Philadelphia Development News [Archive]

Philadelphia2u

January 9th, 2005, 01:12 AM

:) It's a go for Comcast's tower

By Henry J. Holcomb

Inquirer Staff Writer
(Article from Tuesday 1/4)

After four years of bitter controversy, work is scheduled to begin in two weeks on a Center City headquarters skyscraper for Comcast Corp.

The nation's largest cable-TV provider said yesterday that it had signed a 151/2-year lease with Liberty Property Trust, the Malvern real estate company founded by Willard Rouse III, who died in 2003 while the building was being planned.

With Comcast officials still at the table, Liberty then signed a construction contract with L.F. Driscoll Co.

The $465 million Comcast Center, to be finished in late 2007, would rise 975 feet and be the city's tallest. That would be 230 feet higher than what Liberty first announced, in 2001.

The initial plan was for earth-toned stone, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The building as planned now would be a European-style tower of nonreflective glass that would be "spectacularly lit at night," architect Robert A.M. Stern of New York said.

The building would offer high ceilings - 13 feet on some floors - and clear windows that let in light, reducing electricity requirements. High-tech glass would block heat and cold.

The building will make a bold statement that Philadelphia is the headquarters of Comcast, and draw jobs to the city, said Bill Hankowsky, chief executive officer of Liberty Property Trust.

Brian L. Roberts, Comcast's chief executive, said the building would help attract top talent and energize them to create the technology and ideas to continue his company's rapid growth.

If all goes well, Comcast would move its headquarters in the fall of 2007 from Centre Square, 1500 Market St., to the new tower across 17th Street from Suburban Station on JFK Boulevard.

Between now and then, Comcast's Center City headquarters staff would swell from 1,300 to 1,900, Roberts said. Noting the company's revenue growth - from $39 million in 1981 to $20 billion last year - Roberts said Comcast's headquarters could employ 4,000 within a decade.

Owners of Center City's major office buildings are still trying to block construction, hinting that a lawsuit might soon attack public subsidies given the project. "We're exploring every option," said Dave Campoli, Comcast's current landlord and president of the Center City Owners Association.

After intense lobbying by Campoli and other building owners, the Pennsylvania General Assembly refused to approve tax breaks sought by Comcast and backed by Gov. Rendell. The building owners protested last summer by turning off lights on their buildings, saying the dark office towers symbolized vacancies that would be created by adding a building at a time of rising office vacancy rates.

Rendell then came up with $43 million in other aid.

Hankowsky, Liberty's CEO, said Comcast would initially lease 534,000 square feet, the upper 44 percent of the 1.24-million-square-foot tower.

Comcast has options for additional space, including a 16-story second building on the site.

The lower floors would include what Stern, the architect, calls stacked atria. A cluster of three floors would open onto its own atrium, filled with greenery.

The building would face a half-acre public plaza, with a glassed-in winter garden. Its 110-foot-high ceiling would be 10 feet higher than the main hall of 30th Street Station.

The glassed-in garden would be the entrance to the building as well as a new gateway to the Suburban Station commuter rail terminal below.

Liberty has no other tenants signed, Hankowsky said, "but many have said: 'Call us back if you sign Comcast.' "

Liberty's "normal practice" is to have a building fully leased within a year of completion, and Hankowsky said he expected to meet that schedule on this project. Center City leases totaling 5.5 million square feet will expire between 2006 and 2009.

He would not quote Comcast Center rental rates.

Christopher Haley, a Wachovia Corp. analyst, estimated that the transaction announced yesterday increased Liberty's value by $1.24 a share. The market was more conservative. Liberty shares fell 11 cents yesterday, to $43.09.

Building Comcast Center would require about 4,500 construction workers and have a $1.4 billion economic impact on the region, Hankowsky said.

It also would be a boon to several local firms. For example, John Binswanger, long Comcast's primary real estate adviser, said it was the biggest deal his company had handled in more than a decade. He and his son, David, donned long-tailed tuxedos and served champagne at the lease signing, which took place Sunday, Binswanger said.

Daroff Design Inc., headed by Karen Daroff, which has helped Comcast plan office space for 17 years, will design the interior of the new headquarters.

The project was first proposed in 2000 and initially was planned to have been completed late last year. It was delayed by a sagging economy and the successful fight against the proposed tax breaks.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, prompted a reengineering of the planned building. Among additions were wider escape stairways shielded by four-foot-thick walls and robust fire-suppression systems.

Liberty won the Comcast deal in competition with five finalists, all in Center City.

Roberts, the Comcast CEO, said a turning point was a letter he received from Rouse, long the region's go-to civic leader and Liberty's founder. "It was one of the last letters, if not the last letter," before Rouse died in the spring of 2003, and it urged him to let Liberty build Comcast a new headquarters.

From that point on, he said, Comcast and Liberty collaborated on designing the building and assembling the resources to make it happen.

Da Bomb

January 9th, 2005, 06:07 PM

Great News!

ike

January 10th, 2005, 02:32 AM

I was about to say that the Cira Center resembles the Rockefeller buildings in Manhattan, but then, there's that other building to the right of City Hall that resembles the Rockefeller style, too.

As for the "gentlemen's agreement" regarding buildings in relation to City Hall, I thought that the agreement was that there would be no 'scrapers in William Penn's "field of view" (from atop the clock tower)?

Oh, and one more thing, not too important: looking at the wide view of our skyline, you can almost trace out guidelines for isometric drawings (at least from what I remember of my calligraphy/technical drawing classes), with Liberty Two(? I"m sorry, I don't have the buildings names memorized) at the apex.

Iggmasta

January 12th, 2005, 05:16 AM

Whats happerning with the world trade center project

rdm

January 18th, 2005, 03:14 AM

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=170381

show support! :)

Iggmasta

January 19th, 2005, 02:30 AM

hey ne one have news of development outside of Philly

josef

January 21st, 2005, 09:05 AM

Here's a few things going on:

Convention Center gets $50 million to expand

By Tom Belden
Inquirer Staff Writer

Gov. Rendell yesterday released the first $50 million in state funds needed to begin a long-awaited $632 million expansion of the Convention Center.

At the same time, Rendell indicated he would not give the center's board more money for the project unless it addressed questions related to the center's management and financing of the expansion.

Rendell's action, allowing the use of revenue the state anticipates from slot-machine parlors, broke a deadlock that had existed since shortly after the General Assembly passed gambling legislation last summer.

While Philadelphia officials pleaded with him to give them money to start acquiring land for the expansion, Rendell held up the funds, complaining about the building's management and marketing plans.

The expansion plan, which was unveiled more than six years ago, calls for adding almost 300,000 square feet of exhibit space to the 440,000 square feet in the building now, extending it to cover the area bounded by Broad, Arch, Race and 13th Streets. The building now spans the area from 11th to 13th and Race to Arch.

Dozens of buildings, most of them occupied by offices and apartments, will have to be acquired and demolished to make way for construction. The Convention Center Authority has said it can complete the building by the end of 2008 if it can start land acquisition this spring.

Philadelphia political leaders and hospitality officials are convinced that a larger building can attract dozens of groups that now cannot fit their conventions in the center. Although some studies indicate an overabundance of convention centers nationwide, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau contends that a larger building will help the city draw more shows and meetings than it has now, especially in the health-care industry. About one-third of the conventions and trade shows in Philadelphia are related to that industry.

Rendell said in a letter to Convention Center Authority Chairman Michael A. Nutter and Vice Chairman Thomas A. Riley that he was now satisfied that the center's management was "doing a capable job" in the building's day-to-day operations. The governor's office released the letter yesterday.

The governor had criticized the managers for almost two years - since appointments to the Convention Center board were taken from Philadelphia officials and given to the Republican majority in the legislature.

Rendell said specifically that he was "authorizing the release of up to $50 million in capital funds for expansion-planning and property-acquisition projects."

Rendell also said the Convention Center Authority needed to provide a budget that identified where local political leaders would find up to $158 million as their share of the project's cost. And he called for the board to perform a "cash flow analysis" to show how the project will be paid for over the next two years or so, before the state expects revenue from slot parlors to start flowing in.

Nutter said that the board would address Rendell's concerns, but that the governor's letter showed "his long-standing support for the Pennsylvania Convention Center in particular and the hospitality industry in general... . This is a great day for hospitality in Philadelphia, and sends a great message to customers" of the center, he said.

Although Mayor Street has said the city cannot afford to use its general-fund revenue for the $158 million local share, Nutter said local funding was a problem "we will work through. That is not something that strikes me as a serious issue."

Rendell's letter was written, coincidentally, at the same time that the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, released a study by Heywood Sanders, a University of Texas at San Antonio public-policy professor, that said attendance at large conventions and trade shows had dropped sharply since 2001. Despite that, dozens of cities are expanding their convention centers or plan to, the study said.

But Tom Muldoon, president of the Philadelphia convention bureau, said the study dealt primarily with attendance at the nation's 200 largest trade shows, only one of which would fit into the building here after expansion anyway. Of the 27 major conventions in the city in 2002, the best year ever for the center, only one was a trade show, he said.

------

Caesars buys riverfront land, envisioning slots

The casino operator paid $64.7 million for a site on the Delaware, gambling on winning one of two licenses.

By Nathan Gorenstein
Inquirer Staff Writer

Caesars Entertainment Inc. has put its money where its mouth is.

