PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by DudeGuy

Just weighing in on the arena talk - knock down the Roundhouse and build the new basketball arena there. It's close to PATCO, MFL, Broad Street Line, Regional Rail, AND the highway (there are even huge parking garages nearby to boot). As others have commented, an arena next to the "Fashion District" and East Market would do wonders for the area.

This was another idea that I was a huge proponent of. We’d lose one building other than the Roundhouse by building it there, but it’s not particularly striking or historical. I posted it on Reddit ages ago and I got shot down because of parking concerns (go figure).

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

This was another idea that I was a huge proponent of. We’d lose one building other than the Roundhouse by building it there, but it’s not particularly striking or historical. I posted it on Reddit ages ago and I got shot down because of parking concerns (go figure).

That wouldn't be bad, but if I'm rooting for something outside of the stadium area, I'm going for a track overbuild as part of the 30th Street District plans. That is an amazing view and unique view, highways and more public transit than you can shake a stick at in the most quickly evolving part of the city.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

That wouldn't be bad, but if I'm rooting for something outside of the stadium area, I'm going for a track overbuild as part of the 30th Street District plans. That is an amazing view and unique view, highways and more public transit than you can shake a stick at in the most quickly evolving part of the city.

This seems like a no brainer to me. Reclaim acres of barren, useless, eye sore wasteland that sits literally across the river from Center City. Obviously unparalleled transit access, awesome vistas of the arena from CC, and of CC from the arena. Imagine a pedestrian only bridge that connected the arena to Center City and the river trail…

[therealdawk]

You guys are like modern day Edmund Bacons. There's some really cool development ideas here. As a diehard Philly sports fan, Sixers in particular, I have become so used to having all of the teams in one area but I'd adjust to the change, as too would the other fans.

Heck I vaguely remember back in the 80s my Dad and uncles taking me and my cousins to see NWA wrestling matches at the old Civic Center and we thought nothing of it. Honestly, I have no idea if parking or traffic in that area was a hassle or not because 8yr old me didn't worry about that kind of thing.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by Londonee

This seems like a no brainer to me. Reclaim acres of barren, useless, eye sore wasteland that sits literally across the river from Center City. Obviously unparalleled transit access, awesome vistas of the arena from CC, and of CC from the arena. Imagine a pedestrian only bridge that connected the arena to Center City and the river trail…

Watch what you say. What you call barren, useless eyesore land I call train paradise.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

That wouldn't be bad, but if I'm rooting for something outside of the stadium area, I'm going for a track overbuild as part of the 30th Street District plans. That is an amazing view and unique view, highways and more public transit than you can shake a stick at in the most quickly evolving part of the city.

This makes the most sense from, the 76ers perspective, U city perspective and Philly in general.

It's exactly why it would never happen.

[kingtut]

Holy Cow $5.2 billion in V.C. investment with 3 months to go . Smashing record , Philly is kicking ass .https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...2b-raised.html

[El Duderino]

Originally Posted by kingtut

Holy Cow $5.2 billion in V.C. investment with 3 months to go . Smashing record , Philly is kicking ass .https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...2b-raised.html

these are some crazy numbers and a super encouraging sign for many aspects of real estate. that graph towards the bottom is quite a visual representation of the trajectory of philly

[TK2001]

Untitled by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

Beautiful day today

[arkitect13]

The gap between Liberty and Comcast is screaming to be filled IMO. I wish taller proposals would go through away from our main cluster of towers, imagine a 700 footer on the site of an old garage or parking lot east of city hall...

[ScreamShatter]

^ There’s supposed to be a 700 footer planned for Penn’s Landing. It’d be very dramatic to see that, if it happens. If I were going to pick a place for a tall tower, I’d want it either by 30th St or on N Broad in Loft District; both of those areas are prime for taller density.

[arkitect13]

Absolutely, When Penn's landing, schyukyill yards, and cathedral square phase 2 are all finished our skyline will look entirely different. That's not even counting the filler projects that would happen while those go up too!

[PHL10]

That gap is a bit of an illusion as Liberty Place, Mellon, and Comcast are within a block and a half of each other. You'd really need to build on top of Suburban Station to fill the perceived gap from that angle, which obviously isn't happening.

