PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[Raja]

Originally Posted by Frontst17

Maybe no one likes the word racist but the whistles are certainly whistlin. Sounds like a lot of “My uncle told me about those people”… what’s someone gonna do about the “Thugs” with their Audis and BMWs blasting up and down my street all day? The thugs at the repair shop teaching their children how to ride motorcycles at all hours of the day! The Harley riders thinking they can ruin MY airspace with their noise! It’s almost as if a lot of people live in this city minding their own damn business. Try living anywhere else where 100+ Choppers come through town like almost every suburb around on a nice day. If people break the law while riding that’s the job of the police to handle. When else do we see this city come together like we see on these rides? There’s gotta be something to appreciate about that. I mean on broad street alone there’s cars honking, emergency sirens, people yelling, helicopters landing on the regular. You picked a hell of a street to want peace and quiet.

I mean, I get the point you're trying to make, and I know we all probably sound insane, but none of those things are remotely close to as as loud or as intrusive as 200 dirt bikes circling the blocks from 10 PM to 1 AM six nights a week. Subwoofers parked on South sometimes come close, but that's it. Until you experience it, you can't imagine it.

[summersm343]

Let's all tone down the name calling and theatrics please. We can have a civil conversation about the struggles and issues Philadelphia is facing without name calling. Please remain cordial. We"re all on these boards because we love Philly.

[summersm343]

STEERING THE SHIP: Inside PhilaPort's plan to better compete with the East Coast's biggest ports

Below towering blue cranes grasping 25-ton shipping containers at the Port of Philadelphia is a claw dipping rhythmically into the Delaware River, pulling up sediment as excess water flows from its grip.

The more than decade-long dredging effort to deepen the river to 45 feet, along with a separate project to create PhilaPort’s first new berth in 50 years, will allow the port to accommodate bigger ships with more cargo.

It’s all part of a plan to grow container capacity by 18%, with the ultimate goal of making PhilaPort more competitive with its peers up and down the East Coast. Since dredging of the Delaware River began, the ports of Baltimore and New York have deepened parts of their channels to 50 feet, while Norfolk is currently conducting a dredging process to 55 feet.

“Where we are today is only a whisper of where we can be 10 years from now,” said Jerry Sweeney, PhilaPort’s chairman since 2015 and CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust.

The depth of the Delaware River isn’t the only thing the state-run agency is expanding. The plans for growth are ambitious and building momentum. PhilaPort is coming off a year in which it topped the U.S. average for container transport, led all East Coast ports in refrigerator transport, and received $246 million in additional state funding.

To help accommodate the growth, port leaders want to spend some $176 million on building new warehouses, as well as purchasing and developing new land.

The port is looking to add as many as three new warehouses in the coming years in South Philadelphia and at the Tioga Marine Terminal a few miles north. Overall, the projects could cost an estimated $106 million and increase warehouse capacity 18% to 3 million square feet.

Port officials say they have space for the three new warehouses, but finding land for additional growth could be a challenge. In South Philadelphia, the port is hemmed in by the sports complex, the Navy Yard and a residential area. At the Tioga Marine Terminal, the port’s North Delaware Avenue facilities back up to I-95, leaving officials with somewhat limited options for physical expansion.

Theobald said one option is to build out finger piers between Packer Avenue and the Southport Auto Terminal operations, effectively allowing more ships to dock and more cargo to be processed. It would be a longer-term project but would make use of what is now unused land between the two facilities.

Meanwhile, Hilco Redevelopment Partners’ planned redevelopment of the 1,300-acre former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery site in South Philadelphia is another opportunity for increased space. The HRP project, known as the Bellwether District, is adjacent to Southport, situated near the Delaware River and is expected to house up to 15 million square feet of life sciences, e-commerce and logistics space as it builds out over the next 13-15 years.

Holt said HRP is reserving about 150 acres at the site for beneficial cargo owners — importers of goods who do not use third parties to ship them. Even if the vast space isn’t owned by PhilaPort, it could attract tenants that would bring more ships and more cargo to Philadelphia. The developer worked on a similar project outside of Baltimore which now houses tenants like Amazon, Under Armour and FedEx.

Theobald said PhilaPort is currently in talks with HRP officials regarding planning at the Bellwether District.

He sees “a growing need” for PhilaPort to distinguish itself in order to compete with its peers to the north and south, and said to do so it will be “almost mandatory” to build an intermodal facility.