The operator of casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas has paid $64.7 million for a site along the Delaware River that it hopes to turn into a slots parlor, the company confirmed yesterday. The land fronts South Columbus Boulevard between Reed and Dickinson Streets, across from the Riverview Stadium 17 theater complex.

Caesars purchased the property - 18 acres of buildable land, and an additional 12 acres of water and marsh - even though it does not know whether it will obtain a slots license.

Indeed, the state board that will award licenses to two slot parlor operators in Philadelphia, and 12 others around the state, is not yet even accepting applications from firms.

But real estate developers and others closely following the intense, behind-the-scenes jockeying for slots licenses said the purchase was a bet Caesars had to take, both to position itself for the expansion of gambling into Pennsylvania and to protect its extensive gambling operations in Atlantic City.

Also, if Caesars had not proceeded with the purchase, it would have had to renegotiate the option that gave it the right to buy the property, according to two sources familiar with deal.

A spokesman for the firm said Caesars had no qualms about the purchase.

"It's a very prime piece of property, and we are confident that whatever happens, we'll be able to get a good return on our investment," said Robert Stewart, a senior vice president.

Caesars, which has $4.5 billion in annual net revenue, operates gambling sites on four continents.

The firm's interest in the site was well known, and in recent weeks Caesars had shown various officials plans for a slots, entertainment and retail complex worth $350 million.

"It's a great strategic move. You wrap up the best riverfront site," said Robert Fahey, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate firm.

But Fahey said the price was high, unless Caesars does indeed get its license.

"That's an exceptional amount of money... for a parcel of land that is not located in the core of the city," said Fahey, "but land values are derived from how much money you can make from it."

Paul Levy, executive director of the Center City Development Corp., which has been closely following slots development, said the Caesars purchase was not a surprise.

"There are going to be two slot sites, and most public discussion has said there may be one in Center City, and one or two on the waterfront. That makes your odds pretty good."

But Levy offered a caution: "We don't know who else is out there, and what else is out there," that will be proposed to the state gaming board.

Until the closing last Tuesday, the property was owned by Sugar Mill Associates, which was controlled by Bart Blatstein, a Philadelphia developer.

Sugar Mill Associates purchased the property in 1993 for $8.5 million.

Blatstein declined to comment on the sale but said he would continue with other development projects in Philadelphia and the area.

Meanwhile, a New Orleans business executive yesterday said that a slot machine parlor in Center City doesn't necessarily mean streets full of chartered buses spewing diesel fumes.

Warren L. Reuther Jr., president of that city's convention and visitors bureau, said no chartered buses are used by the six million people who visit that city's one casino each year. Instead, people use cars and walk.

Reuther spoke at a forum on gambling sponsored by the Central Philadelphia Development Corp., the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, and CoreNet Global, which provides services to the real estate industry.

Iggmasta

January 22nd, 2005, 09:41 PM

awesome so gambling might come to philly?

josef

January 24th, 2005, 09:41 PM

There's been talk of slot parlors in some places since the gambling bill passed, but I kind of doubt you'll see any in Center City.. I'd think there'd be too much opposition. The Caesars plan seems like it might actually be a nice place to visit. The positioning is better anyway, traffic-wise. I'd much rather see this happen then some random slot parlors. Caesars doesn't do bad stuff.

TritaniumZ3

January 26th, 2005, 10:41 PM

COME ON GUYS LETS KEEP THIS THREAD GOING! wITH ALL THE GREAT PROJECTS IN PHILLY THIS SHOULD BE BUSTLING! THE COMCAST CENTER DESERVES ITS OWN THREAD BUT LETS KEEP IT HERE SO THIS THREAD CAN PROGRESS!

Iggmasta

January 27th, 2005, 02:00 AM

well ne one go more pics of projects cause I can't find any

TritaniumZ3

January 27th, 2005, 02:09 AM

Here is the Comcast Center:
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050104ap_ho_comcast_ctrPJ_450.jpg

josef

January 27th, 2005, 06:54 AM

That sound be breaking ground pretty soon. Emporis says it's "under construction" now.

Vlad the Great

January 28th, 2005, 01:12 AM

moth

January 28th, 2005, 01:53 AM

TritaniumZ3

January 28th, 2005, 02:01 AM

About time for Comcast to start! :) It'll be fun to watch that rise.

What is the status on 17th and Vine? Is it a go? Is it cancelled? Or is it something in between?

I'd sure like to see another 890 ft. tower in Philadelphia! :)

Yes I can't wait to see the Comcast in construction! What will this building do to Philly's future in skyline and economy?

rdm

January 28th, 2005, 02:34 AM

anyone have any pictures of the towers being built along the delaware river, i think around spring garden area? also, there is a condo project going up near my neighborhood, like 11th and spruce. then there is something going up along the schuylkill river, near the park? pics anyone?

Vlad the Great

January 28th, 2005, 03:21 AM

17th + Vine is most likely dead for sure. Speculation was that it would be the new north american HQ for Glaxo-Smith-Kline but for the past two years we haven't heard a peep about it. GSK is actually downsizing so it would appear far fetched if this building goes up anytime soon.

Damn, that building looked good. Too bad. Would have made a nice addition to the skyline, that's for sure...... in any skyline actually... :(

Looking at the Comcast center again, it doesn't look like it's to have the pyramidal roof that it was planned to have before. I think if it were readded to it's current height it could break 1000ft.. Any chance for an observation deck? THAT would be even sweeter! :)

streetscapeer

January 28th, 2005, 10:45 PM

Posted by SJPhillyboy over @SSP

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/500/657condo_towers_2.jpg

Caught in the middle

By Henry J. Holcomb

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The only thing rising these days on the prime land across from City Hall are lawyers' fees.

After 14 years, the scene of the city's worst high-rise fire has still not been redeveloped.

Rival developers are still fighting - in court and before city agencies - to block each other's plans to build luxury condominium skyscrapers on their adjacent 22,000-square-foot sites.

The delay leaves a hole in the heart of the business district and comes as business leaders are launching a multimillion-dollar effort to present Philadelphia as a place where deals can get done - without big hassles and legal wrangling.

Those who want new places for prosperous people to live in Center City fear the hot real estate market will cool before the feud ends.

There was a brief truce last summer that quickly fizzled. Both sides said they would work to get the two projects approved and built. But now the developers, Craig A. Spencer of the Arden Group, Philadelphia, and Tim Mahoney of the Mahoney Realty Group, Ardmore, are fighting harder than ever in what Mahoney calls "a war of attrition."

And there is no end in sight.

In Spencer's corner is Michael Sklaroff of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll L.L.P. Carl S. Primavera of Klehr, Harrison, Harvey, Branzburg & Ellers L.L.P. is leading the charge for Mahoney.

The most recent hearing before the City Zoning Board of Adjustment, earlier this month, dragged on longer than expected as each lawyer built a written record for future lawsuits.

David L. Auspitz, chairman of the zoning board and owner of the Famous Fourth Street Deli in South Philadelphia, apologized to those waiting for the next case.

"At least you're getting to watch the Super Bowl of zoning battles," he said. He called the two lawyers the superstars of zoning wars.

Spencer is the lead investor on the former One Meridian Plaza site across from City Hall, the site of the 1991 fire that killed three city firefighters and led to the demolition of the 38-story building. Mahoney's adjacent site is at the northeast corner of 15th and Chestnut Streets.

From the air, it looks like a single vacant plot.

During the brief truce, Mahoney said, the architects who designed the two skyscrapers worked out "a good compromise. We agreed to shape the top of our building differently to give his penthouses a better view."

As initially proposed, 21 lower-floor condos in Mahoney's tower would have faced Spencer's big parking garage. The lower section of Spencer's building - the podium in architectural parlance - was reduced. Mahoney enlarged his podium to allow more parking.

The plans now have parking garages facing parking garages and condos with views.

Mahoney calls what is going on now "a war of attrition. Craig either doesn't have what he needs to start his project and he's trying to delay ours, or he's trying to devalue our site, hoping we'll get sick and tired and say 'you win,' " Mahoney said.

Spencer's only comment, by voice-mail, has been, "We're working very hard and will have an exciting announcement very soon."

Mahoney is skeptical. "This could wind its way through courts for another two years," he grumbled.

Spencer also owns the Philadelphia Soul arena football team, in partnership with the musician Jon Bon Jovi. He hired Gary Edward Handel & Associates, of New York, and John Thrower of Bower Lewis Thrower Architects, of Philadelphia, to design his 57-story skyscraper, which would be among the city's tallest. It would have 220 to 258 luxury units, Spencer said last spring.

Mahoney hired David F. Ertz of Cope Linder Architects, of Philadelphia, for his 50-story, 296-condo skyscraper.

Spencer wants to link his tower to the adjacent Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which he also owns. The tower would include a new grand ballroom for the hotel, a health club for condo residents and hotel guests, and other shared amenities.

The city Zoning Board of Adjustment is required to look at each project separately and take action. It has no authority to order the developers to cooperate.

"But I would be remiss, as a Philadelphian and student of architecture, if I didn't say that this site should be developed as one large project," zoning board chairman Auspitz said at the opening of the hearing this month.

He would at least like to see a shared lower portion. This would add parking and reduce traffic snarls caused by moving vans and delivery trucks.

"There's a solution, but the developers can't figure out how to get there," said City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, whose district includes the site.

