PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[thoughtcriminal]

it's not bad looking, but it is another building that's wider than it is tall.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by thoughtcriminal

it's not bad looking, but it is another building that's wider than it is tall.

Yep, similar to 12th and Sansom. Was it Cro Burnam that called those slabs, Philly Specials or something like that?

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by PHL10

Yep, similar to 12th and Sansom. Was it Cro Burnam that called those slabs, Philly Specials or something like that?

That would fit. we have way too many of them, not sure why.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by PHL10

Yep, similar to 12th and Sansom. Was it Cro Burnam that called those slabs, Philly Specials or something like that?

I've called them Philly Specials since the days of PhillyBlog.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by thoughtcriminal

That would fit. we have way too many of them, not sure why.

There was an explanation a few years back that you can take or leave - but someone explained that due to the high cost of construction and comparatively lower value return (compared to NYC, Boston, etc.) builders and developers look to optimize square foot return on their buildings. One way of doing that is by pouring as much concrete as you can pour in a single day per floor.

Why pour a 5000sf slender, elegant floor plate in a day when it costs the exact same for labor and fractionally more in materials to pour a clunky 8000sf pad?

It also seems to be the way our grid is laid out and property lines are drawn that we end up with a lot of long, thin rectangle plots vs. more square-shaped properties that you might find in NYC.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by Londonee

I've called them Philly Specials since the days of PhillyBlog.

Aha! Sorry, wasn't trying to give others what should be your credit. In any case, it was a very true point. Archeologists 1000 years from now might think Philadelphia architects were working from a new type of golden ration for those repeated proportions for buildings.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by Londonee

There was an explanation a few years back that you can take or leave - but someone explained that due to the high cost of construction and comparatively lower value return (compared to NYC, Boston, etc.) builders and developers look to optimize square foot return on their buildings. One way of doing that is by pouring as much concrete as you can pour in a single day per floor.

Interesting. But if you are talking about buildings with full multi-level basements, like most? CC sites, to include as a way of providing parking, I think the cost of excavation would easily be more costly than adding a few additional floors to an already 25 story building. Land costs and plot size probably have something to do with the end design too. Different cities seem to have a standard form of high rise construction as the preferred method. Philly had concrete central cores long before NYC, where everything was and in many cases still is, all steel framed.

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by Londonee

There was an explanation a few years back that you can take or leave - but someone explained that due to the high cost of construction and comparatively lower value return (compared to NYC, Boston, etc.) builders and developers look to optimize square foot return on their buildings. One way of doing that is by pouring as much concrete as you can pour in a single day per floor.

Why pour a 5000sf slender, elegant floor plate in a day when it costs the exact same for labor and fractionally more in materials to pour a clunky 8000sf pad?

I don't buy that at all. I think it has more to do with the days when we couldn't build taller than Billy Penn. since we couldn't go high, we went wide. that created an aesthetic that the postmodern contextualists like to continue. rather than understanding history, they just try to "mimic" surrounding buildings. at the time, many of the Philly Specials (I love that term) would have been taller, the architects, owners, and builders wanted them to be taller, but they weren't allowed to. rather than avenge the injustice the Philly Specials have had to endure, they just want to copy the buildings. it's lazy architecture.

[Urbanthusiat]

^not sure that’s it. Philly just has relatively long and narrow parcels compared to the other cities in the northeast generally. Developers don’t necessarily want to maximize height - they want to maximize value to them, which means maximizing floor area. Londonee is right - it’s cheaper and more efficient to build one 8000 sf floor plate than it is to build two 4000 sf floor plates. Not to mention that one floor plate probably has more net rentable area than the two floor plates because you only take space for elevators/BOH/mech once rather than twice. The Philly special exists because of our parcels and natural profit motive.

[700 Level]

I saw this permit come through. Huge step forward for 113 South 19th Street. As a reminder - 567 footer with a sleek design!

https://phillyyimby.com/2021/04/perm...nter-city.html

[Plokoon11]

^ Another one to look forward to! Keep them coming!

[Boku]

Nearly 10,000 apartments under construction in Philadelphia, with more on the way

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ent-among.html

The Durst Organization's proposed 26-story, 360-unit apartment project along the Delaware River is among a series of multifamily developments going through the approval process in Philadelphia, underscoring the optimism residential developers have for the city in spite of the pandemic.

A new housing report by Center City District reveals that an area defined as Greater Center City had 9,400 residential units under construction as of the end of last year, which is a 39% increase compared with the 6,762 units under construction at the end of 2019.

[summersm343]

^^Damn!

[summersm343]

Federal Donuts will join the new Victory Brewing Co. on Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Parkway

Restaurant plans are picking up on the Parkway. With Safran Turney’s Loveluck now under construction in the “spaceship” building in LOVE Park just off the eastern end, let us turn our attention a few blocks west, toward the Art Museum.

