PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[iamrobk]

A friend of mine went to Sprouts over the weekend and said it was great but already just as crowded as the Center City Trader Joe's. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, feels like all the half-decent grocery stores in and around Center City are always packed.

[McBane]

Shirt Corner at 2 stories still makes no sense. No interest in being a landlord? You can outsource that operation to a management company. Or they could have sold their property to a developer with an arrangement that would have permitted SC to continue to operate as the first floor tenant rent-free. They could have built four stories, let the upper floors sit vacant, and then when they're good and ready, sell the building. The owners of the SC really left a lot of money on the table by not developing their very valuable piece of land to its max potential.

Perhaps one day, it will be demo'd for a taller building or maybe additional floors can be added?

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by McBane

Shirt Corner at 2 stories still makes no sense. No interest in being a landlord? You can outsource that operation to a management company. Or they could have sold their property to a developer with an arrangement that would have permitted SC to continue to operate as the first floor tenant rent-free. They could have built four stories, let the upper floors sit vacant, and then when they're good and ready, sell the building. The owners of the SC really left a lot of money on the table by not developing their very valuable piece of land to its max potential.

Perhaps one day, it will be demo'd for a taller building or maybe additional floors can be added?

Yep, considering old city has exploded in residential construction both mid-end and high end homes over the past few years. I would guess over 150 units have come online since 2015. It made no sense whatsoever. Also, with the capping of I-95 and construction of a park above it, it should continue to spur more residential development. Also, I think Sheraton on Front and Walnut was in the stages of building up to gain more rooms for their brand. Not sure what stage it is in at this point.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by reparcsyks

I’m surprised there isn’t a height minimum on Market Street. I’d say minimum 4 stories from Front to 5th and minimum 10 stories from 6th to City Hall. Two stories is ridiculous.

I walk by this corner everyday.

It'a absolutely ridiculous looking. I heard that they didnt have the funds to build higher.

It's a bummer but what ya gonna do?

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by Redddog

It's a bummer but what ya gonna do?

Sell the property or go out for debt/equity? Not rocket science. Surely they could have gotten more capital at this location. In any case, I don't really care. It just "fits in." And it's a small lot anyway, which might turn off institutional capital.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by McBane

Shirt Corner at 2 stories still makes no sense. No interest in being a landlord? You can outsource that operation to a management company. Or they could have sold their property to a developer with an arrangement that would have permitted SC to continue to operate as the first floor tenant rent-free. They could have built four stories, let the upper floors sit vacant, and then when they're good and ready, sell the building. The owners of the SC really left a lot of money on the table by not developing their very valuable piece of land to its max potential.

Perhaps one day, it will be demo'd for a taller building or maybe additional floors can be added?

You know what's stranger here? The City's TAXABLE LAND assessment for the 2 lots. Each lot is 1,760 sq ft. In 2013 they were both assessed $36,608 (again, I'm talking about the land portion of the assessment only). So identical size, identical land assessment.

Fast forward to 2019 tax year taxable land assessment. 300 Market, THE MORE VALUABLE CORNER LOT, is assessed at $334,750 taxable land, yet 302 is assessed at $886,400 taxable land.

This is puzzling.

[Kfmcshan]

New CDR submissions are out. There are a bunch of low rise projects with a lot of units - Old Richmond, Kensington (2), Washington Ave (2), Mt Airy/Germantown, and East Falls

https://www.phila.gov/CITYPLANNING/P...ignReview.aspx

[ScreamShatter]

Originally Posted by Kfmcshan

New CDR submissions are out. There are a bunch of low rise projects with a lot of units - Old Richmond, Kensington (2), Washington Ave (2), Mt Airy/Germantown, and East Falls

https://www.phila.gov/CITYPLANNING/P...ignReview.aspx

How insane is it that Somerset is getting a development like that?!!! Who would have ever thought the development would spread that far north?!

[Kfmcshan]

Originally Posted by ScreamShatter

How insane is it that Summerset is getting a development like that?!!! Who would have ever thought the development would spread that far north?!

for real! and across the street from a scrap yard

[Knight Hospitaller]

Sometimes the tortoise wins the race:

https://www.bisnow.com/philadelphia/...y-retail-93174

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Sometimes the tortoise wins the race:

https://www.bisnow.com/philadelphia/...y-retail-93174

^^Interesting to juxtapose that reality with what the Inquirer reported last week that we are, in fact, getting poorer per capita as a city and poorer per capita relative to the other big cities in the country. Despite record-level job growth... perhaps wages aren't trickling down enough to the people at the bottom?

[Knight Hospitaller]

^I wondered about that apparent contradiction as well.