"I would really like to see these towers built," Clarke said. "They would be wonderful additions to the skyline . . . quality projects."

Clarke said he was frustrated by the fighting that he said could destroy the projects' feasibility. "There is," he said, "a window of opportunity that at some point is going to close."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/...ss/10758973.htm

moth

January 29th, 2005, 01:18 AM

Could this happen in any other city in america. A combined 107 stories 1500 feet of skyscrapers in the heart of downtown, 550 condo units mired in lawsuits. :bash:

josef

February 1st, 2005, 06:42 AM

Yes I can't wait to see the Comcast in construction! What will this building do to Philly's future in skyline and economy?

They're saying that even though it might cause more vacancy in other buildings in the begining, it will show that the city is moving in the right direction, and that will help attract business. I read an article a while ago that said there were more businesses seeking office space for 2005. Hopefully the Comcast tower shows the city is indeed moving forward.

anyone have any pictures of the towers being built along the delaware river, i think around spring garden area? also, there is a condo project going up near my neighborhood, like 11th and spruce. then there is something going up along the schuylkill river, near the park? pics anyone?

On the Delaware, that'd be this: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=107828 , Waterfront Square.

Posted by SJPhillyboy over @SSP

SSP?

streetscapeer

February 7th, 2005, 04:03 AM

^^Skyscraperpage!

josef

February 7th, 2005, 07:09 AM

aha!

speaking of skyscraperpage, here's a thread with some pictures of stuff going on at the Comcast Center site http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=65276

rdm

February 10th, 2005, 12:15 AM

This is the kind of good stuff you miss when you are on call at the hospital! Hooray for Philadelphia! Now, who's got the renderings? :)

Posted on Sun, Feb. 06, 2005

Changing Skyline | Designs on the high life

Philadelphia goes vertical again with condos catering to the monied classes. That means taller, fatter skyscrapers, some stylish, others insipid.

By Inga Saffron

Inquirer Architecture Critic

Clearing the Record

This story, about plans for new high-rise apartment buildings, as well as a caption with the story, misidentified an existing building. The name of the riverfront apartment house at 24th and Chestnut Streets is 2400 Chestnut Street. This story has been corrected.

Something is happening to the low-rise city. Philadelphia, the preserve of the rowhouse, is going vertical at its core.

Hardly a month goes by that a developer isn't floating a plan to squeeze a 30- or 40-story residential tower into the tight blocks of Center City. Many of these proposals are pie in the sky, but at least eight projects are in serious motion, and they promise to remake more than the skyline.

Because the skyscraper is the most modern of buildings, the sprinkling of new towers is sure to add a potent dash of modernity to a city that holds dear its sober red-brick traditions. The new skyscrapers are taller and bulkier than the earlier generations of Philadelphia high-rises: Blame buyers' demands for soaring ceilings and on-site parking. No doubt, some Center City residents will view these colossi as big-footed intruders.

Philadelphia is hardly the only city marked by skyscraper cranes. For a host of demographic reasons, condo towers are rising in cities that have rarely seen tall apartment houses, from Nashville to San Diego. While Philadelphia is on track to gain a respectable 2,000 units, San Francisco may add as many as 7,400. Yet even Philadelphia's numbers are likely to accelerate a process that urban expert Alan Ehrenhalt calls inversion, where downtowns are populated predominantly by the rich and the poor are forced to the fringes.

The good news in Philadelphia is that the new skyscrapers are a largely stylish and urbane group - especially compared with designs in other downtowns. Despite some clumsy assemblages of historical parts, most have the virtue of clean, sleek lines. A few even aspire to artful design.

One reason for the improved designs is that today's tall buildings cater to monied buyers with cosmopolitan tastes, unlike the utilitarian towers built during Philadelphia's second wave of high-rise construction, from the late 1960s through the '80s. Those were seen as residences for people who ultimately would move to the 'burbs.

There is no doubt that the 45-story St. James, which opened last year overlooking Washington Square, set a high baseline for Philadelphia. An unabashedly modern skyscraper, the St. James' interiors have a loftlike feeling because of their high ceilings and big windows, which have become standard in today's condos.

The most exciting new design comes from the office of Richard Meier & Partners, of New York, which elevated the residential high-rise to a high art with its crisp glass towers on Perry Street in Manhattan. The firm, best known for the Getty Center in Los Angeles, was hired by a young developer, Charles X. Block, to design a Philadelphia version at 24th and Walnut Streets, on the parking lot of the former Rosenbluth Travel.

Block inherited that clumsily renovated midrise - and a chunk of money - after his family sold the company to American Express in 2003. It is a large site, with breathtaking views. Meier's design architect, Michael Palladino, who oversaw the Getty, took one look at the property and knew that a Perry Street clone wouldn't do.

Palladino is now at work on a thin slab, a vertical mille-feuille of concrete and glass that will hover like a spire over the Schuylkill River Park. Palladino is still tweaking models of the 41-story building, but even in its unfinished state it looks like Philadelphia's best high-rise. You can detect a bit of the PSFS tower in its ancestry, but there is nothing literal in those references - a sign of true creativity.

Unlike its neighbor, the generic 2400 Chestnut St., which turns a fat face to the river, Palladino's design would present its slim side to the water. In doing so, the luxury tower, which is to have full-floor units, would preserve public views of the river from Sansom Street. As proposed, the project makes other generous public gestures: Block says he plans to renovate the ugly exterior of the adjacent Rosenbluth building, install retail stores along Walnut Street, and open a Laurie Olin-landscaped rooftop restaurant. All the parking will go underground, Block says.

One big issue the designers must resolve is how the building will integrate with the river path. The other high-rise going up along the ribbon park, a 12-story building by Bower Lewis Thrower at 23d and Race Streets, foolishly ignores its water link.

BLT is responsible for the worst of the new skyscraper designs, Symphony House, which is already taking deposits for condos at Broad and Pine Streets. Set on a wide garage base, the 31-story tower has a nautical profile similar to BLT's Dockside on Columbus Boulevard, and portholes around the garage cornice. But the confused tower is clownishly crowned by the roof of a French chateau, while the entrance is marked by vaguely classical arches. The only redeeming feature is that the base will provide space for the Philadelphia Theatre Company.

A new Rittenhouse Square tower by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, due to break ground at 18th and Sansom Streets in April, also is based on historical precedents, but at least the parts are gracefully composed. The 33-story brick high-rise uses the same deferential neo-Georgian style as many proper towers that went up in Philadelphia in the 1920s. They have a modesty that seems deeply Philadelphian. When you look at the first wave of residential towers - built before the 1929 stock market crash - it's hard to find more than a handful that dazzle. But none are awful, either.

Still, it's unfortunate that the Stern high-rise doesn't have a more contemporary appearance. One of the nice things about Rittenhouse Square is that its apartment towers are an encyclopedia of styles, one from every decade of the 20th century. This decade deserves an entry of its own time, too.

The proposal for a slim 31-story tower at 17th Street at Rittenhouse Square shows that there is a market for the urbanely modern. Designed by David Ertz of Cope Linder, it has a white geometric composition like the St. James, but with a more formal limestone base. It's a singleton version of the double tower Ertz designed at 15th and Chestnut, but benefits from having underground parking. Unfortunately, a blank vertical strip ruins its north facade.

Along with Ertz's two quiet designs, the problematic Residences at the Ritz-Carlton also has embraced a contemporary language. It's a bit too glassy and anonymous for condos - and its garage is an ugly monster. But, together with Palladino's waterfront building, it's a sign that Philadelphia's condo fever also has design ambitions.

*Sweetkisses*

February 10th, 2005, 11:19 PM

:banana: Wooohoooo! lol

Killadelphia

February 11th, 2005, 02:43 AM

BTW, if you guys didn't hear, the R&B Hall of Fame is moving South from NYC to Philly. Really great news: it'll bring a lot of attention to the city and will also bring an award show. We deserve it too: NYC stole the U.N. last minute from us (damn Rockefeller) and Cleveland stole the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame from us last minute too (eh...). It's just really great news!!!

jmancuso

February 11th, 2005, 03:04 AM

i cannot wait til i move to philly. hopefully by august, i'll be in center city...

*Sweetkisses*

February 11th, 2005, 03:23 AM

^^great! youll love it.

omp835

February 11th, 2005, 07:58 PM

Does any one have any renderings of Michael Palladino's Condo Tower proposal @ 24th and Walnut? Thats the one rendering Inga Saffron didn't show in her article.

josef

February 12th, 2005, 07:35 AM

TritaniumZ3

February 13th, 2005, 03:25 AM

Has the Chestnut broken grond yet? If not when will it and any pics????

josef

February 13th, 2005, 10:37 AM

1441 Chestnut? Not yet... the guys who own the lots right next to eachother have been holding things up in court forever. :(

Killadelphia

February 14th, 2005, 02:45 AM

^ Maybe. The article about it recently said that the guy who's doign Residences at the Ritz (teh other building) has a big announcement comign up soon, adn I'm guessing it's a downsizing becaus eI have heard that from other sources. In other words, I think 1441 Chestnut and a significantly smaller Residences at teh Ritz will being construction relatively soon.

josef

February 14th, 2005, 03:05 AM

oo.. that'd be great then

Killadelphia

February 14th, 2005, 05:13 AM

Yeah.. I always thought having a 750 footer crammed next to a 615 footer on a skyscraperless block would look hideous.

streetscapeer

February 14th, 2005, 07:27 AM

^^I just can't wait till both of them go vertical.....I think we can sacrifice a few feet...lol

Killadelphia

February 15th, 2005, 12:47 AM

Yeah, LOL... They'll definately even out the skyline where Meredian's absence has left it uneven.

