PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-WILMINGTON-ATLANTIC CITY-READING | Metro Development Thread

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

I just drove through the Greystone development a month or so ago as a short cut from Pottstown Pike over to Phoenixville Pike to get to Chester County Hospital....and holy moly the amount of houses they have built on that property is staggering....

I have a cousin that lives in there but I haven't been yet.

[EastSideHBG]

All well and good but the current gridlock around this area needs to be addressed:

Property in Plymouth Meeting being marketed for sale as potential hotel



The property stretches from Plymouth Road to Corson Lane and is situated between The Pinnacle senior living facility and homes.

https://morethanthecurve.com/propert...tential-hotel/

[summersm343]

Sprawling Mount Laurel has plans for a Main Street

Read/view more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/ra...-20240213.html

[summersm343]

Bristol Borough won a national contest to revitalize Mill Street. Eight years later, business is booming.

Read/view more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/sm...-20240221.html

[EastSideHBG]

Developer in Negotiations to Bring Whole Foods and Target to Towamencin, But Residents Remain Skeptical

Furthermore, Nicoletti said PSDC acquired even more properties near Forty Foot Road and Sumneytown Pike to develop its vision of a "Main Street” at the busy intersection.



https://northpennnow.com/developer-i...p8237-103.htm#

[summersm343]

Seems like a pretty standard suburban shopping complex, no? Surprised Whole Foods would go here, but aside from that there’s nothing really interesting. As far as a Main Street though? That’d be interesting to see.

[EastSideHBG]

During the meeting on February 21st, Conshohocken’s Borough Council voted 6-1 to approve a memorandum of understanding between SEPTA and the Borough of Conshohocken that outlined how SEPTA regarding a property owned by the transportation authority along Conshohocken’s riverfront. Voting against it was council member Kathleen Kingsley (D, Ward 5).

The property was originally slated for a parking garage that was a partnership between SEPTA and PennDOT that would have served the train station and a PennDOT plan to encourage drivers on the Schuylkill Expressway to exit in Conshohocken and continue their journey on train.
https://morethanthecurve.com/read-th...d-development/

Document: https://morethanthecurve.com/wp-cont...hocken-MOU.pdf

[Urbanthusiat]

Now that year-end employment data for 2023 is out, I decided to take a look at how Philly has done since Dec. 2019, just before Covid. The numbers are actually quite good for Philly in comparison to the rest of the Northeast. From Dec. 2019 to Dec. 2023 we have.

• Dec. 2019 Total Nonfarm / Dec. 2023 Total Nonfarm / Absolute Change / Percent Change
• Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD / 3,033.4 / 3,162.8 / 129.4 / 4.27%
• New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA / 10,146.6 / 10,193.3 / 46.7 / 0.46%
• Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH NECTA / 2,858.4 / 2,891.2 / 32.8 / 1.15%
• Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV / 3,381.3 / 3,394.0 / 12.7 / 0.38%

That means that in the last 4 years the Philly MSA has added more jobs than NYC, DC, and Boston combined - and not by a small margin at 129,400 to 92,200. That would have been unheard of pre-covid, and covid hit all of these cities it's not like we're some exception. Pittsburgh and Baltimore lost jobs during that period so you could even say Philadelphia added more jobs than the next 5 biggest cities in the northeast combimed. Clearly we've got a good thing going on here. I think a huge part of it is affordability as a lot of people in those cities were no longer tied down to them once WFH came of age with covid, and could move to Philly and take Amtrak once a week to those other cities. I know several people that applies to.

[cardeza]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

Now that year-end employment data for 2023 is out, I decided to take a look at how Philly has done since Dec. 2019, just before Covid. The numbers are actually quite good for Philly in comparison to the rest of the Northeast. From Dec. 2019 to Dec. 2023 we have.

• Dec. 2019 Total Nonfarm / Dec. 2023 Total Nonfarm / Absolute Change / Percent Change
• Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD / 3,033.4 / 3,162.8 / 129.4 / 4.27%
• New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA / 10,146.6 / 10,193.3 / 46.7 / 0.46%
• Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH NECTA / 2,858.4 / 2,891.2 / 32.8 / 1.15%
• Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV / 3,381.3 / 3,394.0 / 12.7 / 0.38%

That means that in the last 4 years the Philly MSA has added more jobs than NYC, DC, and Boston combined - and not by a small margin at 129,400 to 92,200. That would have been unheard of pre-covid, and covid hit all of these cities it's not like we're some exception. Pittsburgh and Baltimore lost jobs during that period so you could even say Philadelphia added more jobs than the next 5 biggest cities in the northeast combimed. Clearly we've got a good thing going on here. I think a huge part of it is affordability as a lot of people in those cities were no longer tied down to them once WFH came of age with covid, and could move to Philly and take Amtrak once a week to those other cities. I know several people that applies to.

very interesting stuff

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

Now that year-end employment data for 2023 is out, I decided to take a look at how Philly has done since Dec. 2019, just before Covid. The numbers are actually quite good for Philly in comparison to the rest of the Northeast. From Dec. 2019 to Dec. 2023 we have.

