Posted Feb 21, 2014, 6:05 PM
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NYC/NJ/Miami-Dade
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Riverview Estates Fairway (PA)
Posts: 46,751
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Changing Skyline: Mormon development combines civic-mindedness, awful architecture
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So, both the meeting house and the 32-story tower will be faced in brick - the hand-laid kind, in the case of the meetinghouse. Unlike virtually every other developer working in the city, the Mormons are willing to pay a premium to bury the parking for the tower and the temple, ensuring that these two blocks of the city will be welcoming to pedestrians.
To persuade people to trek across I-676, the Mormons instructed Paul Whalen, their architect at Stern, to wrap the tower's entire base in shops and townhouse-size buildings. There are no blank walls. And they're not even asking for subsidies.
These decisions would be remarkable enough if the site were on a choice Center City corner, but it's next to a highway cloverleaf - the ultimate modern condition. It's separated from the vibrant Spring Garden neighborhood by Callowhill Street's Great Wall of parking garages, and the east side of 16th Street has no sidewalks. There is no there there, but the Mormons are determined to create one.
You can't tell any of this by looking at the renderings, so I reached out to Tom King, who runs the church's real estate investment arm. The church, which claims to be gaining 300,000 members a year worldwide, has become a successful developer, thanks in part to its members' willingness to tithe 10 percent of their incomes.
It's a business model that encourages a certain kind of quality. Since the Mormons finance their own projects, and don't flip them to big holding companies, they're willing to spend more up front to make their buildings last. If only more Philadelphia developers adopted that approach.
Because of the temple, the church decided the surrounding area needed upgrading. This isn't charity, King said. Philadelphia's rental market is strong and the tower will be a purely commercial project. Anyone can rent a unit.
Instead of creating a drive-in fortress, they understood the building would be more marketable if residents felt connected to Center City. Despite the presence of the cloverleaf, they noticed a steady parade of pedestrians on 16th Street. By lining the east side of the tower podium with retail, they'll encourage more.
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http://www.philly.com/philly/home/20...odgepodge.html
Friday, February 21, 2014, 1:09 AM
Inga Saffron, Inquirer Architecture Critic
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