*Sweetkisses*

February 15th, 2005, 01:06 AM

Huh? what are you guys talking about??

Killadelphia

February 15th, 2005, 02:15 AM

1441 Chestnut and Residences at the Ritz, I think...

omp835

February 15th, 2005, 05:54 PM

Does anyone know if Venturi's Condo building on Washington Square is going to be built?

Killadelphia

February 16th, 2005, 12:49 AM

^Venturis condo building on Washington Square??? I never heard about that... do you know anything else about it?

josef

February 16th, 2005, 03:24 AM

Here are some developments from the Art Museum realm; the Please Touch Musem is moving to Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, the Zoo and the Mann Music Center are expanding, and this is all included in a new "Centennial District".

Here's a map of the area:
http://pdn.philly.com/2005/02/14/parkmap.jpg

Or if you have a Philly.com account (free), check out the interactive map with a little bit of text on each area, there are a few: http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/special_packages/phillycom_front_dn/10893178.htm

From February 14th Daily News:

EARNI YOUNG | A NEW DAY IN THE PARK

New Centennial District hopes to be city's star attraction

By Earni Young

younge@phillynews.com

IN 1980, Robert Cousar finished his second year at Temple University, looked around his impoverished East Parkside neighborhood and decided there was no future there.

Blight and abandonment had ravaged the sliver of West Philly along the edge of Fairmount Park, near the Philadelphia Zoo. So Cousar kissed his mom goodbye and headed for California, which promised a better opportunity to build a career in real estate development.

"I was one of those who fled," admits Cousar. "I didn't see anything here for me."

That's no longer true.

Parkside will soon be adjacent to a new family-friendly entertainment district, with members that include the Zoo, a children's museum in Memorial Hall, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, the Parkside Historic Preservation District and Fairmount Park.

The Centennial District's job will be to brand itself as Philly's playground, a draw like the Avenue of the Arts or the Independence Mall historic district but with a younger audience.

Its members also will work collectively to add new attractions, clean up the streets and park areas - and raise money to pay for it all, as do similar districts in Center City and University City.

And Robert Cousar has returned to his old neighborhood, wife and four sons in tow, to participate in Parkside's rebirth. Cousar became the executive director for the East Parkside Residents Association, an organization his mother, Calla, ran for six years.

"I'm very excited. What we're trying to do as an association is to make sure that the rising tide floats all boats," Cousar said.

There's certainly plenty of money flowing into the district, which is named after the 1876 Centennial Exhibition held in that part of Fairmount Park.

Today, the Please Touch Museum plans to sign a deal allowing it to rent Memorial Hall. After $50 million in renovations, the hall will become the new home of the historic children's museum.

There's also the planned construction of a $50 million high-tech high school at Girard and Parkside Avenues. And a $80 million zoo expansion. There are plans for a shopping center, anchored by Lowe's, on the periphery of the proposed district at 52nd Street and Lancaster Avenue.

Most of the credit for that activity goes to the efforts of dedicated community residents like Calla Cousar; Lucinda Hudson, president of the Parkside Association of Philadelphia; and James L. Brown IV, president of the Parkside Historic Preservation Development Corp.

These longtime Parkside residents never gave up hope that the area would regain the prosperity it enjoyed in the first half of the 20th century, when the neighborhood was known as home to strong families of middle-class strivers.

Then, four years ago, the Daily News joined their effort, bringing in a group of Urban Land Institute planners to brainstorm economic redevelopment ideas for East Parkside.

Shortly after the ULI report was completed, Zoo CEO Pete Hoskins and the Fairmount Park Conservancy obtained a grant from the William Penn Foundation to develop a master plan that would stitch the institutional stakeholders - old and new - and the bordering neighborhoods into an exciting new destination.

Now, these neighbors say the new district doesn't do the whole job.

The Cousars say they are disappointed by the exclusion of Parkside's residential areas. So they plan to expand the residents association's mission to include community development.

The community group is opening an office at 41st Street and Girard Avenue to provide information on housing assistance programs, as well as after-school computer classes.

"We're still looking for funding, but its not my nature to sit around and wait for stuff to happen," says Robert Cousar.

Still, having the structure of a specific district is a great start. Alan Greenberger, who did the master plan by MGA Partners, estimates the four institutions - the Zoo, Please Touch Museum, the High School of the Future, and the Mann - will draw between 1 and 2 million visitors a year to the Parkside area.

"That's an enormous amount of economic activity and a bigger draw than Independence Mall," Greenberger says. "If you are a tourist, there's going to be enough venues here that you could pick any two and make it an entire day."

For local residents and their children, the area could become a recurring draw for visits to the zoo, the Please Touch, picnics and softball games in the park, concerts at the Mann, and, of course, school.

Greenberger compares the vision of the Centennial District to Seattle Center or Forrest Park, in St. Louis.

Seattle Center is a 74-acre campus crammed with museums, concert halls, recreational spaces, amusement rides, and restaurants centered around the Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 World's Fair.

Forrest Park, more than 1,300 acres, was dedicated in 1876, the same year as the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Originally located 10 miles outside of St. Louis, it is now in the heart of the city. Its museums, skating rinks, tennis courts, golf courses, restaurants, and municipal theater attract more than 10 million visitors a year.

"That's what we're trying to do here," Greenberger says. "The success ultimately relies on people in the region believing in this place, because they're the ones who tell their friends who come to visit what to do."

omp835

February 17th, 2005, 01:10 AM

Actually Venturi's condo building was in today's Inquirer. Page 2 of Local and Regional, I think, with a real blurry rendering. Fumo is dead set against it. DiCicco says he's willing to make a deal. Personally I think the Dilworth house is expendible, especially for better architecture. Its a bad copy, the only value it has is nostalgic.

Killadelphia

February 17th, 2005, 03:19 AM

Is there any chance you could post the article(unless it was an ad) and maybe scan the pic... My parents stupidly prefer teh Times, and I only get the Inky thurseday-sunday. I really wanna see this...

josef

February 17th, 2005, 07:59 AM

Read this and remembered someone asked about it here. Why does it have to be *this* site they want to build on? Kind of weird.

Controversy builds on Dilworth House

A plan to raze the house in Society Hill to make way for condos has met with heated opposition.

By Stephan Salisbury

Inquirer Staff Writer

The neo-Colonial brick house on the east side of Washington Square seems almost self-effacing.

But the quiet and long-empty onetime residence of former Mayor Richardson Dilworth appears to be quickly emerging as the locus of a major preservation dustup.

Developer John Turchi Jr. wants to demolish the mayor's house, whose 1957 construction is widely viewed as a turning point in the transformation of Society Hill.

In its place, Turchi last week told the Society Hill Civic Association, he would erect a 14-story, $25 million condo tower - dubbed "Dilworth House" - designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi.

The civic association has responded by delivering anti-demolition petitions said to contain more than 1,100 names, largely collected from neighborhood residents, to Mayor Street, State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, Councilman Frank DiCicco and the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

Fumo did not mince words on his position.

"I'm never going to let them tear down the Dilworth House to build condos," he said yesterday. "That house has importance for all of Society Hill."

DiCicco, whose district encompasses the house location at 223-25 S. Sixth St., said he would "support the position of the community to preserve" the house.

But he also said he would look for "common ground" between developer and neighborhood. Fumo said he would also be willing to discuss the situation with the developer.

Dan Fee, spokesman for the mayor, said Turchi has not submitted an "actual proposal" to any city agency, notably the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

The Dilworth House is deemed a "significant" building within the Society Hill Historic District, rendering any plans to alter or demolish it subject to historical commission review.

Turchi said yesterday that the Venturi design, which would feature a brownstone facade with limestone trim, "looks stunning."

There would be a small courtyard, he said, a portion of which would be dedicated to Dilworth and his support for Society Hill redevelopment.

Not only did Dilworth, who was mayor from 1956 to 1962 and died in 1974, push for broad urban renewal in the district, but his personal commitment - as evidenced by his house - led many well-to-do Philadelphians to seek residences in the area.

"Our historic district was designated historic in large part because of the urban renewal themes that permeate the neighborhood," said Paul Boni, who heads the civic association zoning committee. "This building is an important part of that. It's too important to lose."

In other words, the merits of the Venturi design are, from the perspective of the civic association, beside the point.

Turchi, however, argued that the house is not historic and resembles the suburban manses that its architect, George Edwin Brumbaugh, was known for.

"It's in the wrong place and it represents the wrong time," Turchi said. "It should be in Chester County somewhere."

Is his project possible without demolition?

"No," Turchi said. Demolition "is the key to the project."

The project is not yet scheduled for historical commission review, Turchi said.

Killadelphia

February 18th, 2005, 12:58 AM

Since this is a Philly developement thread, I might as well mention this. Everyday on the way to school, I pass through Oaklane. I am not sure exactly which neighborhood this is in (I'm guessing West Oaklane), but there is a HUGE community center church thing place, that is going up. It si not highrise, but teh crane is at least 75-100 feet up. They have teh steel up for the first two floors so far. It is an enormous plot of land and from teh rendering it looks like this building is going to be massive, especailly next to the neighboring rowhouses. I think it is pretty kool that this kinda consturction is happening right now as far out as Oaklane. Maybe this will lead to construction in other parts of teh city far out from Center City too, besides Manyunk that is.

