PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[JohnIII]

Just imposed this on a panoramic of the skyline from the south.

Sweeeeeet!

[McBane]

Definitely pie in the sky. Even if this somehow managed to get off the ground, I would guess the towers would get VC'd to generic glass boxes. I love the design though.

My gut feeling is that this is an attempt to drive up the value of the land to flip. "Look at what YOU could build here!" Does the owner of these lots have any track record of development?

[Aaamazarite]

Originally Posted by summersm343

According to Public Records:

-Penn owns the garage where the furthest south tower is shown.
-Penn owns the two frats and the parking lot behind them where the 6-story building is shown.
-The Pagano's own the Santander lot where the hotel tower is shown
-The Pagano's own the strip mall site between Chestnut and Ludlow Streets where one tower is shown
-The Pagano's own the Arby's site where another tower is shown
-The University City Science Center owns the 38th and Market lot.

So at the very least, we would get three of these towers. Maybe Penn is buying these 3 lots from the Pagano's and partnering up with the uCity Science Center to build something at 38th and Market?

The Paganos don't own the "Arby's site" (I guess you mean the Boston Market), that is owned by McDonald's Corp. Unless Penn is buying the Pagano properties, I'm doubting this plan is anything other than conceptual-- most of those towers are pushing the limit on allowable density on those lots unless they use every available bonus. Also the one development incorporates the telephone building, which is still in its original use. If it is for real, GREAT! Unlikely though.

That said, I know for a fact that Penn has been making offers on a lot of those CMX-4 zoned properties north of the west side of the campus.

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by McBane

Definitely pie in the sky. Even if this somehow managed to get off the ground, I would guess the towers would get VC'd to generic glass boxes. I love the design though.

My gut feeling is that this is an attempt to drive up the value of the land to flip. "Look at what YOU could build here!" Does the owner of these lots have any track record of development?

What I don't get is - why pay for conceptual renderings of properties you don't control? If he was just looking to sell his lots, why would Pagano come up with renderings for the properties owned by Penn and the Science Center? I'm very curious as to where these renderings came from, because the only way this would make sense at first glance was if Penn was driving this project. But I very much doubt that.

[McBane]

Good point.

It just 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 that we only ever see these really cool renderings for conceptual pie in the sky 🞵🞵🞵🞵. Why can't any serious proposals ever look like these buildings?

[Tlphila]

Well well well....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...rters-after-opposition-wapo?srnd=premium

[Milksteak]

Not to beat the dead Amazon horse, but this is interesting....

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/08/amazon-i...-opposition-washington-post-reports.html

[Milksteak]

Originally Posted by Tlphila

Well well well....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...rters-after-opposition-wapo?srnd=premium

Lol looks like you beat me by 1 second....

[mcgrath618]

Hi Liam-
Thanks for the kind words. It's unlikely this project will move forward. We were commissioned to do a feasibility study to understand the theoretical built potential of a number of sites along that corridor.


BEST :
AJ REILLY, AIA

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by Milksteak

Not to beat the dead Amazon horse, but this is interesting....

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/08/amazon-i...-opposition-washington-post-reports.html

Well, this could really surge Philly stock as a 3rd choice site, if we really want it. Not sure if all the incentives the State and City offered are still available, but if folks want it here, they should make a play for it and reach out to Amazon.

[Milksteak]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Well, this could really surge Philly stock as a 3rd choice site, if we really want it. Not sure if all the incentives the State and City offered are still available, but if folks want it here, they should make a play for it and reach out to Amazon.

Right, we're a short train ride away from their original desired location...and we've got a blank canvass for them to work with. We're also a short(ish) train ride from their VA location.

[skyscraper]

Originally Posted by Milksteak

Not to beat the dead Amazon horse, but this is interesting....

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/08/amazon-i...-opposition-washington-post-reports.html

oh good, because I for one was looking forward to this soap opera being dragged out even further, especially when we already know how it's going to end.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by summersm343

West Philadelphia 38th Street Master Plan

Unsure how real this is. Does one guy own all of these lots? Did he issue a master plan to be worked on to sell them? Did Penn issue a master plan design? I thought University City Science Center owned 38th and Market, etc. etc.