Currently, PhilaPort has two separate railroads to transport its auto cargo and container cargo just off the port. An intermodal facility would seamlessly transfer cargo containers from ships to trucks and trains for transport right at the terminal, Vickerman said, effectively increasing the amount of cargo the port could handle with quicker turnaround times.

Theobald feels that the two railroads currently serve as a quasi-intermodal facility but didn’t rule out building one as part of the port’s long-term plans.

In South Philadelphia, the port is constructing its first new berth in about 50 years that will complement the Delaware River dredging project. The multipurpose, deepwater berth is still about four years from completion but will give ships direct access to the newly completed Southport.

Article behind paywall here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...cx_testVariant=cx_8&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

[PhilliesPhan]

A small permit that will eventually lead to something much bigger was issued yesterday:

ZP-2022-002293
Mar 23, 2022
16 S 44TH ST, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2940 SUBARAN ERROL 3

For complete demolition of a two story detached commercial structure as per attached documents.

If you can recall, an 11 story tower is scheduled to rise at the corner of 44th and Market. 4400-14 Market, along with 16 S. 44th Street, are all included in that development. Here's hoping that we'll see even more towers in West Philly soon!

[DeltaNerd]

Maybe I didn't understand the article but where is the new shipping berth going to be built at?

Philaport can expand into into the Jetro parking lots. There is also the piers above the Greenwich Terminals that can be used for storage and processing as well. I prefer we take away parking from the Stadium district and using for something useful. We have options of building parking garages or using the 25th street viaduct for a train.

For the Tioga terminal there seems to be plenty of land that can be repurpose for shipping handling between Ontario St and Venango St.

For the Bellwether district I don't how many ships can travel up the Schuykill River but if they can process the smaller ships that would be great

[PHLtoNYC]

The Kimmel Center will rename the Merriam Theater after getting a multimillion-dollar donation

https://www.inquirer.com/arts/kimmel-cen...-universal-health-services-20220324.html

"Five and a half years after buying the Merriam Theater with the intent of refurbishing it, the Kimmel Center has landed its first major private gift for the project."

"Local business leader Alan B. Miller and his family have donated an undisclosed sum to get the renovation started, and the theater will be renamed in perpetuity in their honor."

"Busy as it is, the theater is in need of major renovations and upgrades. Much of the interior retains its original character and details, but lobby space is tight and access to some seats difficult. The facade has been substantially altered over the years, so on the exterior has neither the historic integrity of the Academy nor the sleek modernity of Verizon Hall."

"The scope of work made possible by the Miller gift is not yet defined, but initial considerations are being focused on areas like roof work and spaces used by audiences, said Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc."

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan

A small permit that will eventually lead to something much bigger was issued yesterday:



If you can recall, an 11 story tower is scheduled to rise at the corner of 44th and Market. 4400-14 Market, along with 16 S. 44th Street, are all included in that development. Here's hoping that we'll see even more towers in West Philly soon!

LOVE it!

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I get what McBane is saying. I love South Broad but wouldn’t want to live there myself. It’s a very active street that draws all sorts of traffic and activities…..and noise and disruption. The Laurel by comparison is much more insulated from city chaos (good and bad).

I think for those of us who have lived in Manhattan, the idea that South Broad is “chaotic” (ATVs not withstanding) just seems like an odd take. Plus Rittenhouse Square can be just as noisy with crowds, traffic, music etc.

Existing housing stock is somewhat limited in Society Hill and even Rittenhouse. There’s only so many 18th century townhouses available. Also, I still don’t understand how people think that Broad St is somehow completely distinct from Rittenhouse. It’s like a 5 minute walk or less to the Square lol.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

[B]
"The scope of work made possible by the Miller gift is not yet defined, but initial considerations are being focused on areas like roof work and spaces used by audiences, said Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc."

I hope they can restore or at least improve the facade. The alterations looks outdated in a bad way

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

Yes it's genuinely hampering the feasibility of residential development on Broad and likely leads to difficulty in keeping buildings full. I had a friend who lived on broad and it was awful. I lived on 15th St and moving farther west has been a great decision and would never live on Broad now. Ultimately more and more people will have the same experience. Otherwise they will need REALLY good soundproofing. There are a hell of a lot of other noises too like trucks, emergency vehicles etc. Commercial, office, and hotel uses seem like better uses in general to me. I'm sure some people wouldn't mind for a certain amount of time, but when it's every day, everyone has a breaking point.