*Sweetkisses*

February 18th, 2005, 04:18 AM

Water front square is up and coming. Went around that area today and it looks pretty cool

Killadelphia

February 18th, 2005, 04:49 AM

Yeah, I have seen some pics of it and it looks like the shorter tower is already 4 stories up and the taller tower is 2 stories up.

*Sweetkisses*

February 18th, 2005, 03:44 PM

:banana:

*Sweetkisses*

February 21st, 2005, 06:57 AM

Hey I found a new site. go to www.phillyskyline.com and then go to photo reviews.Ther are a lot of aerial photos of the city there. Thats if youre interested

Killadelphia

February 21st, 2005, 10:31 PM

^Yeah, that is R. Bradley Maul's (or w.e his real name is) site. He's a forumer on skyscraperpage.com forum named giovanni sasso. He's an exceptional photographer.

Sweetkisses, if you don't already, you should check out skyscraperpage.com/forum. They have a shitload of Philly stuff (a 150 page long Philly thread). It has a huge Philly community too. Really check it out.

Jayayess1190

February 21st, 2005, 10:53 PM

yournewmayor

February 22nd, 2005, 04:14 AM

I live soooooo close to there. Also very close is Cedarbrook Plaza where they are adding a Country Buffet, Cold Stone Creamery, and some other stores.

Country Buffet at Cedarbrook? They must really want to make people sick out there... The best food out there is the Garden of Bilals on Wadsworth off of Cheltenham... :cheers:

Killadelphia

February 22nd, 2005, 05:35 AM

Jayayess, that's is awsome that you live near there. It's a shame I'm leaving my school after this year because I'm graduating and I will probably never go through that route again. If eventually possible, I think posting pictures of it (since you live so close) would very much qualify as a progress as a progress update for Philly.

Also, for anyone that lvies in Center City, aroudn Center City, or commutes there on a regular basis, I think it would be nice if it were possible for you to sometimes post pictures of certain buildings underconstruction during their construction "cough" Cira Centre "cough".

jackbird

February 24th, 2005, 02:35 AM

ditto...people take this crediting stuff a little too seriously...if you want credit for all your pics, simply put your name on them (just like you do for any peice of work you do)

I do that, as i have had others take credit for my work in the past in more direct ways, such as applying for jobs using my portfolio.

some one Will save pics from this here thread and post em' somewhere else on the internet, and the same will happen at That website, and so on and so on, the credit will be lost somwhere along the chain!

I can't help that, but in this case, the image is posted using an IMG tag that pulls the image off MY site, using the bandwidth that I pay for. And that I have a little more say in, given that I can add .htaccess filters to exclude any domain I want. Because, as you said, this is an enthusiast website, I am extremely reluctant to do something like that, however.

All I ask is that you post a credit when you deep-link an image. It's perfectly reasonable.

If any admins are reading this, I imagine a firm like Pottle/ESTO would be a lot less reasonable when addressing a similar issue. Lord knows enough of their stuff makes its way onto here and Wired New York, too.

Either way, I try to credit the photographer or website whenever I can, but it's just cynical when someone get's all hot and bothered about a rendering on a skyscraper enthusiast website! Should we Also credit the person who made the rendering of the Comcast building that was eventually photoshopped into that skyline pic? Pleez!!

I don't see how it's cynical. I'm a full-time architectural renderer. Making pretty pictures of nonexistant buildings feeds my family. Name credit is one of the very few effective ways of making the availability of my services known to potential clients.

And that goes double when you pull the image from my server.

And by the way, yes, both the original photographer and the renderer should be credited for the comcast building photomontage. That's the way it works.

Killadelphia

February 25th, 2005, 03:02 AM

^I think it's pretty damn kool that you're the guy who drew/painted/created those images and pictures.

yournewmayor

February 27th, 2005, 03:59 AM

http://www.pbase.com/phillytrax/image/40198949.jpg

Hot off SSP presses...
(source: Philadelphia Business Journal)
Latest Condo proposal for Center City

Location: 24th & Walnut
Project: Mandeville Place
Floors: 41
Height: I've seen 400', 606', 674' - not exactly sure which is correct
Other: "A rooftop restaraunt is planned for the building" - Volguus

ECD of March 2008. Not sure when it'll be breaking ground...

*Sweetkisses*

February 27th, 2005, 04:15 AM

Yay so it is gonna be built. Im so excited. :cucumber:

josef

February 27th, 2005, 08:49 AM

ooo That's really cool!

josef

February 27th, 2005, 08:54 AM

Hey I found a new site. go to www.phillyskyline.com and then go to photo reviews.Ther are a lot of aerial photos of the city there. Thats if youre interested

Phillyskyline is cool! I *love* the blizzard essays.

Sweetkisses, if you don't already, you should check out skyscraperpage.com/forum. They have a shitload of Philly stuff (a 150 page long Philly thread). It has a huge Philly community too. Really check it out.

That site's pretty cool.. I wish it were faster though somtimes :(

Killadelphia

February 28th, 2005, 04:50 AM

Mandeville Place is gonna be sooo hot. Ever since it was mentioned in an Inky article a couple weeks ago I've been very excited about it. Nice to see a rendering. I say around 610 feet to roof and around 650 feet to the top of that glass wall thing rising off the right side... Soooooo exciting....

*Sweetkisses*

February 28th, 2005, 04:54 AM

^^ Omg, I cant wait until that and the comcast center is done!

moth

February 28th, 2005, 05:35 PM

Mandeville is only 41 stories. A generous 12 foot ceiling would put this building at 492 feet. 600 feet is too high unless the plan on adding another 10 stories.

Killadelphia

February 28th, 2005, 09:41 PM

shakman

February 28th, 2005, 11:41 PM

Just from my experience and knowledge of construction, residential and hotel buildings have a lower slab to slab height as compared to office construction.

I guess we will find out when the specs are released on this project.

dreadnought

March 1st, 2005, 03:34 PM

Not necesarrily.... Comcast Center is going to be aroudn 860 feet with 56 stoires. The crown will add alot more. 2 Liberty is 854 with only 58 or so stories. 1 Liberty Place is around 860-870 feet to the roof with 61 stoires. Mellon Bank is 790 counting the pyramid and is 54 stories. I think my figures are a little off but still. And yeah, these are office buildings btu they could be generous to the residents... I say at the very, veyr least, it will be 510 feet to the roof and 550 feet to the top of the glass thing.

Point of information: Comcast Center will be 975 feet high with 57 stories. They are including super-high 14-foot floor to floor heights, and even more in the winter garden stories. That is what accounts for the height, not the crown. I think those floor-floor heights will be in keeping with the rest of the building.
The rest of your figures are close enough to call correct.

Killadelphia

March 1st, 2005, 04:08 PM

dreadnought

March 1st, 2005, 07:45 PM

^Only 56 stories will be inhabited and they are all in a similar height range. The crown (57th story) is going to be a mechanical floor and is much taller than any fo the other stories. I have seen many diagrams that support this statement.
Anyway, do the math: 15 (which I believe is actually the floor hiehgt) mutiplied by 56 equals 840. Even if you mulitply it by 57, it is 855. Those figures come nowehere near matching up with your statement.

The other thing I said was that there are going to be winter garden levels, and I don't know the height of those. Typically, though, they are very high.
The announced height is 975 feet. That is a fact, it is not an arguable point. See emporis, see the Inquirer, see the Comcast site, they all say the same thing.

Killadelphia

March 1st, 2005, 10:03 PM

LOL, I'm not illiterate, I know that it is going to be 975 feet and have known since its approval announcement on January 3rd, I am saying that the crown is very tall and is a mechanical story. Maybe the winter garden levels will add to teh height but the top inhabited floor will be under 900 feet high. Like with the Chrysler Building: the entire crown on that building is mechanical, the highest inhabited floor is around 850 feet high.

volguus zildrohar

March 2nd, 2005, 11:46 PM

Wow.

I had no idea there was a Philly group on SSC. Guess I'll be checking in here more often now.

yournewmayor, people love their Old Country Buffets. You need a reservation to eat at the 69th Street location on a Sunday afternoon.

Also, thanks for the name drop. jackbird, I know all about finding your images, scanned or photographed, in locations you didn't put them.

As for Mandeville Place, the current debate at SSP is its height. The estimates there are in the low 600-foot range, which I kinda disagree with but I seem to recall reading somewhere that the building would be "twice as high as 2400 Chestnut".

2400 Chestnut is 337 feet.

So, who's right and who's wrong? We'll see when the thing gets built.

dreadnought, Killadelphia's point (and I noticed you joined SSP the other day as well;)) is correct.

A lot of newer office buildings have high floor-to-ceiling ratios. Even granting the 14-foot high ceilings, mechanical level always occupy the top floors of the building and the last rentable floor (which is usually the only count you see in building stats) will be somewher in the low 900's not all the way to the top.

One Liberty Place has 63 actual floors but only 61 rentable floors.

Killadelphia

March 3rd, 2005, 12:50 AM

^Didn't know that about Liberty Place... Very Interesting.

