PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[summersm343]

HA! I was going to say literally the same thing. This would be a HUGE opportunity for Philadelphia if our state and city governments weren't so absolutely incompetent. We could lure thousands of jobs from NYC to locate around 30th Street Station, with direct transit access to NYC, if they offered any sense of legitimate tax and businesses competitiveness. Unfortunately, this will never happen, and any firms that move employees out of NYC will go to New Jersey, DC, Boston, or to the south.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by summersm343

HA! I was going to say literally the same thing. This would be a HUGE opportunity for Philadelphia if our state and city governments weren't so absolutely incompetent. We could lure thousands of jobs from NYC to locate around 30th Street Station, with direct transit access to NYC, if they offered any sense of legitimate tax and businesses competitiveness. Unfortunately, this will never happen, and any firms that move employees out of NYC will go to New Jersey, DC, Boston, or to the south.

This has nothing to do with taxes.

I'm literally talking about a simple communication. Like, hi...we're here and we'd like you to be here too.

At a minimum we should be courting BlackRock, which previously announced (and then scrapped) plans to open a location here as well as BlackStone, as it's founder Stephen Schwarzman has deep roots in Philadelphia.

[nemesisinphilly]

Any renderings or news about this site? Permits have just been pulled for 200-204 S 12th St for a 448 unit building:

https://li.phila.gov/#details?entity=per...ey=128093074&address=204%20S%2012TH%20ST

[SEFTA]

directly across Walnut St from the National Landmark Merchants Exchange Building

Society Hill Walnut Street

Society Hill Civic Assn is almost certain to oppose this at every turn.
I like it

https://www.phila.gov/media/202007211534...GEjoPgo9V2XcO5yxj0cT3i_hC_1CLNMWsiuzzLKk

[TonyTone]

Originally Posted by SEFTA

directly across Walnut St from the National Landmark Merchants Exchange Building

Society Hill Walnut Street

Society Hill Civic Assn is almost certain to oppose this at every turn.
I like it

https://www.phila.gov/media/202007211534...GEjoPgo9V2XcO5yxj0cT3i_hC_1CLNMWsiuzzLKk

Why would they turn this down, it clearly fits the look of the neighborhood as well as having an old 1950's touch to it, I hope that's real stone/granite and not a fake material

[SEFTA]

It reminds of a Louis Sullivan building

[Aaamazarite]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

Why would they turn this down, it clearly fits the look of the neighborhood as well as having an old 1950's touch to it, I hope that's real stone/granite and not a fake material

The Society Hill Civic hates all development, especially any development over 3 stories. Their newsletters going back decades are available online, pick any one of them and you'll find some amount of content about some awful new development that needs to be opposed.

https://societyhillcivic.org/about/publications/newsletter-archive/

There are also nine zoning overlays in this location that offer numerous opportunities to kill the project.

[iheartphilly]

There's a 12 story condo on Front and Walnut that I watched get built many years back. So, this one might have a shot. The crazy thing is that they are knocking down a city mansion with 5 or 6 car garage that is in superb condition.

[summersm343]

^^I think that technically falls in the "Old City Neighbors" though. Usually, Walnut Street is considered the dividing line between Old City and Society Hill.

To play devil's advocate, there was a 20-story condo tower proposal literally RIGHT next to this site last summer, which I think is pretty much DOA at this point - killed off by Society Hill NIMBYs... I mean Neighbors...

Here's the link to the thread for that one:
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239491&highlight=Philadelphia

[summersm343]

McGrath, I guess you can make a thread for this one for now? I think it's pretty much DOA, but we'll see how this plays out...

[summersm343]

Zoning Application in for 448 unit mixed-use building at the old 12th Street Gym Site

That's HUUUUGGEEEE! This site isn't very big. That many units would HAVE to be 35+ floors easily.

Read more here:
https://li.phila.gov/?fbclid=IwAR1G9_IUk...ey=128093074&address=204%20S%2012TH%20ST

[summersm343]

Plans reveal Hilco’s intent to reshape Philadelphia refinery landscape

The real estate development firm that bought the shuttered South Philadelphia refinery intends to literally reshape the landscape of the polluted 1,300-acre complex in the next few years, constructing a vast warren of giant warehouses after first leveling the soil on the site to lift most of it above flood levels.

A “conceptual master plan” filed with the city by Hilco Redevelopment Partners, marks the first public visual representation of Hilco’s building plans. It shows that most of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions site now occupied by refinery towers and storage tanks would be replaced with nearly a dozen million-square-foot “logistics centers” that Hilco hopes eventually will employ 10,000 people.

