PHILADELPHIA | 702 Sansom Street | 315 FT | 24 FLOORS

[allovertown]

With upscale residential construction largely unaffected throughout the city, residential real estate generally performing well in Philly despite the pandemic, and even new projects being announced in recent months, something tells me that the pandemic may be a small part of the equation as far as what is going on here. If there was no pandemic, still not sure we'd have seen construction here yet.

When I'm walking through the area, I'm sure to never walk down this block. Just the sight of this mess pisses me off so much.

[eixample]

This situation pisses me off too and I avoid this block as well. Historical preservation can go way too far in certain parts of the city (e.g. society hill), but we should have preserved this jewel of a block of low rises (pun intended). Even if jewelry stores were losing steam it would have evolved into something new as it had evolved into Jeweler's row before.

[DudeGuy]

Toll Brothers had their earnings call yesterday and this site (kind of) came up. Relevant bits below:

Jack Micenko:

Has capital allocation around the build versus the rental or city living development changed? I mean, it's hard to - you got to plan these things through cycles given the construction timing. But is Toll pivoting more towards traditional and maybe less on the rental side, are we hearing that or is it just maybe the way you fund that business is going to change more - on a more pronounced basis?

Douglas Yearley:

No, you're hearing that. We have no intention right now of buying a city living property butthere will come a time when that changes. But right now, we're on the sidelines. We have, Gregg mentioned, $200 million of the city living investment is in land, and none of that land has started.

So we have what are really good high-rise sites, one in Manhattan, one in Philadelphia, one in Seattle and one in Los Angeles that are not starting right now. We need to get through this winter. We need to see what things look like in the spring. I am very encouraged by the last 6 weeks of activity in Manhattan.

I am not telling you it's back, but it is improving. We're hearing that buyers with the talk of vaccines are now thinking about living in New York. We're hearing a few stories of some that render the suburbs, that are coming back to take a look. But that doesn't mean I am ready to start a high-rise in New York, because it's very different from the farm fields.

In the farm fields, when the market rolls, you can just stop building the next house down the road. In the high-rise business, once you start, you're going and you're going to the top. So we are being very cautious, both in starting those four buildings I mentioned, and on the sidelines for new opportunities.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by DudeGuy

Toll Brothers had their earnings call yesterday and this site (kind of) came up. Relevant bits below:

So 2021? I still find this delay ridiculous. High-end residential construction is chugging along throughout the city and Toll is a very large company with a huge marketing reach, there is no reason another 100 or so units could not be absorbed into the market. And its the only new tower overlooking Washington Square Park...an attractive trait for buyers.

The aesthetic of the tower is a whole other problem, glass box...This is a company that can afford an A+ design (which some of their Manhattan projects get), yet Philadelphia gets C-...their home base...

A tragedy all around.

[Redddog]

These guys should be banned from the city.

Pure scum. And we let them get away with it.