• Dec. 2019 Total Nonfarm / Dec. 2023 Total Nonfarm / Absolute Change / Percent Change
• Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD / 3,033.4 / 3,162.8 / 129.4 / 4.27%
• New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA / 10,146.6 / 10,193.3 / 46.7 / 0.46%
• Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH NECTA / 2,858.4 / 2,891.2 / 32.8 / 1.15%
• Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV / 3,381.3 / 3,394.0 / 12.7 / 0.38%

That means that in the last 4 years the Philly MSA has added more jobs than NYC, DC, and Boston combined - and not by a small margin at 129,400 to 92,200. That would have been unheard of pre-covid, and covid hit all of these cities it's not like we're some exception. Pittsburgh and Baltimore lost jobs during that period so you could even say Philadelphia added more jobs than the next 5 biggest cities in the northeast combimed. Clearly we've got a good thing going on here. I think a huge part of it is affordability as a lot of people in those cities were no longer tied down to them once WFH came of age with covid, and could move to Philly and take Amtrak once a week to those other cities. I know several people that applies to.

Impressive. The Philadelphia region is in-line with sunbelt metros in terms of job growth.

Are there updated population stats? Hopefully the city will soon come out of the Covid population slump.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Impressive. The Philadelphia region is in-line with sunbelt metros in terms of job growth.

Are there updated population stats? Hopefully the city will soon come out of the Covid population slump.

Agreed. I'm not even sure this includes remote workers.

For example, I work in NYC. I'm in 2 days a week. I assure you PA does not see my employment in NYC as a local job. So if anything, I think this is only part of the story. My hunch is that the jobs of remote and hybrid workers are being domiciled in their work states and not their home state. NY State certainly takes precedent in my taxes. NY withholds and I pay PA in April, though I get a credit to offset my PA taxes.

[EastSideHBG]

Plan for 598 apartments in Conshohocken reduced and will now also include condos




https://morethanthecurve.com/plan-fo...nclude-condos/

[EastSideHBG]

700 Residential Units, Offices Proposed At Norristown State Hospital

What's being called the largest development project in Norristown's history would also bring an industrial tech complex to town.



https://patch.com/pennsylvania/norri...state-hospital

[TempleGuy1000]

^let's hope for Norristown's success!

[3rd&Brown]

I love that Boomi moved to Conshohocken, but this headline is so unecessary.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/bo...-20240311.html

Another tech company is betting on Conshohocken — not Center City — for its new headquarters

From the article:

"Boomi considered Center City, Lucas said, but after more than a decade in Berwyn, “when we looked at a heat map of where everybody lives, this looked like the most accessible” location for current staff."

I actually read their decision as validation of Center City. Boomi wanted to be as close to Center City as possible without alienating its existing employee base. They opted for a walkable mixed use area with access to transit in lieu of a box in a parking lot in Berwyn. More importantly, the CEO commutes from Denver and he sure as hell didn't want to get from the airport to Berwyn.

Anyways...yet one in a million examples of the city's paper of record looking to shit on the city. Looking for the negative even when the news is positive.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I love that Boomi moved to Conshohocken, but this headline is so unecessary.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/bo...-20240311.html

Another tech company is betting on Conshohocken — not Center City — for its new headquarters

From the article:

"Boomi considered Center City, Lucas said, but after more than a decade in Berwyn, “when we looked at a heat map of where everybody lives, this looked like the most accessible” location for current staff."

I actually read their decision as validation of Center City. Boomi wanted to be as close to Center City as possible without alienating its existing employee base. They opted for a walkable mixed use area with access to transit in lieu of a box in a parking lot in Berwyn. More importantly, the CEO commutes from Denver and he sure as hell didn't want to get from the airport to Berwyn.

Anyways...yet one in a million examples of the city's paper of record looking to shit on the city. Looking for the negative even when the news is positive.

I didn't post, but thought the exact same thing.

Good article, positive story (and the company is actually moving closer to Philadelphia), with a typical ho-hum defeatist/misleading headline.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

I didn't post, but thought the exact same thing.

Good article, positive story (and the company is actually moving closer to Philadelphia), with a typical ho-hum defeatist/misleading headline.