Volguus, just wanna take this oppurtunity to say: I love your photos. You and gio are some crazy-ass photographers :).
I tried to join SSP.com a while ago as philastyle but I coudn't confirm my registration because I have a Yahoo! email address and it won't allow me to join with. I tried to use my friend's email address when I signed up as Killadelphia69, but it still didn't work, so I'm stuck just reading SSP.com.
But yeah, the Philly community here, like on SSP.com, has grown ALOT since Comcast Center's approval.

giovanni sasso

March 3rd, 2005, 01:19 AM

holy smokes, it's a regular love-fest over here. i'm with volguus, i rarely (if ever) check SSC, always tuned in to SSP (which is right now getting an overhaul that should quell its slowness).

first thing first: thanks to everyone who's checked out my site. i've been slowly building it for months and months, and i'll eventually have an easy-ish menu keeping track of all the things discussed in this thread and the big philly IV one on SSP.

good stuff, y'all. AND, to chime in on mandeville's height, my guess is just over 500'. the st james is 489' to the top at 45 floors, so i can't see mandeville being that much higher unless it's got ridiculously tall floors. being residential, i can't see that. i hope i'm wrong, but if everyone's official guess is over 600' i'll say one dollar, bob.

Killadelphia

March 3rd, 2005, 02:19 AM

Whoa.... Since SSP.com isn't up right now (liek gio said) its like an all Philly party here!!!

yournewmayor

March 3rd, 2005, 05:09 AM

yournewmayor

March 3rd, 2005, 05:10 AM

yournewmayor, people love their Old Country Buffets. You need a reservation to eat at the 69th Street location on a Sunday afternoon.

.

I used to get down with it, I guess it hasn't been the same since :puke: came along...

josef

March 3rd, 2005, 07:23 AM

dreadnought

March 3rd, 2005, 03:42 PM

Wow.

dreadnought, Killadelphia's point (and I noticed you joined SSP the other day as well;)) is correct.

A lot of newer office buildings have high floor-to-ceiling ratios. Even granting the 14-foot high ceilings, mechanical level always occupy the top floors of the building and the last rentable floor (which is usually the only count you see in building stats) will be somewher in the low 900's not all the way to the top.

One Liberty Place has 63 actual floors but only 61 rentable floors.
I suppose this would be a good place to mention that I am an architect and have designed 2 skyscrapers in my life (which have not been built but nevertheless...)
Mechanical floors are not always at the top, although they are more often than not. When buildings such as this are described as having however many floors for whatever its height, they usually include the mechanical floors. For example, the Sears Tower in Chicago is listed at 110 floors. It has 4 mechanical levels, each of which spans 2-3 floors. The last occupiable floor is 108, and the last mechanical level is 109-110. But the overall height is 1474 feet, which is the height to the top of the 110th floor. That does not even count the antennas, (which I think should not be included in record heights, etc., but that is another topic). Although the mechanical levels are not rentable, they contribute to the overall height of the building.
I am not sure where you got the info that Lib PL has 63 stories instead of 61, maybe you could post a link to where it says that because I have never heard that. I researched it in a structural engineering book that included a case history of its construction, and it lists the building as 61 stories.

volguus zildrohar

March 3rd, 2005, 11:54 PM

I suppose this would be a good place to mention that I am an architect and have designed 2 skyscrapers in my life (which have not been built but nevertheless...)
Mechanical floors are not always at the top, although they are more often than not. When buildings such as this are described as having however many floors for whatever its height, they usually include the mechanical floors. For example, the Sears Tower in Chicago is listed at 110 floors. It has 4 mechanical levels, each of which spans 2-3 floors. The last occupiable floor is 108, and the last mechanical level is 109-110. But the overall height is 1474 feet, which is the height to the top of the 110th floor. That does not even count the antennas, (which I think should not be included in record heights, etc., but that is another topic). Although the mechanical levels are not rentable, they contribute to the overall height of the building.
I am not sure where you got the info that Lib PL has 63 stories instead of 61, maybe you could post a link to where it says that because I have never heard that. I researched it in a structural engineering book that included a case history of its construction, and it lists the building as 61 stories.

63 stories is according to, of all things, a security guard and that number is from a fact-finding mission of sorts I did long ago.

Not the best place to glean information.

dreadnought

March 4th, 2005, 12:01 AM

63 stories is according to, of all things, a security guard and that number is from a fact-finding mission of sorts I did long ago.

Not the best place to glean information.

The security guard might have included the 2 underground levels, which of course do not count toward the building's height above street level.

Killadelphia

March 6th, 2005, 05:15 PM

Dreadnought, that is pretty damn kool that you designed 2 skyscrapers... It's a shame they werent built. Where were they and what did they look like? Any renderings?

rdm

March 6th, 2005, 06:08 PM

can we see the designs dreadnaught.

omp835

March 7th, 2005, 05:56 PM

Viacom and Pulver plan new city office tower
Natalie Kostelni
Staff Writer

Plans to build Center City's third new office building are coming to a head as Viacom International zeros in on a proposed tower at 15th and Arch streets to house its local television broadcasting operations.

Viacom is in negotiations with developer Don Pulver to occupy about 100,000 square feet of the building, which would be between 250,000 square feet and 440,000 square feet. It could be as tall as 17 stories.

Viacom currently occupies an 80,000-square-foot building at 5th and Market streets and has its lease coming due. Its radio units, KYW and WYSP, as well as its television units CBS and UPN, have resided at the 101 S. Independence Mall building for the last 32 years.

Called Parkway Plaza, the new building would be designed to showcase the CBS and UPN television units.

"It would be a high-profile interactive studio, much like in New York," said Craig Scheuerle, senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis, who is representing Viacom. Scheuerle is referring to a popular windowed street-level studio used by major television networks that allows live views of the city in the background, as well as some pedestrian interaction. It will also likely have exterior Jumbotrons so that those passing by could watch what is on the air.

If it gets the green light, Parkway Plaza would be the third major office tower to break ground in Philadelphia after a nearly 15-year drought of new office construction. Brandywine Realty Trust of Plymouth Meeting was the first to get a new building underway in 2003 with Cira Centre, a 728,000-square-foot building adjacent to Amtrak's 30th Street Station. It is 28 stories high. Liberty Property Trust of Malvern began construction in January on Comcast Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot building with 57 floors at 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

Viacom hasn't decided what to do with its local radio units though relocating them to Bala Cynwyd, where several other local radio stations are clustered, is an option.

Viacom's current building on Independence Mall was constructed for its local media outlets. With its lease expiring, it decided to seek more high-profile space in which it can install state-of-the-art broadcasting equipment. The option of retrofitting its existing space was deemed too costly.

While Pulver's building is its first choice, Centre Square is a "strong second," Scheuerle said. That building at 15th and Market streets would offer Viacom visibility and would be redesigned with street-level studios.

Viacom will determine the feasibility of 15th and Arch based on city approvals and decide what to do within the next 30 days. The property is commonly referred to as the old Acme site, where the supermarket chain once maintained its headquarters. It would require zoning approvals for signage and transmission towers.

"Without those approvals, we'll have to go to other alternatives," Scheuerle said. Those include reconsidering Centre Square and 10 Penn Center at 18th and Market streets, as well as buildings in Camden and Conshohocken.

The company is not seeking any state or local financial incentives. The developer would receive a 10-year abatement on real estate taxes given to any new construction project in the city. It's unknown whether the developer would seek additional funds from the state or city. Pulver declined comment.

Pulver has tried to line up a tenant for Parkway Plaza for the last two years amid a rash of major downtown leases that were expiring this year and next. Towers Perrin seriously considered the building but decided last year to remain in Centre Square, where it will ultimately occupy between 250,000 and 300,000 square feet. When other big tenants in the market struck deals in Center City buildings, Pulver continued to market the space.

If Pulver's site does work out, Viacom would move in around March 2007.

.......I hate to say it but I think a street level studio is more appropriate at the Centre Square site; more visibility more activity. But it's still an exciting proposal, none the less. So....who's got the renderings?

omp835

March 7th, 2005, 07:06 PM

:cheers:

yournewmayor

March 7th, 2005, 10:18 PM

Killadelphia

March 8th, 2005, 12:28 AM

*Sweetkisses*

March 8th, 2005, 03:18 AM

Uggg I cant read all of that.

Cruces1

March 8th, 2005, 06:08 AM

Mandeville Place

http://www.mandevilleplace.com/slideshow/01.jpg

The view of CC from Mandeville Place

http://www.mandevilleplace.com/slideshow/02.jpg

omp835

March 8th, 2005, 05:34 PM

The rendering is on SSP.com and I would post it but I donno how to post images. I eprsonally think it looks nice enough and would addd to urban density aroudn there. It looks around the same height as the neighboring building (The Phoenix?) and will contribute to the skyline to a pretty high extent considering the lack of highrises aroudn it. I love the idea of jumboscreens and hoepfully they will attact more pedestrians to that area. :)
Whats that exact link? SSP.com seems to be the home page of some networking company.

shakman

March 8th, 2005, 06:56 PM

The rendering is on SSP.com and I would post it but I donno how to post images. I eprsonally think it looks nice enough and would addd to urban density aroudn there. It looks around the same height as the neighboring building (The Phoenix?) and will contribute to the skyline to a pretty high extent considering the lack of highrises aroudn it. I love the idea of jumboscreens and hoepfully they will attact more pedestrians to that area. :)

The other towers are further back from the proposed Mandeville, therefore the tower looks about the same height of the other towers. Could someone find out from the developer on the height of this tower?

