morning that Philadelphia is the only major metro housing market to show a substantial increase in the percentage of "bidding wars" for properties year-over-year (it moved up to rank 7th overall). Essentially every other metro went in the opposite direction.

Philadelphia was the only metro areas where buyers faced significantly more competition in November 2018 than in November 2017. Philadelphia is one of the markets where inventory is shrinking and homes are selling faster and for more money.

https://www.redfin.com/blog/2018/12/bidding-wars-plummet-to-an-eight-year-low.html

Just one source, but at the very least it seems to indicate the current strength and solid fundamentals of Philly's housing market, especially compared to considerably more expensive major urban hubs.

[jslice]

This project if done right should be phenomenal . I thought this was a BPG project, I didn't realize it was with Capano. That area of Wilmington though I'd put up with any major city in the Mid-Atlantic to NEast in terms of beauty with parks, incredible views, culture and restaurants. Reminds me a bit of the ritzy parts of DC. Really a fantastic part of the city.

https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2018/12/...t-complex-at-former-bancroft-mills-site/

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by jslice

This project if done right should be phenomenal . I thought this was a BPG project, I didn't realize it was with Capano. That area of Wilmington though I'd put up with any major city in the Mid-Atlantic to NEast in terms of beauty with parks, incredible views, culture and restaurants. Reminds me a bit of the ritzy parts of DC. Really a fantastic part of the city.

https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2018/12/...t-complex-at-former-bancroft-mills-site/

Right, so there wasn't any announcement, and BP Group definitely handled the demolition of a lot of the old mill and tower, you can see their IG page for videos of the demolition. But it does seem like they handed this project off to Capano.

Also, there are new big townhouses under construction right near here as well.
https://montchaninbuilders.net/communities/the-overlook-at-rockford-falls/

Honestly-- the whole thing is a bit shady. First, the Mills mysteriously caught on fire, and unruly teens were blamed, then there was an investigation--nothing came of it, then some time passed, then BP Group started demo, and now Capano is building something. Seems a little fishy...but you're right, the area is absolutely beautiful, and affluent.

Here's some more info: BP Group definitely owned the land until recently...
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/new...re-land-swap-historic-property/99545372/

[Jawnadelphia]

"... By next March, those employees will work in tighter quarters after Bank of America moves out of two of the three Bracebridge buildings, leaving vacant nearly half a million square feet of commercial space in a city that already struggles with too many empty offices.

"... The buildings, connected by skybridges, are clustered northeast of Rodney Square on King and French streets. In the early 2000s, MBNA employed more than 10,000 workers in Delaware, making it the state's largest private sector employer..."

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/mon...a-shrinks-downtown-footprint/2300525002/

[jonesrmj]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

"... By next March, those employees will work in tighter quarters after Bank of America moves out of two of the three Bracebridge buildings, leaving vacant nearly half a million square feet of commercial space in a city that already struggles with too many empty offices.

"... The buildings, connected by skybridges, are clustered northeast of Rodney Square on King and French streets. In the early 2000s, MBNA employed more than 10,000 workers in Delaware, making it the state's largest private sector employer..."

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/mon...a-shrinks-downtown-footprint/2300525002/

I feel like this is a bizarre move for Bank of America to make because all of the Bracebridge structors are connected by skybridges and Bracebridge 2 is in the back of the Bracebridge structors so I'm really confused as to how they are going to work this out. Also, what other tenants would use the other Bracebridge structors that Bank of America abandons? I really hope these other projects for Wilmington make an impact because it surely doesn't feel like it right now.

[Slyfox]

QDOBA closed on Market Street (Wilmington) and El Diablo is replacing them which is awesome! Looks like they're doing their renovation to the restaurant currently, the windows are all papered up with the El Diablo logo.

[Boku]

Old Claymont Steel site developer donates 15 acres for the new $54 million SEPTA train station

http://www.philly.com/business/claymont-steel-site-septa-train-station-land-acres-20181220.html

A developer hoping to attract offices, homes and warehouses to the 420-acre former Claymont Steel site on the Pennsylvania-Delaware state line and along the Delaware River has donated 15.5 acres for the construction of a new mass-transit station, with 800 parking spaces, for people using Septa trains and Delaware’s DART buses.

The land was given by a unit of St. Louis-based Commercial Development Corp. The developer has cleared the century-old former steel mill complex, transferred its former offices to the Gaudenzia House rehab organization, and hopes the big new replacement station, close to I-95, will attract, not only more trains and commuters, but projects and tenants for prospective offices, warehouses, homes and a hotel totaling 3.7 million square feet — the size of three big Center City office towers.