[summersm343]

This was posted in the Lowrise Thread. Posting here too as it has future major development implications being located at 39th and Market Streets

Owner of West Philly subsidized townhouses plans to sell, displacing dozens of families

Dozens of families renting federally subsidized West Philadelphia townhouses must leave by July 2022 after the owner announced plans to end the federal contract and sell the site to cash in on rising property values. Hundreds of similar federal contracts around the city are scheduled to expire within the next few years if they are not renewed.

IBID Associates LP, the owner of the University City Townhomes, gave the required one-year notice to 69 households and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in July that it would not renew its Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments contract, which expires in July 2022, according to a HUD official.

IBID is considering transferring its subsidized housing contract to another property owner for units nearby, according to the company and HUD. The company said it will favor redevelopment proposals that include affordable housing as it goes about looking for a buyer of the site. But city and state officials said they want a commitment to affordable housing there.

Read/view more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20211018.html

[summersm343]

Developers of lab, life sciences buildings make run at University City affordable housing site

Real estate companies that focus on developing lab and manufacturing space for life sciences companies are circling 3900 Market St., the site of University City Townhomes, an affordable housing complex that was put up for sale.

A bidding process for the property, the size of a city block, is being overseen by Newmark, a commercial real estate brokerage. A deadline of Oct. 7 was set for final bids on the 116,128-square-foot site, which totals 2.8 acres.

“Please put forth your most aggressive price, and be aware that two factors are of primary importance to current ownership: maximizing the total sale price, and maximizing the portion of the sale price that is paid at closing on a non-permitting-contingent basis,” said materials used as part of the marketing process.

It was also noted that the “seller is open to demolishing the property prior to close, but will do so only at buyer’s expense.”

The property can accommodate a maximum of 1.9 million square feet of new development. Based on its size and its development potential, the parcel could sell for between $75 million to $80 million, according to some estimates while others familiar with the site pegged it at trading in excess of $100 million.

Sources say the companies that showed an interest in the property included deep pocketed national real estate firms and pension funds, which are all looking to seize upon the increasing demand for life sciences space and the lucrative rents that those tenants are willing to pay for lab space where they conduct their research.

A winning bid and therefore buyer for University City Townhomes is expected to be selected by the end of the month.

Read/view more here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ke-run-at.html

[Jawnadelphia]

[QUOTE=PHL10;9426345]That gap is a bit of an illusion as Liberty Place, Mellon, and Comcast are within a block and a half of each other. You'd really need to build on top of Suburban Station to fill the perceived gap from that angle, which obviously isn't happening.

One possibility, although I think doubtful, would be the demolition of 1701 Market Street (the current Morgan Lewis building). Once ML moves out to 2222 Market, Parkway Corp. will have to do something with that empty building. But it is probably much more likely that the building is converted to apartments or maybe a hotel (perhaps a re-cladding ala PMC Property's transformation of the old GSK building).

[iamrobk]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

One possibility, although I think doubtful, would be the demolition of 1701 Market Street (the current Morgan Lewis building). Once ML moves out to 2222 Market, Parkway Corp. will have to do something with that empty building. But it is probably much more likely that the building is converted to apartments or maybe a hotel (perhaps a re-cladding ala PMC Property's transformation of the old GSK building).

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens to 1701 Market. If they get any interest at all I imagine they'd prefer to keep it as offices because, let's face it, I don't think it would make a very attractive residential property. But we'll see.

[summersm343]

November CDR Submissions are up! All low to midrise projects, but some nice projects in there.

Link:
https://www.phila.gov/departments/ph...blic-meetings/

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Developers of lab, life sciences buildings make run at University City affordable housing site



Read/view more here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ke-run-at.html

Well that didn't take long!

[iamrobk]

Completely random tidbit but I saw a bit of a Center City District presentation yesterday and they had metrics of how full parking garages were on weekends in 2021 vs. 2019. The first few months of 2021 they were only at 40-50% of 2019, but the numbers really started jumping in June or July (I forget exactly) and they're currently at ~90% of the levels of 2021. (Note that this doesn't mean that parking garages are 90% full, my understanding is it means if there were 100 cars in a parking garage on an average weekend in September 2019, there would have typically been 90 cars in the same garage on an average weekend in September 2021.) Interesting metric which definitely matches up with what I've seen re: Center City coming back to life. It's certainly not the same as pre-pandemic, but the nightlife/etc. has really come back strong. And now with more cultural activities coming back, things are looking good, relatively speaking.