I will see what I can pull out of the Shak Hat.

Cruces1

March 8th, 2005, 07:09 PM

My guess is that the Mandeville will end up somewhere around 500 feet. Maybe with that extended glass top the tower will be over 500 but yes this photo is very deceiving.

omp835

March 8th, 2005, 07:45 PM

If we find out the height of the Rosenbluth building, we can use that as reference and estimate the height of the tower

Killadelphia

March 8th, 2005, 11:59 PM

Shakman, wuh? I was talkiung about 15th and Arch LOL. BTW nice to see the clear rendering of Mandeville Place.

SSP.com is Skyscraperpage.com and then go to the forum. Sorry for misleading...

omp835

March 9th, 2005, 08:36 PM

Shakman, wuh? I was talkiung about 15th and Arch LOL. BTW nice to see the clear rendering of Mandeville Place.

SSP.com is Skyscraperpage.com and then go to the forum. Sorry for misleading...
I hate to be a pest, but which thread?

Killadelphia

March 10th, 2005, 12:57 AM

You can check out most of the categories to find stuff on Philly... They have a crazy amount of frequent Philly forumers there. If you wanna go to the Philly IV thread which has pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about Philly, you just go to Projects and Construction and it should be there. There are also constuction update threads on specific buildings in the Construction Updates section. Enjoy. :)

yournewmayor

March 10th, 2005, 12:59 AM

I hate to be a pest, but which thread?

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=8216

:cheers:

volguus zildrohar

March 10th, 2005, 02:03 AM

Check SSP's (or SkyScraperPage) Philly thread early and often. There are about 25 or so regular forumers there from Philly, South Jersey and the suburbs.

The forum there is arranged differently than here. You need to click the LAST PAGE link to see the most recent posts. The very first post is the project rundown for the city which I update anytime I see something new. I'll be putting up the rendering for 1601 Vine Street tonight.

We always love seeing new names on the thread as well. You won't be an SSC traitor or anything:) I've been on SSP for three years and just started visiting this site with more frequency than before.

Killadelphia

March 10th, 2005, 03:42 AM

I love both sites for different reasons. Both very unique and have very different kind of threads... They should be partnerships, but I'm not sure that is how it works...

volguus zildrohar

March 10th, 2005, 06:00 AM

Anybody familiar with 1601 Vine Street?

This project is proposed to be built on the same plot as the 17th & Vine tower for GSK?

http://www.cubellis.com/graphics/portfolio/11/AXON_small_new.jpg

Info here (http://www.cubellis.com/index.cfm/portfolio/Mixed_Use).

Killadelphia

March 10th, 2005, 06:42 AM

I saw this on SSP.com and was very delighted. I remember when 17th and Vine was proposed and I thought it was one of teh nicest buildings I ever saw. After around two or three years of no change I was getting very bored and wanted change. This building is both pleasant and of a nice height. I really hope it getrs built.
BTW: Where the hell did it come from????

Killadelphia

March 11th, 2005, 02:52 AM

Some new info: Chinatown is getting a charter school (great news!!!) and that really old hospital in East Falls is being shut down (ay...).

yournewmayor

March 11th, 2005, 04:41 AM

that really old hospital in East Falls is being shut down (ay...).

I wish they could do something to turn that negative into a positive and rebound those 500 jobs that will be lost...

josef

March 11th, 2005, 10:09 AM

Killadelphia, what'd you heard about the Charter School in Chinatown?? I heard they're not sure if it's going to happen..

Killadelphia

March 12th, 2005, 12:25 AM

I just saw it in the paper yesterday when I posted. It said that Chinatown was going to get the school and that the whole neighborhood was thrilled.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/education/11094867.htm

josef

March 12th, 2005, 12:49 PM

Ahhhh how did I miss that! That's awesome, I'm really glad they got that!

*Sweetkisses*

March 13th, 2005, 02:15 AM

Can someone post pics of the cira center because I cant . Thanks.

josef

March 13th, 2005, 06:29 PM

Construction photos from February:

http://www.sushipopsicle.com/foto/misc/cira/338471.jpg
http://www.sushipopsicle.com/foto/misc/cira/338474.jpg
http://www.sushipopsicle.com/foto/misc/cira/340030.jpg
http://www.sushipopsicle.com/foto/misc/cira/340031.jpg
http://www.sushipopsicle.com/foto/misc/cira/341857.jpg

From http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?postid=1202299#post1202299 :

http://img161.exs.cx/img161/5942/cira19wd.jpg

There are a few nice ones there. They're from March 12.

*Sweetkisses*

March 13th, 2005, 09:38 PM

^^ thanks

Joe84323

March 14th, 2005, 03:46 AM

They've got that SOB so lit up at night it's ridiculous. It sticks out like a sore thumb at night.

Killadelphia

March 14th, 2005, 05:52 AM

It's sucha beautiful structure... I personally LOVE how it stands there all alone, peaking voer every otehr building around it. Very monumental. Truly a work of art!

Can't wait till it's done; won't be long now.

josef

March 14th, 2005, 07:21 AM

Sweetkisses: np!

Joe: Sticks out like a sore thumb? It's a city :o There's lights all around there! I think it looks nice at night. Nicer than during the day anyway.

omp835

March 15th, 2005, 10:35 PM

Killadelphia

March 16th, 2005, 04:32 AM

But Chinatown is awsome and so ethnic. I disagree.

*Sweetkisses*

March 16th, 2005, 04:33 AM

How come the cira center looks like there hasnt been any more glass put up in weeks??

Joe84323

March 16th, 2005, 07:05 AM

I didnt say it was ugly. It just outshines every other building in the city. What an electric bill!

omp835

March 16th, 2005, 06:40 PM

But Chinatown is awsome and so ethnic. I disagree.
You like the vacant lots on Arch St. that are used by Greyhound to park and menuver their busses? I think Chinatown is awsome and ethnic also, thats why I don't like to see what amounts to a large parking lot inthe middle of probably the most vibrant neighborhood in Philadelphia. I mean just look at the party walls surrounding the site; no windows, barely stuccoed (once I figure out how to insert images I'll show you). Its NASTY. I mean when they planned on moving the bus station there from 13th street they must not of had a CLUE the area was going to rebound. As it is right now I thing the bus station does more harm than good at that location. There's enough vacant land around 30th street, I think that area should be Philadelphia's gateway.

Packerguy

March 16th, 2005, 10:10 PM

I was wondering when contruction is supposed to start on 1441 Chestnut Street?

dreadnought

March 16th, 2005, 10:17 PM

I was wondering when contruction is supposed to start on 1441 Chestnut Street?
Last I heard they were still duking it out in court over the development of that site and the adjoining one, where the meridian bank used to be. owners of both sites want to build major residential high rises but can't agree on what to do about the parking structures, whether to build one garage to serve both or to build 2 separate structures. also, the buildings would block views from each other being so close, so one might not get built at all. it's a huge stalemate.

*Sweetkisses*

March 17th, 2005, 12:06 AM

You like the vacant lots on Arch St. that are used by Greyhound to park and menuver their busses? I think Chinatown is awsome and ethnic also, thats why I don't like to see what amounts to a large parking lot inthe middle of probably the most vibrant neighborhood in Philadelphia. I mean just look at the party walls surrounding the site; no windows, barely stuccoed (once I figure out how to insert images I'll show you). Its NASTY. I mean when they planned on moving the bus station there from 13th street they must not of had a CLUE the area was going to rebound. As it is right now I thing the bus station does more harm than good at that location. There's enough vacant land around 30th street, I think that area should be Philadelphia's gateway.
Write a letter proposing your plan. :)

Killadelphia

March 17th, 2005, 01:41 AM

My bad, OMP, i thought you were dissing Chinatown. You do make a very good point. However, I think Rittenhouse Square is more vibrant than Chinatown, but that's just my opinion.

yournewmayor

March 17th, 2005, 02:35 AM

Can any one explain to my why the bus station is in chinatown? Wouldn't it be better located near say 30th street station? Proximity to highways; connections with public transportation. It has none of that in chinatown. It just makes the area look ghetto.

The greyhound station is placed in the area for it's convenient proximity to 95, and it lessens the possibility of having travel delays due to traffic on 76... Its also right accross the street from Market east station... You follow the logic? :cheers:

omp835

March 18th, 2005, 05:04 PM

The greyhound station is placed in the area for it's convenient proximity to 95, and it lessens the possibility of having travel delays due to traffic on 76... Its also right accross the street from Market east station... You follow the logic? :cheers:
I wouldn't call 10th and Filbert convenient to 95. And as far as traffic is concerned, it's always bumper to bumper in Chinatown ,also, the bus's destination determins wheather it has to go on 76. If it has to go on 95 it would use 676 which is a totally different animal. Even if the bus uses Market St to access 95 its still better than using Arch St.,Race St or 10th. And yes it is right next to Market East, which has access to the Reginal Rail and the El. But 30th St has access to the Reginal Rail, El, Trolley, and Amtrak. Not to mention the roads in that area are designed to hold the bus sized tractor trailers that the post office uses to haul mail.And since the Post office is moving its operations out of the area in a year or two, theres going to be alot more room on those streets. :soapbox:

omp835

March 18th, 2005, 05:07 PM

p.s. I'm not as angry as the smiley suggests

Killadelphia

March 19th, 2005, 11:49 PM

Killadelphia

March 19th, 2005, 11:49 PM

Even though many fo you probably knwo this already, there is also a whole lot of developent going on in UC. Pretty exciting.

josef

March 20th, 2005, 01:10 AM

Apparantly, (I did not knwo this) UNiversity City District, which includes University City, Powelton, and Walnut Hill (or w/e it is called) and has a population of 48,000 people. That is pretty impressive. It looks to be similar in area to Center City and is growing. With a popullation like that, Univeristy City has even more potential than I originally thought. If it and Center City joined forces, Philly would have a HUGE downtown.