“Although additional time for the remediation has been built into this new agreement, more thorough testing, sampling, and other remediation activities have been outlined to ensure that this site is remediated to an appropriate health standard suitable for the future use of the site,” Virginia Cain, a spokeswoman for DEP, said in an e-mail.

Under terms of ownership and the remediation standards, the property can only be developed for non-residential use. Hilco has said that demolition is likely to take about three years before redevelopment can begin.

The “conceptual master plan” for redeveloping the site, which was attached to the environmental filings, is a broad sketch that does not confront issues about traffic management and design that the company will need to address as the project takes form. The plan does not include an interchange on the Schuylkill Expressway that Hilco says it envisions for the site, but which would require approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Hilco says it intends to redevelop the site into a “state-of-the-art, multimodal industrial park with ancillary rail infrastructure, energy infrastructure, marine capabilities and commercial uses.” Hilco’s plans are similar to what it and its partners accomplished near Baltimore, where Hilco bought a bankrupt steel mill in 2012 that is being redeveloped into a multiuse logistics center called Tradepoint Atlantic.

Hilco roughly plans to clean up and redevelop the site starting from the area around the North Yard and then extending to the tank farms located along 26th Street. The sites that contain the refinery equipment would come later.

Read more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/philad...GrLVQQ3t5B0GtcJ0-Vkpb1t9Z0Q5kmMNOGq2PgUM

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by summersm343

^^I think that technically falls in the "Old City Neighbors" though. Usually, Walnut Street is considered the dividing line between Old City and Society Hill.

To play devil's advocate, there was a 20-story condo tower proposal literally RIGHT next to this site last summer, which I think is pretty much DOA at this point - killed off by Society Hill NIMBYs... I mean Neighbors...

Here's the link to the thread for that one:
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239491&highlight=Philadelphia

Historical Commission says it's in the Society Hill Historic District. I don't know how much the neighbors influenced the previous decision regarding the adjacent site, although certainly SHCA would have fought it if it had got past the Commission. That one was denied by the Historical Commission.

https://www.phila.gov/media/20200721153430/232-36-Walnut-St.pdf

[nemesisinphilly]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

Historical Commission says it's in the Society Hill Historic District. I don't know how much the neighbors influenced the previous decision regarding the adjacent site, although certainly SHCA would have fought it if it had got past the Commission. That one was denied by the Historical Commission.

https://www.phila.gov/media/20200721153430/232-36-Walnut-St.pdf

Was it actually denied or just recommended for denial? It looks like it's on the agenda for the July 28th meeting of the Architectural Committee:

https://www.phila.gov/media/20200721152811/Architectural-Comm-Agenda-20200728.pdf

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by nemesisinphilly

Was it actually denied or just recommended for denial? It looks like it's on the agenda for the July 28th meeting of the Architectural Committee:

https://www.phila.gov/media/20200721152811/Architectural-Comm-Agenda-20200728.pdf

The previous adjacent site was denied. The site under consideration for the hotel was only recommended for denial at the PHC staff level.

There are 3 basic stages for anything submitted to the PHC.
1. staff review (there may be back and forth with the submitter at this stage to improve the application)
2. referred to relevant PHC committee with non-binding staff recommendation
3. referred to the full PHC with non-binding Committee recommendation

[iheartphilly]

^^
Can PHC be sued for being arbitrary and capricious on the denial if zoning allows for it? And, this brings up the 31 Story development in Society Hill called 1 Dock Street. I thought they were moving on that project or got approval.

[TK2001]

2019 & 2025

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

^^
Can PHC be sued for being arbitrary and capricious on the denial if zoning allows for it? And, this brings up the 31 Story development in Society Hill called 1 Dock Street. I thought they were moving on that project or got approval.

1 Dock Street is approved and I believe the developer closed on the land. I think Society Hill Towers Owner Assoc is still suing but that doesn't seem likely to go anywhere as their argument is that the zoning permit was issued in error, which isn't true. Luckily 1 Dock is not part of the historic district.

[summersm343]

448 Units + Commercial Planned for Historic Property in the Gayborhood

Read more here:
http://www.rising.realestate/448-units-c...DM8ROXuYIEQnBLvQNcQbqnGXw6gUryhpoFjxov0g

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by summersm343

448 Units + Commercial Planned for Historic Property in the Gayborhood

Read more here:
http://www.rising.realestate/448-units-c...DM8ROXuYIEQnBLvQNcQbqnGXw6gUryhpoFjxov0g

Summers, what is your guess at height?