PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by 700 Level

I love it in Philly. Great neighborhoods, incredible vibe, huge additional potential. We also have some of the best suburban towns you will find anywhere. But look, if you travel the country, I don’t know how anyone could argue that we are not at the bottom of the pile in terms of maintenance and litter. It’s flat out embarrassing.

One of my current “favorites” is connecting from the Platt onto the Schuylkill. Yes, the very road visitors are most likely to be on when they arrive at the airport. Welcome!

Yep! Visitors are most likely to enter via I-95, I-76 or the Platt Bridge to 26th Street.... all 3 are amongst the most trash-strewn and embarrassing entrances into a major city.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Yep! Visitors are most likely to enter via I-95, I-76 or the Platt Bridge to 26th Street.... all 3 are amongst the most trash-strewn and embarrassing entrances into a major city.

The Platt Bridge is the ONLY way to get to I-76 W from the Airport without taking 95 to 676. I would certainly agree that that is one of the biggest embarrassments.

[iheartphilly]

Enough of this "trash" talk lol.

We didn't earn the moniker "Filthadelphia" for no reason. Some of the stuff people hauling in vans, pickup trucks, and work trucks loosely tied down or not falls off plus all the other trash people throw out of their cars while driving on the interstate is just flat out crazy. Some people treat the highways like its there personal garbage can. SMH. I even once saw one of those tree cutting service vehicles spewing leaves for 5 miles while I was driving behind them before I exited. The sh*t people pull on the interstate highways is amazing to the eyes.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

The Platt Bridge is the ONLY way to get to I-76 W from the Airport without taking 95 to 676. I would certainly agree that that is one of the biggest embarrassments.

Yes, I know that. I meant people driving into the city from the West are coming in via I-76. People coming from the airport are taking the Platt to 26th Street to I-76. It is disgraceful that there's not a better connector between I-95 and I-76, but with the future development of the Bellwether District it may actually help to spruce up this area.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Enough of this "trash" talk lol.

We didn't earn the moniker "Filthadelphia" for no reason. Some of the stuff people hauling in vans, pickup trucks, and work trucks loosely tied down or not falls off plus all the other trash people throw out of their cars while driving on the interstate is just flat out crazy. Some people treat the highways like its there personal garbage can. SMH. I even once saw one of those tree cutting service vehicles spewing leaves for 5 miles while I was driving behind them before I exited. The sh*t people pull on the interstate highways is amazing to the eyes.

I agree, and I blame myself for contributing. Let's move on! Enough has been said about it.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Enough of this "trash" talk lol.

Well played.

[arkitect13]

1700 race, got new renderings and a redesign.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbYONvlJNGQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by arkitect13

1700 race, got new renderings and a redesign.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbYONvlJNGQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Still not worthy of the building it's replacing.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by PHLJD13

Not "wrong", but rather inaccurate. The Fashion District is 90% outlets with lower-quality, made-for-outlet merchandise crammed on plastic hangers and piled in bargain bins. Express, Armani Exchange, Eddie Bauer, etc. are mid-range at best. Their outlet brands in the Fashion District are on par with Old Navy. Which is . . . fine.

But a completely different target demographic than the mall in the Oculus, which has elevated brands like Aesop, Reiss, Apple, and Mont Blanc.

Technically there are 2 WTC malls, Brookfield Place and the Oculus, both of which are far superior to the Fashion District in every way.

Brookfield Place:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7131603,...pi-0-ya68.27394-ro-0-fo100!7i4608!8i2304

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7129463,...itch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Oculus:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7116891,...716-ro-5.7674037e-17-fo100!7i6720!8i3360

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7114897,...-pi-0-ya164.1764-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Fashion District...
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9514968,...SD9LiYu6At-jajc1OdF7Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9521864,...-pi-0-ya230.2052-ro0-fo100!7i8192!8i4096

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by allovertown

Still not worthy of the building it's replacing.

Given that, they should demo the existing building and then take a few years to think about whether they want to actually build something or not.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Technically there are 2 WTC malls, Brookfield Place and the Oculus, both of which are far superior to the Fashion District in every way. (Except the AMC theater).

