PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread II

[BroadandMarket]

Originally Posted by UrbanRevival

The City is better off trying to purchase a good chunk of the parking lot hell that surrounds the stadiums and converting it into an expansion of FDR. There's a million public uses that would be great in that part of the city.

Well you're going to be really disappointed to find out it was part of FDR before...



But yeah that would never happen. FDR is plenty big, it's upkeep that has been an issue. The new renovations are looking great so it's nice to see some attention to it. I do think they missed the mark on making entrances more friendly. It's designed to be accessed by car instead of welcoming people by foot/bike. There should be a grand entrance at Broad and Pattison and another one further down Broad.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by cardeza

Lots of office workers are hybrid- just like city workers with office jobs. Not sure I understand the absurd accusation. Absurd why?

Isn't City Council still remote much of the time? The courts?

[cardeza]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Isn't City Council still remote much of the time? The courts?

No.

[cardeza]

Originally Posted by TempleGuy1000

You don't understand why public servants should have to actually serve the public, be a good example of civic pride, and show up to work? Maybe I would agree with you if every department didn't produce dog poop results constantly.

Glad you clarified that. You know very little about government apparently. The average worker is not a customer service agent working in MSB collecting payments. There are workers will all kinds of degrees working for the City doing everything you can imagine and 90% of them do not interface with regular citizens. They use email and computers and software just like "smart" people outside of City government like yourself. I'm sure you have ways to quantify your statement that most city workers are doing a poor job and producing "poop" results. If the only way white collar workers in the city can produce is by being in the office same should apply to all of us.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by cardeza

Glad you clarified that. You know very little about government apparently. The average worker is not a customer service agent working in MSB collecting payments. There are workers will all kinds of degrees working for the City doing everything you can imagine and 90% of them do not interface with regular citizens. They use email and computers and software just like "smart" people outside of City government like yourself. I'm sure you have ways to quantify your statement that most city workers are doing a poor job and producing "poop" results. If the only way white collar workers in the city can produce is by being in the office same should apply to all of us.

I think for most positions, WFH is a sham in general (IMO). My company went back full time in June 2021. If a private company wants to pay people to sit at home, that’s their decision. Once the employee is tax payer funded though, it’s problematic. Rightly or wrongly, many tax payers people have the perception that City workers are not the hardest working. If you want the tax payers to have faith that the government is being a good steward of their tax dollars, WFH is a bad idea. Further to the mayor’s point, WFH has been pretty disastrous for downtowns across America. Her decision makes absolute sense.

[Nanyika]

Originally Posted by BroadandMarket

Well you're going to be really disappointed to find out it was part of FDR before...



But yeah that would never happen. FDR is plenty big, it's upkeep that has been an issue. The new renovations are looking great so it's nice to see some attention to it. I do think they missed the mark on making entrances more friendly. It's designed to be accessed by car instead of welcoming people by foot/bike. There should be a grand entrance at Broad and Pattison and another one further down Broad.

The original Olmstead plan for the park had a rather grand entrance at Broad & Pattison, leading to a “Great Meadow,” and another major entrance from a plaza further to the south. The two major entrances were linked by a tree-lined boulevard (Broad St.) The park stretched from 11th St. to 20th St., with leisure-type activities planned west of Broad St. (around the lakes) and a big recreational field east of Broad St.

The new city plan wants to restore Olmstead’s Great Meadow bordering Broad St. as a large grassy picnic area, which would help revive the idea of a grand entrance for pedestrians. To do that, they will have to remove the tennis courts and baseball fields, put in a few decades ago, that fuss up the area.

The problem is that the city insists on moving those recreational facilities into a virtual sports city, with 16 synthetic-turf athletic fields, that they want to create by clear-cutting the trees and destroying much of the ecologically sensitive western portion of the park. There are much better (and cheaper) alternatives, such as improving the deteriorating athletic fields in the various neighborhoods, and even perhaps — following Olmstead’s plan — putting a couple of recreational fields in the parking lot area east of Broad St.

[skyhigh07]

Cool Walnut St Retail News!

Two applications were submitted to the PHC today:

1. 1805-09 Walnut St.: Starr's new Italian bistro restaurant will be called Boromini. Renderings look pretty swank. https://www.phila.gov/media/20240213...nut-St-app.pdf

2. 1617 Walnut St.: Nike Jordan World of Flight has finally been confirmed! https://www.phila.gov/media/20240213...nut-St-app.pdf

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

Cool Walnut St Retail News!
1805-09 Walnut St.: Starr's new Italian bistro restaurant will be called Boromini. Renderings look pretty swank. https://www.phila.gov/media/20240213...nut-St-app.pdf

The document recommends disapproval as submitted, due to planned destruction/replacement of historic materials around the windows. Otherwise they're OK with it.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

The document recommends disapproval as submitted, due to planned destruction/replacement of historic materials around the windows. Otherwise they're OK with it.

I agree with them there, too. I think the existing metalwork looks nicer than what they're proposing anyway. Same with Nike being denied removal of the middle second story historic window.