[iheartphilly]

^
A self assessment of the city is a better indicator. Let your senses be the judge. Lots of activity during the days and evening. Philly is thriving with more people, more construction, more notice, and more tourism. This has been going on and building over the past 5 years. Looks like we will continue the upward trajectory for the next few years. I don't personally see any of it cooling off.

[eixample]

I guess that paid sick leave law really screwed us over! And the proposed fair scheduling law is really keeping new retail shops from opening...

/s

[Mikieman]

Under the experience section for JKRP for the 2201 Project in the CDR, it shows a mid-rise building at Columbus and Callowhill. Anyone know anything about this project, I can confirm it is certainly not there.

[Aaamazarite]

Originally Posted by Mikieman

Under the experience section for JKRP for the 2201 Project in the CDR, it shows a mid-rise building at Columbus and Callowhill. Anyone know anything about this project, I can confirm it is certainly not there.

That is the corner of Delaware Ave and Cooper St in Camden. Not built (yet).

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

^
A self assessment of the city is a better indicator. Let your senses be the judge. Lots of activity during the days and evening. Philly is thriving with more people, more construction, more notice, and more tourism. This has been going on and building over the past 5 years. Looks like we will continue the upward trajectory for the next few years. I don't personally see any of it cooling off.

Greater Center City = 4ish square miles of the city's 130. What's happening in my little cove of Fitler Square, for example, is not really indicative as to what's happening everywhere else. It's a little like Chicago's crime issue. Insane pockets of wealth in a booming cosmopolitan city surrounded by terrible poverty and crime.

Perhaps a minimum wage increase will help lift some of these folks above certain income thresholds? (cue McBane, "we can't make the city any more difficult to do business in!!!").

[digitallagasse]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Greater Center City = 4ish square miles of the city's 130. What's happening in my little cove of Fitler Square, for example, is not really indicative as to what's happening everywhere else. It's a little like Chicago's crime issue. Insane pockets of wealth in a booming cosmopolitan city surrounded by terrible poverty and crime.

Perhaps a minimum wage increase will help lift some of these folks above certain income thresholds? (cue McBane, "we can't make the city any more difficult to do business in!!!").

The neighborhoods with high poverty need employment opportunities in which they can advance and grow with. Low wage jobs with little room for advancement will still leave people poor. Having jobs in which someone can learn ever advancing skills can help lift them out of poverty. The city will be stronger with most of its residents prospering.

[UrbanRevival]

For the record, there's no perfect measure of wealth and poverty. The Inky, and the general media, tend to focus only on household income, which has some merit, but it's imperfect because of what can be wildly different types of households in terms of the number of people, or their age, or whether they're a bunch of unrelated roommates. The Census doesn't control for this in the topline number that's reported--it simply an aggregate of the income in that "household."

The more telling measure IMO is the median individual income/earnings (for individuals over the age of 16), which if you look up the Census estimates, rose pretty respectably last year in Philly proper: from $30,678 to $32,011 (an increase of 4.3%). This unfortunately hasn't been reported in the mainstream media, but it's likely what Bisnow was picking up on in their research.

Another quick note about the poverty numbers is that they're not adjusted to local cost-of-living. Do we really believe that the income/poverty threshold in Philadelphia should be the same as New York, San Francisco or Boston? I think most reasonable people would say no. The Census has released what's called a "Supplemental Poverty Measure" to try to address this, but it's not computed at the municipal level.

A bit of a digression here, but essentially when it comes to any kind of statistics, there's usually many caveats to keep in mind.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Greater Center City = 4ish square miles of the city's 130. What's happening in my little cove of Fitler Square, for example, is not really indicative as to what's happening everywhere else. It's a little like Chicago's crime issue. Insane pockets of wealth in a booming cosmopolitan city surrounded by terrible poverty and crime.

Perhaps a minimum wage increase will help lift some of these folks above certain income thresholds? (cue McBane, "we can't make the city any more difficult to do business in!!!").

Add to that, I still think white, middle class working people are still leaving the city in droves, particularly in the Northeast.

I started poking around on the city's website after Craig Laban recently did a review of a new Chinese restaurant in Mayfair and said that it was the most authentic new Chinese restaurant in Philadelphia. I was surprised it was in Mayfair, and then I started poking.

There isn't a single property that has changed hands in Mayfair and its environs in the last year and a half that wasn't bought by a Chinese buyer, presumably from NYC. The question is, are they living in those homes or renting them out.

Even if they are living in them, many immigrants work rely heavily on cash compensation and their income is likely to be under-reported. It could be bring down the statistics about earnings when in reality, it hasn't gone down.

On another note, the elementary schools around Mayfair (Mayfair, Solis Cohen, Spruance, Ethan Allen) are upwards of 25% (East) Asian now. I've long said that Northeast Philly was evolving into our own version of Queens. Seems like I'm not far off.