Well unfortunately, office and commercial probably aren’t coming back or least not in any meaningful way for awhile. I mean, noise on Broad really shouldn’t be that much of a problem. It’s certainly not Manhattan. Frankly, Philly does have a noise major problem compared to other cities largely from unruly vehicles. I was in NYC last weekend and didn’t notice nearly as much loud music emanating from cars for some reason. Although, there is a bill in the works here that would start automatically ticketing cars playing loud music using sensors. Also, the type of buildings that would probably have really good sound proofed windows are luxury towers.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Reversal of the recent trend of slight population growth:
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-population-census-data-2021-20220324.html
Biggest one-year drop since 1975.

[mcgrath618]

Why is every news source touting this as fact????
It's an estimate. They have literally always been wrong.

Edit: the article even says not to take the data at face value, because it's an estimate. I hate stupid headlines.

[McBane]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

Also, I still don’t understand how people think that Broad St is somehow completely distinct from Rittenhouse. It’s like a 5 minute walk or less to the Square lol.

It's not about that. Geographically, Broad St is in a fine location between Midtown Village/Gayborhood and Rittenhouse. But it's still not the same as living on the Square. I don't know what's so controversial to say that living on Rittenhouse is a little nicer/more prestigious than living on South Broad.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Reversal of the recent trend of slight population growth:
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-population-census-data-2021-20220324.html
Biggest one-year drop since 1975.

1. No, this doesn’t show a “reversal of the recent trend of population growth.” 2020 was a very strange year, obviously, due to the pandemic. I would say this was 100% a fluke year due to a global pandemic, and not indicative of a new norm or trend.

2. We all knew the city “lost” population during the pandemic. Keep in mind the 2020 census was a culmination of all population trends from 2011 to 2020. The decennial population counts are even estimates in themselves, but are far more accurate, and are usually counted in the months leading up to April 1st of that year. So, the 2020 census is the population as of January, February and March of 2020. The pandemic hit at the end of March 2020. The yearly estimates are as of July 1st, so therefore, this population estimates covers the pandemic and maybe only a few months of the beginning of the recovery. There were estimates that Philly “lost” 30,000+ residents during the pandemic. So, if anything, this population estimate may show a slight recovery already of anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 people by early to mid 2021.

3. The population “loses” are most likely temporary and not permanent, and are more than likely mostly students staying home, renters not renewing their leases and moving back with their parents, and the upper class and those with suburban, countryside, beach or vacation homes moving to those properties during the pandemic. We all know students were remote, and with everything shut down during the pandemic, people fearful of getting the virus, rioting/looting/protesting/civil unrest, etc… people were looking for more space and breathing room during this time.

4. The population “estimates” show that NYC metro, LA metro, DC Metro, San Fran Metro, Chicago Metro, Miami Metro etc. “lost” anywhere from 100,000 up to 300,000+ residents, and Philly Metro only “lost” about 15,000. If these estimates are close to factual, I would say that’s a HUGE win for the city and metro area, and the region actually fared pretty well when compared to other major metros. Andddd… where did all of these people go????? Seriously. I just don’t really believe these estimates.

5. A big factor in population growth for the Northeastern Metros is Immigration, which was basically nonexistent during the pandemic.

6. These are ESTIMATES. They’re basically educated guesses at best. Why anyone continues to put any stock in the yearly estimates is completely mind boggling to me. The only numbers that are close to factual are the decennial census counts, and even these are not 100% accurate.

7. If you’ve been to Philadelphia in the past several months, there’s no way you can’t see that the city is on a fierce comeback. The streets are lively again, everything is opening back up, places that closed permanently during the pandemic are being replaced at a rapid clip. The streets are being cleaned up again. There’s construction EVERYWHERE. Not just in Center City either - I can name at least 40 city neighborhoods with active ongoing construction currently. Obviously there are lingering issues from during the pandemic and before, with crime being the most notable…. BUT the city has an obvious swagger and vibe to it likes it’s on a comeback. You can feel it. And with such a tight housing market even within the city (in both the limited number of for sale homes and the high occupancy rate for apartments), despite an insane amount of the new construction, I have NO DOUBT that the city has either fully recovered, or has almost fully recovered any temporary population loses during the pandemic.

I do believe this was a fluke year due to a global pandemic and civil unrest, and not indicative of a new norm or trend. I have no doubt 2022 will show a population increase, for the city and the region. You don’t have all of this new construction with population loses. Plus, the city and region is ON FIRE lately with all of the life sciences luster, so there’s no doubt in my mind that this region is due for increased growth into the future.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

Why is every news source touting this as fact????
It's an estimate. They have literally always been wrong.