[cardeza]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I think for most positions, WFH is a sham in general (IMO). My company went back full time in June 2021. If a private company wants to pay people to sit at home, that’s their decision. Once the employee is tax payer funded though, it’s problematic. Rightly or wrongly, many tax payers people have the perception that City workers are not the hardest working. If you want the tax payers to have faith that the government is being a good steward of their tax dollars, WFH is a bad idea. Further to the mayor’s point, WFH has been pretty disastrous for downtowns across America. Her decision makes absolute sense.

So who is the arbiter of what types of people are allowed to be productive and WFH? You? Saying that only private sector employees should be allowed to do so based on optics is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard in a while. You sound antiquated and out of touch with the modern world. Some folks in certain fields were doing this well before COVID- this just opened this up to a much wider swath of people. Someone who doesnt work hard isn't going to do so no matter where you make them sit. I worked in the office for the City for many years- some people were what you would call hardworking, some were not. And this was in the office. I crack up at people who swear that pre pandemic the world was full of hardworking white collar workers who stayed late and sweated every last detail- laziness and complacency did not exist before WFH.

You wont be able to tell one bit of difference before or after Parker's policy goes into effect. As for Downtowns- we aren't located in a particular location solely to make sure lunch vendors profit. Saying people "should" be downtown to make sure that their money supports local eateries is sort of like saying you shouldn't be allowed to pack a lunch if you work downtown because you are hurting the local economy.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by cardeza

So who is the arbiter of what types of people are allowed to be productive and WFH? You?

The City in general I guess. Certainly not not me specifically but the tax payers in general do and should get input in how tax money is spent.

Originally Posted by cardeza

You sound antiquated and out of touch with the modern world.

Well, we both have our opinions I guess. I've been called worse on this board so I will gladly take being antiquated and out of touch.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by cardeza

I crack up at people who swear that pre pandemic the world was full of hardworking white collar workers who stayed late and sweated every last detail- laziness and complacency did not exist before WFH.

Yeah this one makes me laugh also, as pre-pandemic I saw so much nonsense in an office that actually reversed when the world went WFH, as for once people were looking closer at the work production vs just looking up from their desk and saying oh yeah Joe and Jane are here, they must be working.

You wont be able to tell one bit of difference before or after Parker's policy goes into effect. As for Downtowns- we aren't located in a particular location solely to make sure lunch vendors profit. Saying people "should" be downtown to make sure that their money supports local eateries is sort of like saying you shouldn't be allowed to pack a lunch if you work downtown because you are hurting the local economy.

It can be a chicken/egg argument but with QOL issues and inflation I don't know many people who can afford to patronize lunch spots every day like they could before and who want to hang out after work. The world has changed and we need to figure out how to adapt to this.

Originally Posted by PHL10

The City in general I guess. Certainly not not me specifically but the tax payers in general do and should get input in how tax money is spent.

An issue that comes to mind for me is the pay and the loss of some of the perks that made up for that (the government work package is just not what it used to be) so if you don't want to lose talent to private industry there is going to need to be some other incentive and WFH could be a good selling point.

[3rd&Brown]

Random observations from a data nerd.

I've mentioned before that I sometimes scan real estate transactions and google buyers names to see what they do. Yes, this is anecdotal, but I do it out of curiousity because I am generally interested in whether the growth in this area a sort of bubble based on constricted supply or is there transformational change happening in the local economy, which is my gut.

I grew up in SW Delaware County and have seem massive change in the area over the years. It was always generally nice and aspirational with "good schools", but in recent years the changing demographics have seemed to accelerate. Lots of out of state plates in new homes and many more immigrants and Asians in particular.

So this past weekend I decided to look at recent transactions in one township (Concord...ie. Garnet Valley and parts of Glen Mills) and literally just google the names (LinkedIn is a blessing for this) to see what folks are up to. I just went back 3 months and looked at many of the transactions above 700K.

These were the employers I came across (# people in transaction working there).

JP Morgan Chase (5+)
Google (2)
Dupont (2)
Citi
Coinbase
Paypal
Freddie Mac
Wilson Sonsini (a Silicon Valley law firm which apparently has offices in Wilmington...learn something new every day)
Comcast
SAP
Nemours (Childrens Hospital)
Disney
NIH

1. I knew this from growing up, but the area of SW Delco and Southern Chester County clustered along 202 is heavily oriented toward Wilmington from an employment perspective. That orientation sort of starts along Rt 322 and westward. When you go north toward West Chester the orientation changes more toward KOP and when you go east on RT1 it changes toward Philadelphia.

2. Fintech is a thing in this region that we need to acknowledge. And it is growing quickly. I forgot Paypal quietly opened an office in Philly a few years back. JP Morgan has been growing its presence in Wilmington for years. I've seen subtley over the years more and more of individuals involved in tech at JP Morgan have moved here. I assume this is more of an opt in thing than a mandate, and is happening through word of mouth among employees at JP Morgan. Like...OMG you can get a whole house here for $700k in an amazining school district, taxes are low, and you can hop on a train and be in NYC in 2 hours!