Brookfield Place:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7131603,...pi-0-ya68.27394-ro-0-fo100!7i4608!8i2304

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7129463,...itch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Oculus:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7116891,...716-ro-5.7674037e-17-fo100!7i6720!8i3360

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7114897,...-pi-0-ya164.1764-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Fashion District...
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9514968,...SD9LiYu6At-jajc1OdF7Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9521864,...-pi-0-ya230.2052-ro0-fo100!7i8192!8i4096

The Oculus also just has better bones. You get off of PATH, and then you're there. In the mall. It's also a landmark in and of itself, which encourages foot traffic.
If the Fashion District were an architectural marvel, but had all of the same problems it currently has, I would still want it gone for the same reason I want the Robinson Building and Roundhouse gone: they're anti-urbanist nightmares.

[Justin7]

delete

[mcgrath618]

-delete-

[summersm343]

Can we please, for the 157th time stop comparing Philadelphia to NYC??? They are not one in the same. What works in NYC, a top 3 city and metropolis in the world, the financial capital in the world, one of the most visited cities in the world, and one of the wealthiest cities in the world..... does not translate and work for Philadelphia.

The more we compare Philadelphia to NYC, the more harm we do. We need to compare Philadelphia to it's peer cities - San Francisco, Boston, DC, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta and Phoenix.

[ok-ez]

hey your're the engineer but not sure the addition is even really attached to the building? I've said it before and i'll say it again it's worth saving. I don't think anyone is trying to save the wall or 'addition'

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by summersm343

We need to compare Philadelphia to it's peer cities - San Francisco, Boston, DC, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta and Phoenix.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

The Oculus also just has better bones. You get off of PATH, and then you're there. In the mall. It's also a landmark in and of itself, which encourages foot traffic.
If the Fashion District were an architectural marvel, but had all of the same problems it currently has, I would still want it gone for the same reason I want the Robinson Building and Roundhouse gone: they're anti-urbanist nightmares.

I work above the Oculus in WT3. I love it in everyway. Commuting from Philly via Amtrak -> Newark Penn -> (Path) WTC. It's super easy. I literally don't have to walk outside. I'm at my desk an hour and 15 minutes after I get on Amtrak at Cornwells Heights.

Brookfield Place (which is connected underground) has almost every luxury retailer you could image, 2 (good) food courts, and access to the Hudson Waterfront.

Fashion District is like the Franklin Mills Mall by comparison.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by ok-ez

hey your're the engineer but not sure the addition is even really attached to the building? I've said it before and i'll say it again it's worth saving. I don't think anyone is trying to save the wall or 'addition'

If you get rid of those walls and that addition, it's benign enough that it doesn't offend. In my original post I said that one thing the Roundhouse has that the building across Race doesn't is that it actually, you know, fronts Race street.

The issue is that the building is literally disintegrating. Is it worth preserving? After getting rid of the bad, maybe, but you'd need someone with deep pockets and an eye for that style of architecture.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I work above the Oculus in WT3. I love it in everyway. Commuting from Philly via Amtrak -> Newark Penn -> (Path) WTC. It's super easy. I literally don't have to walk outside. I'm at my desk an hour and 15 minutes after I get on Amtrak at Cornwells Heights.

Brookfield Place (which is connected underground) has almost every luxury retailer you could image, 2 (good) food courts, and access to the Hudson Waterfront.

Fashion District is like the Franklin Mills Mall by comparison.

All those luxury brands used to be in the WTC mall. I used to walk through there on my commute - up to the 15 minutes before that building was struck. It was nothing special architecturally but they had everything in there.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Can we please, for the 157th time stop comparing Philadelphia to NYC??? They are not one in the same. What works in NYC, a top 3 city and metropolis in the world, the financial capital in the world, one of the most visited cities in the world, and one of the wealthiest cities in the world..... does not translate and work for Philadelphia.

The more we compare Philadelphia to NYC, the more harm we do. We need to compare Philadelphia to it's peer cities - San Francisco, Boston, DC, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta and Phoenix.

I'm not sure if this is in reference to the ongoing discussion of the FD, but we're not really comparing the two cities. Just malls that happen to be in those two places. It's an apt comparison, both are malls in a dense downtown that are connected to transit.

If you'd rather us not discuss anything in NYC at all, I would easily say that Block 37 (Chicago) beats the FD for all the same reasons the Oculus does, sans architectural landmark.