Either way, it's super cool to dream about what could be on the Western half of 38th Street.

Of all these sites the one that I think stands the best chance to be built on sooner then later is the Penn parking garage just south of the pedestrian bridge that crosses 38th St. As Penn runs out of buildable land in the heart of their main campus this garage has to be looked at as not being the best and highest use of this site. Now what they would build in its place is anyone guess, but it won't be anything close to that cutting edge dream that shows up in the drawings. This isn't Miami!

[Daario]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

Sorry if I'm a bit out of the loop, but what is this in regards to? This fantasy 38th st corridor plan or (hopefully not) 1301 Market?

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by Daario

Sorry if I'm a bit out of the loop, but what is this in regards to? This fantasy 38th st corridor plan or (hopefully not) 1301 Market?

It’s 38th st, my bad

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by Milksteak

Right, we're a short train ride away from their original desired location...and we've got a blank canvass for them to work with. We're also a short(ish) train ride from their VA location.

To be honest, I both have Amazon fatigue and think its fairly certain they will still go to Long Island City. Nonetheless, I do hope we are talking to them like other cities who were supposedly in consideration are. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-still-after-amazon-hq2-20190208-story.html

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

To be honest, I both have Amazon fatigue and think its fairly certain they will still go to Long Island City. Nonetheless, I do hope we are talking to them like other cities who were supposedly in consideration are. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-still-after-amazon-hq2-20190208-story.html

It’s not necessarily fatigue for me, as much as it is fear of more failure/rejection. They clearly want a large, connected, diverse, liberal, east coast city for their next HQ - hence their two obvious choices. Gee, what other city fits that bill....? Hint: it’s not a lengthy list.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by Londonee

It’s not necessarily fatigue for me, as much as it is fear of more failure/rejection. They clearly want a large, connected, diverse, liberal, east coast city for their next HQ - hence their two obvious choices. Gee, what other city fits that bill....? Hint: it’s not a lengthy list.

I think they also want to be in direct proximity to the moneyed and political elite and have a built-in talent base that doesn't depend on "build it and they will come." That's New York and DC. For the record, I think if Amazon was here and they "built it," the talent would come (and in the case of graduate students, stay). They would do just fine.

[El Duderino]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

I think they also want to be in direct proximity to the moneyed and political elite and have a built-in talent base that doesn't depend on "build it and they will come." That's New York and DC. For the record, I think if Amazon was here and they "built it," the talent would come (and in the case of graduate students, stay). They would do just fine.

I agree completely - Amazon is a big enough draw and we are close enough to these other metro areas that i don’t think that attracting enough talent would be a problem...especially at 25k instead of a full 50k employee count. My money is on them staying in LIC but i certainly hope Philly is pitching them as hard as possible.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by El Duderino

I agree completely - Amazon is a big enough draw and we are close enough to these other metro areas that i don’t think that attracting enough talent would be a problem...especially at 25k instead of a full 50k employee count. My money is on them staying in LIC but i certainly hope Philly is pitching them as hard as possible.

One quote, from many, from skyscraper NYC page on the Amazon project----

"Yet the political stakes in this fight may be greater than the economic benefits. Opponents say Amazon’s arrival would have much less of an impact than Cuomo and de Blasio would have the public believe. The city’s economy already employs 4.6 million people, and it produced 71,000 new jobs in 2018.

The influx of new employees would average 1,600 a year -- a much more muted impact in a city of 8.6 million than in northern Virginia, where Amazon plans to build an equivalent campus. The financial incentives sound less impressive in a state and city that have proposed combined budgets totaling more than $267 billion next year."

I get it that just about every city wants Amazon, but it sounds like their impact on NYC hardly seems worth the cost. Where if they came here they'd immediately become a big fish. But did anyone really think the selection process was going to be completely rational and fair.