3. The Coinbase employee in my list was a hire from JP Morgan and is clearly working remote. I imagine this is happening more than we realize as any company involved in Fintech is probably poaching talent in this area which now has critical mass. Said differently, we have quickly developed a deep bench of talent in Fintech and local governments should be courting companies in emerging spaces to locate or open offices here (crypto etc). This might happen on its own organically if these companies continue to hire in the area.

[UrbanRevival]

First, I want to say that, as a public employee, there's so much ignorance and stereotyping that goes on about this sector; it's very tiring and frustrating to hear constantly. But there's no question that many, if not most, of the dedicated and hard-working people I've ever met work in government.

And folks are delusional if they think an office setting is absolutely necessary; a massive chunk of the public sector workforce is not front-office facing. It's 2024, folks.

That's not to say that there's not a good chunk of positions that benefit from being in-person, but just like any other sector, public employees deserve flexibility for their personal lives. Not to mention, with WFH flexibility (at least part-time) quickly becoming an expectation for white-collar workers, municipal government absolutely has to follow suit to remain competitive for talent attraction. This is how the world works now.

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

It can be a chicken/egg argument but with QOL issues and inflation I don't know many people who can afford to patronize lunch spots every day like they could before and who want to hang out after work. The world has changed and we need to figure out how to adapt to this.

An issue that comes to mind for me is the pay and the loss of some of the perks that made up for that (the government work package is just not what it used to be) so if you don't want to lose talent to private industry there is going to need to be some other incentive and WFH could be a good selling point.

Excellent point. There's a lot of nuance to this discussion that greatly relates to increased costs for commuting. It's a completely ignored point.

Look, we all want to make sure big city downtowns are vibrant and can recover daily foot traffic, and I do agree with at least a part-time in-office requirement. But the "genie is out of the bottle" regarding WFH, and everyone needs to accept that at this point. It was likely always going to be an inevitability with computer-based employment; we're just now dealing with the a massive uptick very quickly rather than gradually.

Nevertheless, the city can and will recover daily foot traffic through increased tourism and job growth/ more firms committing to part-time in-office requirements. It just takes some creativity and strategic effort.

[summersm343]

The Hannah Finishes Up as Another Project Gets Started in the Eraserhood











Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...he-eraserhood/

[summersm343]

A Completed Callowhill Overbuild









Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...ed-apartments/

[summersm343]

The Key to East Callowhill? The Keystone Could Unlock the Corridor









Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...-the-corridor/

[Redddog]

Cardy, you sound like someone who doesn't work for corporate America. I don't know what you do, but we're not talking about whether WFH is better or worse for the worker. It's about whether ending widespread WFH will benefit the Philadelphia economy.

I'm not saying that your points are all misguided. You're absolutely right on a lot. And none of that matters.

Government jobs are a lot like private sector jobs with a key distinction being that those workers are about as inefficient as you'll find. The corporate model, right or wrong, was developed on managers managing their staff in person. It's how they want it. It assumes that workers are less efficient when their boss isn't in their face. It's an insulting assumption to the hard working WFH'ers out there in many cases. Although....from personal experience, there definitely were some people who mailed it in when we went into covid protocol. And when we went to hybrid, some of them even described the new schedule as "still getting a long weekend." lol.

Corporations had systems in place (the "I see you sitting at your desk" system was notably effective) to monitor their people and WFH required new ones. And none of this takes into account that a ton of those employers were stuck in leases that had years left. Who knows what happens when those leases are up but for now, those unnecessary rents are only made worse from the visual of empty desks.

Economically, there is no argument (to me) that decreased, or eliminated WFH would benefit the local economies. People would eat/drink/buy stuff if they are in town. And more people in town....well it's fairly easy math.

I loved the WFH model. It was great for me and I was as or more productive, worked longer hours and generally was available to my bosses more then when in the office. But corporate America isn't designed to be totally comfortable with WFH.

It was a solution to a once-in-a-generation event that most companies are trying to end at the moment. Workers think they have leverage and they don't. And the amount opportunities are dropping precipitously. And, at least in my line of work, employers are trying like hell to figure out a way to entirely end WFH and Hybrid models. The pandemic is over and they want their people in front of them.

It sucks for work/life balance for some of us, but for the city and local economies, it's going to be a boon.

[summersm343]

107-Unit Apartment Building Getting Framed Up at the Former 7-11 in Fishtown









Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...1-in-fishtown/

[summersm343]

Comcast Spectacor Wants to Develop the Sports Complex…Again

So, what’s on tap for this asphalt haven? It sure seems like something big, given some of the numbers: 500K sqft of office space, 460K sqft of retail, the aforementioned 5,500-seat arena, 2,000 new multi-family units, and 500 hotel rooms across multiple spots. Additionally, a whopping 10,000 structured parking spaces will be included, making up for the loss of surface parking spaces. Again, details are scant, as these master plans were presented to the Sports Complex Special Services District, which has acted as a community advocacy group since the early Aughts.

Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...complex-again/