Exactly. They wrote the article as if Boomi was leaving the city for the suburbs.

I read it as they wanted to be as close to the city as possible and that they were thoroughly rejecting the pure play suburban model of office development..not Center City. And mind you, every business that locates in Conshohocken benefits the city. It means that there is a higher likelihood that their employees will live in Philadelphia, take transit, etc.

It's like when the Inquirer article wrote the story on the historic rise in incomes in the city (almost uniformly across the city) and instead of focusing on the fact that the average household incomes went up by 60%-100% in places as poor as Fairhill and Grays Ferry, it opted instead to make the article about inequality in Philadelphia. It literally was like, disregard that incomes in Fairhill nearly doubled in ten years...but can you believe we have census tracts in Philadelphia where the average household income is $133K a year when there are other census tracts with incomes $100K per year lower. Um, yes. I can believe that. And why not shed light on the fact that incomes in Fairhill nearly doubled in ten years...which means a lot of people went from living in abject poverty to being, well...just poor. Is it enough? No. But it's an f of a lot of movement in a decade in a place that until recently was completely left behind.

BTW, this is the article I'm referencing above.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Exactly. They wrote the article as if Boomi was leaving the city for the suburbs.

I read it as they wanted to be as close to the city as possible and that they were thoroughly rejecting the pure play suburban model of office development..not Center City. And mind you, every business that locates in Conshohocken benefits the city. It means that there is a higher likelihood that their employees will live in Philadelphia, take transit, etc.

It's like when the Inquirer article wrote the story on the historic rise in incomes in the city (almost uniformly across the city) and instead of focusing on the fact that the average household incomes went up by 60%-100% in places as poor as Fairhill and Grays Ferry, it opted instead to make the article about inequality in Philadelphia. It literally was like, disregard that incomes in Fairhill nearly doubled in ten years...but can you believe we have census tracts in Philadelphia where the average household income is $133K a year when there are other census tracts with incomes $100K per year lower. Um, yes. I can believe that. And why not shed light on the fact that incomes in Fairhill nearly doubled in ten years...which means a lot of people went from living in abject poverty to being, well...just poor. Is it enough? No. But it's an f of a lot of movement in a decade in a place that until recently was completely left behind.

BTW, this is the article I'm referencing above.

This is negative and misleading. The entire reason they stayed in Conshy is because all the current big wigs all live on the Mail Line. It has nothing to do with Philly in general. Same thing happened to me. All the jerks I used to work for lived out there. When our Ritt Square lease was up they made some weak effort to "find a place" in the city. Everyone of the C-suites lived out on the mainline. Everyone else lived in the city.

Guess where the new office ended up?

Conshy. They lost 3-4 people (me included) because of that commute.

[PHLtoNYC]

Philadelphia area housing market is still bucking the trends of other cities. The media sale price for a home in Chester County is now over $500k.

Philadelphia-area home prices rose the fastest in February in nearly two years
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...Pos=2#cxrecs_s

Ahead of the much-anticipated spring housing market, the median home price across the Philadelphia region jumped 10.4% to $340,000, according to data from Bright MLS. That includes a 6.4% increase within Philadelphia County to $250,000, an outlier from the minimal or negative price growth seen throughout much of the past year in the city.

The market as a whole is an outlier, according to Bright MLS chief economist Lisa Sturtevant. "Washington, [D.C.], Baltimore, they all saw big jumps in inventory in February. Here in the Philadelphia market, it is still pretty tight."

The median sales price jumped 16% in Bucks County to $450,000, increased 13.8% in Chester County to more than $506,000 and 22% in Delaware County to nearly $305,000. Chester County remains the most expensive county in the region.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

The market as a whole is an outlier, according to Bright MLS chief economist Lisa Sturtevant. "Washington, [D.C.], Baltimore, they all saw big jumps in inventory in February. Here in the Philadelphia market, it is still pretty tight."

The median sales price jumped 16% in Bucks County to $450,000, increased 13.8% in Chester County to more than $506,000 and 22% in Delaware County to nearly $305,000. Chester County remains the most expensive county in the region.[/I]

Wow, definitely crazy price growth numbers, but can't say I'm surprised as the Philly area has been severely undervalued for so long.

And clearly folks (due to many buyers from surrounding more expensive markets, as we know) are taking advantage of that.

Also interesting regarding the lack of an uptick in inventory. I have to think that bodes well for reduced out-migration, as the Philly area still boasts a very strong COL/income ratio.

Unless you're a retiree booking it for a tropical climate, there's much less incentive for working families to relocate these days, even with a significant pay bump elsewhere.