Edit: the article even says not to take the data at face value, because it's an estimate. I hate stupid headlines.

Yea they're notoriously inaccurate in Philadelphia where the population is chronically underestimated. And I know that other cities are sometimes overestimated, but I don't know enough to say which cities are under or overestimated and to what degree, so it makes city to city comparisons very difficult. Especially considering I'm sure there are cities where there is no pattern and they're sometimes overestimated, sometimes underestimated.

Regardless though, anyone trying to make a story that this is some type of new trend and now philly is losing people, definitely doesn't know what they're talking about.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

Why is every news source touting this as fact????
It's an estimate. They have literally always been wrong.

Edit: the article even says not to take the data at face value, because it's an estimate. I hate stupid headlines.

This.

Originally Posted by summersm343

1. No, this doesn’t show a “reversal of the recent trend of population growth.” 2020 was a very strange year, obviously, due to the pandemic. I would say this was 100% a fluke year due to a global pandemic, and not indicative of a new norm or trend.

This.

Originally Posted by allovertown

Regardless though, anyone trying to make a story that this is some type of new trend and now philly is losing people, definitely doesn't know what they're talking about.

This.

[skyhigh07]

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/03/25/employers-full-time-return.html

“Philadelphia employers least likely to bring employees back to the office full-time, study shows“

Nadda good. On another note, there was an Op-Ed in the Inky yesterday from Councilwoman Parker who announced that City Council is poised to go hard on quality of life and safety issues. I was hoping they’d do that and would see the writing on the wall. They’ve got to find ways to stop the bleeding and keep people in the city. Sounds like they’ll also flip the bird to the “defund” crowd and hire more police and fund law enforcement, which is good.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by summersm343

1. No, this doesn’t show a “reversal of the recent trend of population growth.” 2020 was a very strange year, obviously, due to the pandemic. I would say this was 100% a fluke year due to a global pandemic, and not indicative of a new norm or trend.

All very accurate, and the headlines are meaningless without that critical context. It's like, has everyone already forgotten that the whole world was (and honestly still is) on fire?

I'd also highlight some important silver linings that got lost in these estimates:

Compared to other metro areas — a central city and its nearby counties — Philadelphia as a region fared better in domestic migration. In the city and its surrounding suburbs, 15,000 more residents moved out than in, a far less steep decline than places like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The Dallas and Phoenix metro areas, meanwhile, continued to see substantial population growth.

But unlike the city, deaths in the region overall exceeded births — a first since at least 2001 — by more than 3,000 people. Of the nation’s 10 largest metro areas, Philadelphia and Miami regions were the only ones to report more births than deaths.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-population-census-data-2021-20220324.html

First of all, who ever would have guessed that Philadelphia would have a fraction of the out-migration of a place like Miami? And I definitely wasn't expecting to hear that births still outnumbered deaths for the region.

The lack of huge regional out-migration and that fact that births stayed afloat means: 1) the region is doing a much better job compared to others in being able to attract/accommodate child-bearing families, and 2) population loss is much more likely to have occurred due to natural circumstances, as opposed to leaving by choice, which is much moreso the case in metros such as NY, Chicago, DC, Boston, SF, Miami and LA.

That's a huge testament to metro Philadelphia's livability.

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/03/25/employers-full-time-return.html

“Philadelphia employers least likely to bring employees back to the office full-time, study shows"

I think with national labor shortages going on, many more companies will be forced to recognize part-time in-office work to be more competitive with prospective applicants, so I don't think this survey is capturing that. If anything, this shows Philadelphia is ahead of the curve in what will become the workplace standard, if not now, then certainly in the future.

[Justin7]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

I hope they can restore or at least improve the facade. The alterations looks outdated in a bad way

Much of the original facade is exposed and I think it's possible more is still intact under the "improvements." If I owned this thing I'd start peeling off layers tomorrow.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by McBane

First of all, who ever would have guessed that Philadelphia would have a fraction of the out-migration of a place like Miami? And I definitely wasn't expecting to hear that births still outnumbered deaths for the region.

I did. Miami's cost of living skyrocketed seemingly overnight and is now the most expensive housing market in the country, surpassing NYC. It's a city full of transplants and is having a lot of QOL issues right now so a lot of people bounced.

While rapidly shifting from what I am seeing, Philly is still a town of roots so it won't function the same as these others and can't be compared really...and in this case that seems to have worked to its advantage.