Federal Donuts, the fried chicken-and-doughnut specialist, will join Victory Brewing Co.’s massive, long-awaited brewpub opening late this summer at 18th Street and the Parkway.

Developer Pearl Properties says FedNuts’ 10th location will take 1,500 square feet on the ground floor in the Terrace on 18th, which is replacing the Embassy Suites hotel in the distinctive circular building at 1776 Parkway. Pearl is converting Terrace on 18th into 288 apartments, the building’s original use.

FedNuts will be on the Cherry and 18th Street sides of the building.

Victory Brewing, meanwhile, is taking the prominent Parkway side, which was a TGI Friday’s from 1990 to 2020. Its 14,000-square-foot project is due to open in late summer or early fall. Announced in October 2019, the Victory will feature three full bars (two indoor, one outdoor), a full kitchen, 3,500 square feet of outdoor space that includes street-level seating and a rooftop patio, and a 10-barrel production brewing system.

Read/view more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/food/federa...-20210412.html

[summersm343]

Philly pols eye wage and business tax cuts ahead of next city budget

Tax cuts may be on the horizon for Philadelphians as the city moves toward a pandemic-era budget bolstered by a recent influx of new federal aid.

City Councilmember Allan Domb expects to introduce a legislative package on Thursday designed to cut city wage and business taxes, just as Mayor Jim Kenney prepares to float a budget for the coming fiscal year. Meanwhile, a mayoral spokesperson indicated that Kenney is planning his own package of tax reductions as part of that April 15 proposal.

The city raised some taxes and cut services to balance last year’s $4.8 billion budget, but revenues continued to be hammered by the pandemic throughout 2020 — with officials initially anticipating a $450 million budget hole this year. But the passage of a $1.9 trillion dollar federal stimulus package with billions for state and local governments put the city on firmer footing.

Still, a recent report from the Office of the City Controller projected a continuing tax revenue shortfall could reach up to $284 million through the next fiscal year.

Domb pitched his new bills, which he estimated would cost the city about $60 to $75 million per year in foregone revenue, as a way to jumpstart the city’s economic recovery.

“Now is the time to bolster our economy so we can grow again. It’s an investment in our tax structure,” he said. “If you don’t have customers coming into your restaurant you don’t raise the prices on the menu.”

Domb said he would introduce three bills at Council’s April 8 session. Two pieces of legislation would accelerate planned reductions to the city’s wage over the next 20 years and reduce business tax rates by more than half over the next 10 years, respectively.

The wage tax bill would cut rates to 2.9% for residents and 2.8% for non-residents by 2042, from about 3.8% and 3.5% today.

A third bill would aim to simplify the city’s two different levies imposed through the city’s Business Income & Receipts Tax (BIRT) — which takes a cut of a company’s gross receipts and its net income. The legislation would instead allow companies to opt to only pay whichever is higher.

Read/view more here:
https://whyy.org/articles/philly-pol..._ooRzwuNoPTfTw

[PHLtoNYC]

Awesome news on the 10,000 units under construction, and absorption remains high!

I wonder how / if this scenario will change in 2023 when the abatement changes take effect.

Also, YES to adjustments on the Wage taxes, its long been time to do this, I don't care what the progressive agenda says. This a long-term investment.

Also, there was a Pew study released yesterday that highlighted budget shortfalls and certain cities (Philadelphia) faring worse than others due to their reliance of certain methods of taxation.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Awesome news on the 10,000 units under construction, and absorption remains high!

I wonder how / if this scenario will change in 2023 when the abatement changes take effect.

Also, YES to adjustments on the Wage taxes, its long been time to do this, I don't care what the progressive agenda says. This a long-term investment.

Also, there was a Pew study released yesterday that highlighted budget shortfalls and certain cities (Philadelphia) faring worse than others due to their reliance of certain methods of taxation.

Yep. It's Philadelphia's reliance on the wage tax and business income taxes that crushed the city budget. Time to lower the Wage Tax, lower or remove the BIRT tax and shift the burden onto property taxes.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by City Wide

If Durst really wants to make this happen, then there shouldn't be any problem with financing. This drawing looks impressive, I hope the details are just as good. But mostly I'm glad it looks like Durst wants to be a builder and not just a land holder, and that is good news.

Wonder what the Retail would be?

At any rate, this lot is a huge one and there is another one just like it north of Callowhill. Once this drops, theres gonna be a domino effect all up and down Del Ave.

[cardeza]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Philly pols eye wage and business tax cuts ahead of next city budget



Read/view more here:
https://whyy.org/articles/philly-pol..._ooRzwuNoPTfTw

that is dombs proposal, not Kenneys which mean it has little chance of advancing although they are saying kenney will propose some reforms of his own, likely smaller in scope and more focused on the BIRT than wage tax.

Other thing that may be worth working on is cutting down on the number of people getting shot- as Stephen Starr learned it even spills into Center city from time to time so it's probably not good for our business environment.

[The Best Forumer]

Tax cuts are good, no?