Commercial Development says the site, convenient to I-95, I-495 and other highways as well as mass transit, will be more attractive with a higher-capacity mass-transit center.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by Boku

Old Claymont Steel site developer donates 15 acres for the new $54 million SEPTA train station

http://www.philly.com/business/claymont-steel-site-septa-train-station-land-acres-20181220.html

This is literally huge if it materializes. I'm thinking big pharma or bank, but don't know since we could be heading into a recession next year due to a contraction of the growth cycle.

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by Boku

Old Claymont Steel site developer donates 15 acres for the new $54 million SEPTA train station

Good spot for a big commercial development. I could definitely see a big pharma company moving there.

[iheartphilly]

^
Agreed. When I said bank, I should have said investment bank. I am thinking of back office personnel of a big investment bank from NYC or some financial clearance type business. DE got some big employers too like duPont, W.L. Gore (i.e., Goretex), and others in the top 10 that has 7000 or more employees, so a re-location to this site is not off the table. And, don't forget JoeB-he carries a lot of weight in DE so if he can get the word out for grants and other things, this might really happen.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

^
Agreed. When I said bank, I should have said investment bank. I am thinking of back office personnel of a big investment bank from NYC or some financial clearance type business. DE got some big employers too like duPont, W.L. Gore (i.e., Goretex), and others in the top 10 that has 7000 or more employees, so a re-location to this site is not off the table. And, don't forget JoeB-he carries a lot of weight in DE so if he can get the word out for grants and other things, this might really happen.

Claymont has done a really good job of re-positioning itself.

I wish some of the development there would push over the border into Marcus Hook and Chester. Certainly a good model for those towns to follow.

The last sort of domino that needs to fall is the Tri State Mall. That thing has been a blemish on the area for years. Even if it was demolished and just replaced with some nice garden apartments and some high end-ish townhomes, it would be a huge improvement.

[Nova08]

On a somewhat similar scale I can see this new Claymont station and development as similar to New Jersey Transit's Hamilton station. That station attracts thousands of passengers and sparked a bit of residential development in the immediate area.

When this presumably starts to attract more ridership Septa really needs to tinker with the Wilmington line schedule, especially for a ROW that is primarily 4 tracks.
50 minutes from Claymont to Center city on a local and 45 minutes on the morning "expresses" and no trains between 7:16am and 8:09am

[Slyfox]

Originally Posted by Nova08

On a somewhat similar scale I can see this new Claymont station and development as similar to New Jersey Transit's Hamilton station. That station attracts thousands of passengers and sparked a bit of residential development in the immediate area.

When this presumably starts to attract more ridership Septa really needs to tinker with the Wilmington line schedule, especially for a ROW that is primarily 4 tracks.
50 minutes from Claymont to Center city on a local and 45 minutes on the morning "expresses" and no trains between 7:16am and 8:09am

That responsibility falls to the state of Delaware, they pay SEPTA to run into DE, the state would have to increase the rail budget for more service.

[jonesrmj]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

[cardeza]

Some might find this interesting:

https://centercityphila.org/uploads/atta...qd55qvk7px-cpdc-forum-intro-12-18-18.pdf

[domodeez]

Originally Posted by Slyfox

That responsibility falls to the state of Delaware, they pay SEPTA to run into DE

Correct.

Originally Posted by Slyfox

the state would have to increase the rail budget for more service.

Not necessarily. The weekend evening trains are regularly busy and have a farebox recovery ratio north of 70% in Wilmington alone (any Claymont ridership would push that number further north). If weekend evening headways came down from every 2 hours to every hour, you'd also see ridership increase on the morning trains, so I would not be surprised if certain upgrades more than paid for themselves.

The craziest part is how inexpensive weekend trains are. It's about $100K gross cost annually to extend each weekend round-trip train to serve Claymont and Wilmington. So if a weekend evening train is recovering 70% at the farebox, and if you're ignoring ridership gains on the morning trains, that's only $30K net cost a year for a new round-trip train.

But, yes, rail only gets about 10% ($10M) of DTC's budget, which is depressing.

[Jawnadelphia]

----

The digging continues next to the Christina Landing towers -- I'm hoping this is the beginning of something new (unannounced as of now):

[jonesrmj]

^ I think I know what is going on there and if I'm correct, it will be big!!