PHILADELPHIA | The Arbour House @ 708 Sansom | 414 FT | 35 FLOORS

[Milksteak]

Originally Posted by Redddog

If they made this even slightly similar to the Mormon deal on Vine street this would be a home run.

It seems completely tone deaf to the area as is.

I agree with this...I would actually like this tower if it were almost anywhere else in the city (reminds me of the proposed Market East tower - which I'm all for). I don't mind a tower going up in this location, but a new development like this should take into account the neighborhood's architecture and historical roots.

[mcgrath618]

I like it. I don't expect a Mormon Tower every time, and only 3 rowhomes are destroyed to make it.

[MikeNigh]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Toll Bros. unveils new design for Jewelers' Row tower









Read more here:
http://planphilly.com/articles/2018/...lers-row-tower

Wow holy shit!!

[Groundhog]

Obviously this is a huge improvement over the first rendering. I like the contrast of style for the tower vs the rest of the neighborhood, but the base could be improved.

Ideally I'd love this if they kept the facades of the originals and, if I wanted to be picky, make sure the glass isn't the same tint as basically every other glass tower in the city and, of course, make it 100+ ft taller.

Overall tho, this isn't terrible.

[McBane]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Obviously this is a huge improvement over the first rendering. I like the contrast of style for the tower vs the rest of the neighborhood, but the base could be improved.

Ideally I'd love this if they kept the facades of the originals and, if I wanted to be picky, make sure the glass isn't the same tint as basically every other glass tower in the city and, of course, make it 100+ ft taller.

Overall tho, this isn't terrible.

I agree, only b/c the other rendering was so awful. However, this is still a very generic building that uses a grossly overused formula for this city: boxy glass tower setback atop a 4 story brick base to "blend in" with the neighborhood and make it appear as if there is no high rise.

I should add that the base is actually decent. It's brick but designed in a modern way, so it blends in without pretending to be something it's not. Toll should have matched the tower to the base or just gone all glass. The intentional mismatching towers and bases in this city has to stop already. We're a changing, 21st century city and it's time we embraced it and stop pretending that we're in William Penn's green whatever the fuck village.

But raise your hand if you thought that Tolls Bros. was going to do something interesting.

[JohnIII]

This tower reminds me of New York but its short; I don't know why but it does.

I makes no since to make the tower 292 feet; why not just say 300 feet?
I think its better then the last design; but should have good night lighting on the crown and the crown should be higher up by creating another setback and adding 10 more floors; make it over 400 feet.

Compare to what we were seeing this is a plus!

[TechTalkGuy]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Obviously this is a huge improvement over the first rendering.

Agreed.
This update works perfectly.
It’s a good looking tower.

[ebuilder]

Its 307' tall. CDR presentation docs are posted.

[City Wide]

Boring and dull. I'm guessing here, but doesn't Toll try to sell in the upper range? I'm disappointed that apparently Toll believes there is a market here for their product, but that the exterior design hardly matters at all to them or to their market. Maybe they spend their energies on the interior.

Does anybody know the status of the various court fights regarding this? The drawing shows a loading bay on 7th. St. I know at one point there was claims being made that that property went along with the historically listed building on the corner

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by City Wide

Boring and dull. I'm guessing here, but doesn't Toll try to sell in the upper range? I'm disappointed that apparently Toll believes there is a market here for their product, but that the exterior design hardly matters at all to them or to their market. Maybe they spend their energies on the interior.

Does anybody know the status of the various court fights regarding this? The drawing shows a loading bay on 7th. St. I know at one point there was claims being made that that property went along with the historically listed building on the corner

Toll is right, unfortunately. Most of their buyers will not care. I do care, but even me...I hate this tower, but if the views and the interior finishes are right, I would not rule out buying there out of hand. In the market for a new construction condo or townhome within the next 1 to 1 1/2 years.

[summersm343]

CDR Submission here:

http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...v2_reduced.pdf

Actually looks to be about 315' to the parapet per the CDR submission.

[TechTalkGuy]

Originally Posted by summersm343

CDR Submission here:

http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...v2_reduced.pdf

Actually looks to be about 315' to the parapet per the CDR submission.

I like the location, just wish it were at least 150 feet taller.

[McBane]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Toll is right, unfortunately. Most of their buyers will not care. I do care, but even me...I hate this tower, but if the views and the interior finishes are right, I would not rule out buying there out of hand. In the market for a new construction condo or townhome within the next 1 to 1 1/2 years.

Most of their buyers probably own Toll Bros dreck in the burbs and probably think this is beautiful architecture and will jump at the chance to buy the urban equivalent.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by McBane

Most of their buyers probably own Toll Bros dreck in the burbs and probably think this is beautiful architecture and will jump at the chance to buy the urban equivalent.

It's probably a mix. There is not a lot of inventory right now. All of the new construction luxury condos that recently went up (One Riverside, 500 Walnut, etc...) are attracting high numbers of existing residents in the City. While this will not be a building at the level of 500 Walnut, it could equal One Riverside and, though older buildings, 10 Rit and the Ritz Residences. It will probably be on par with Hyde. Whether suburban or city residents, though, there are few enough condo buildings going up like this that I think it will fill with residents who don't care about the exterior (or find it attractive) or will compromise based on on limited stock.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by TechTalkGuy

I like the location, just wish it were at least 150 feet taller.

For me this is a great example of where I wish the City had tools to use to negotiate with Toll------maybe something along the lines of give them more height and density in exchange for saving and reusing the existing building facades. (maybe the City trades them a few more floors if they'd hire a architect and come up with a decent design!)

Is this a "by right" proposal?

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by City Wide

For me this is a great example of where I wish the City had tools to use to negotiate with Toll------maybe something along the lines of give them more height and density in exchange for saving and reusing the existing building facades. (maybe the City trades them a few more floors if they'd hire a architect and come up with a decent design!)

Is this a "by right" proposal?

The City does have those tools, and I don't believe Toll actually wanted to build taller. I think they determined this number of units meets current demand. I suppose they could have built a taller, slimmer tower. But I don't think there's anything that would have gotten them to build an attractive one.

[Larry King]

These units are going to do really well, people love living by Washington Square and the views with those windows will be great. I don't see what's so offensive about the design, it's a glass condo tower, could use some more balconies but what did you expect? The city screwed up and never bothered to designate the row as historic for 60+ years since the historic commission existed so what can you do? No need to cry over it forever. Most of the store owners there are all for it, the row has been in a steady decline for the last 15 years.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by Larry King

These units are going to do really well, people love living by Washington Square and the views with those windows will be great. I don't see what's so offensive about the design, it's a glass condo tower, could use some more balconies but what did you expect? The city screwed up and never bothered to designate the row as historic for 60+ years since the historic commission existed so what can you do? No need to cry over it forever. Most of the store owners there are all for it, the row has been in a steady decline for the last 15 years.

With this and the conversion of the Public Ledger Bldg to residential, and 500 walnut, this will liven Washington Square even more.

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

With this and the conversion of the Public Ledger Bldg to residential, and 500 walnut, this will liven Washington Square even more.

And new apartments/restaurants in the curtis center.

[TechTalkGuy]

The Saint James was the only tower East of the “Broad Street Divide” to reach the sky.
This is yet another example of a missed opportunity.