I read that article too, and what's interesting is that they said that it's *growing* in population.. Usually when people talk about population decrease, they say only Center City is increasing in population. Why do they leave out UC if it really is increasing in pop.? (And UC rocks, I like going there. Especially to the cereal place :P~)

josef

March 20th, 2005, 01:13 AM

I just saw this on www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia.

Skatepark design concepts to be unveiled

A design team will unveil Friday night two conceptual designs for the proposed Schuylkill River Skatepark in an effort to receive community input.

The skatepark is planned for 2.5 acres in Fairmount Park along the eastern side of the Schuylkill River near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It could cost up to $2 million.

A design committee concluded a series of meetings in neighborhoods around the city in late January to raise public awareness, share the design team's approach for the project, their analysis of the site location and to gain feedback from skateboarders and residents. Since then, the design team has developed two conceptual project designs.

The design team is led by Anthony Bracali Architecture and includes Synterra Ltd., Purkiss Rose RSI, SkateNerd Inc., Damiano and Long Consulting Engineers and QWIC Inc.

The team's vision is to design a public space that is integrated with the existing landscape, respects the surrounding context and promotes skateboarding as another exciting activity occurring along the Schuylkill River recreational path. The design team has worked closely with the Philadelphia Planning Commission, Fairmount Park Commission, Recreation Department and the Skatepark Advisory Committee formed by the city.

The community will be given a chance to respond to the designs and share their thoughts about each scheme. The design team will use the feedback to refine its work and to develop a single final project design.

Those interested in viewing the designs can attend the public meeting from 6-8 p.m. at the University of the Arts, Terra Building, 211 South Broad St., Connelly Lecture Hall, 8th Floor, or visit www.phillyskatepark.com.

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2005/03/14/daily58.html?jst=b_ln_hl

josef

March 20th, 2005, 01:15 AM

Here's the article Killadelphia mentioned:

A rise in University City Success Stories

By Henry J. Holcomb

Inquirer Staff Writer

A revival campaign launched nearly a decade ago is clearly producing a wave of private investments in the once-troubled University City, a report to be issued today says.

The revival strategy, initiated by the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, is paying off with higher foot traffic and a slew of new stores and entertainment venues.

The report, issued by the University City District, lists 19 retail, entertainment and dining venues that have opened in the last year, most notably World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. - named after the long-popular WXPN-FM (88.5) radio program - which presents music performances seven days a week.

Over the last decade, Penn and Drexel University have invested in a new grocery store and bookstores, as well as new academic buildings, research centers and dormitories, hoping this would eventually attract private developers.

During the first half-dozen years of the initiative, Penn helped more than 350 of its families buy or refurbish homes, as part of an effort to enlist their support in reviving the neighborhood.

Penn also bought a vacant factory for $6.5 million that developer Carl Dranoff has converted into a luxury apartment building, called the Left Bank, at a cost of $56 million.

The University City District was created in 1997 to take a street-level approach to problems that threatened the health of the renowned universities and hospitals of the neighborhood.

Its programs attacked crime, cleaned streets and sidewalks, and fostered economic development.

The special-services agency is supported by major institutions in the neighborhood and by private donations. Unlike the Center City District, it does not collect a mandatory fee from property owners.

There were signs of interest by private developers two years ago. Then last year there was a "phenomenal increase" in private business development, said Meridith Sauer, director of research and planning for the University City District.

Sauer's research is designed, she said, to record changes that "are important to people looking to open businesses."

The increases in daily pedestrian traffic have been significant, "and not just during school hours," she said.

At 45th Street and Baltimore Avenue, for example, daily foot traffic is up on both weekdays (from 323 to 621) and weekends (from 388 to 724).

The report noted several developments that will dramatically increase activity. Cira Centre, a 28-story, 727,000-square-foot glass office tower next to 30th Street Station, will open late this year.

A $650 million expansion, which is doubling the size of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, will be finished next year.

The population of University City continued to grow last year despite a decline in the city overall, according to the district's research.

An estimated 48,000 people now live in University City, compared with 45,525 in 1990.

Home prices have risen dramatically, the report said. Last year, 129 condominiums and single-family homes were sold, with a median price of $245,000. That compares with 73 sales at a median price of $72,700 in 1995, at the start of Penn's revival strategy.

The universities and hospitals continue to be the neighborhood's economic engines. The dollar value of National Institutes of Health research grants, for example, totaled $588 million last year, up from $351 million in 1998.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System was the largest employer, with 12,831 workers. The university itself was second-largest, with 11,247.

The neighborhood is still dominated by ornate older housing. More than half of the structures were built prior to 1939; less than 3 percent were built since 1990.

"The historic Victorian-era residential neighborhoods continue their revival with home improvements and robust sales," Omar H. Blaik, the University of Pennsylvania vice president who is chairman of the University City District's board, wrote in the report's introduction.

"University City," he continued, "is experiencing unprecedented momentum, and investment is occurring at an exceptional rate."

To read the University City District's annual Report Cards for the last four years, go to http://go.philly.com/ucity

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/11165021.htm

josef

March 20th, 2005, 01:18 AM

And one more, this one from the New York Times:

Philadelphians Take In Rare Sight: A Tower Rising

By MAUREEN MILFORD

Published: March 16, 2005

PHILADELPHIA, March 13 - When Kelli J. Lucas takes the train into town, she has noticed that the conversation among passengers often turns to the dazzling glass office tower being built on the west bank of the Schuylkill, just outside the city's central business district.

"I'm fascinated by the shape - by the transparency of the skin," Ms. Lucas, 24, said of the design of the $177.6 million Cira Centre. "It can totally transform from day to night, depending on whether the light is from the inside or outside."

Indeed, the building's architect, Cesar Pelli, said he had been surprised by the excitement his design generated. "I've been receiving a lot of feedback - more so than other buildings in other cities," said Mr. Pelli, whose work includes the giant tapering Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "I'm not sure why that is."

The answer is simple, economic development officials say. City residents have not witnessed the construction of a skyline-altering office tower in 15 years. There are a variety of reasons: corporate mergers, a lackluster economy and business flight to the suburbs.

"There's a whole generation of people who never saw a major building get built in Philadelphia," said Peter S. Longstreth, president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, a public-private economic development company.

What is more, the site of the Cira Centre is noteworthy. At 29 floors, it is the tallest office tower on the west side of the Schuylkill. It stands on Arch Street next to Amtrak's 30th Street Station, effectively creating a striking new western gateway to the city. In addition, planners and economic development officials say, the building promises to propel efforts to reinvigorate the riverfront and University City neighborhood, once a forbidding area and one that is still far from thriving.

When the first tenants begin moving into the Cira Centre in October, they will be the advance guard for about 2,000 workers. The University City neighborhood is named for the educational institutions there, including the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and University of the Sciences of Philadelphia. The building's name, however, was the product of brainstorming and has no meaning, the developer said.

"In five years, this area will look very different," said Omar Blaik, senior vice president at the University of Pennsylvania, which has ambitious plans for land it owns south of the train station.

According to Mr. Blaik, more than $1 billion in improvements have been made in University City over the last 10 years by the universities, Amtrak, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and private investors. From 1998 to 2004, house price appreciation in University City, primarily a tree-lined neighborhood of semidetached homes built during the late 1800's, averaged 24 percent annually, outpacing all other city neighborhoods, according to research done by Kevin C. Gillen, a doctoral candidate at the Wharton School, part of Penn. It is now a diverse community of almost 48,000 people, including members of the universities' faculty and staff, artists, musicians, writers and thousands of students.

The expansion of the city's commercial district to the west side of the Schuylkill and the revitalization of West Philadelphia have been a dream for decades. When the Pennsylvania Railroad began work on the 30th Street Station in the 1920's, architectural renderings of the classical-style station show the structure ringed by buildings.

"It was intriguing to me that when I went to look at the old drawings, I saw a plan that was done 80 years ago that envisioned the same thing we're trying to create today," said Gerard H. Sweeney, chief executive of the Cira Centre's developer, Brandywine Realty Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

Despite a number of unsuccessful proposals for the land near the station over the years, including plans for a convention center, development did not venture far beyond Center City, the district between the Delaware River to the east and the Schuylkill to the west.

That began to change in 1997, when Amtrak spearheaded a movement to redevelop some of the 70 acres it owns near its 30th Street Station.

Amtrak began with the development of a much-needed 1,525-car garage off Arch Street. It then offered a neighboring 30,000-square-foot parcel for an office tower. Brandywine was selected as the developer for the tight site, positioned between the active passenger tracks and the coach yard.

The railroad, which signed a 99-year-lease with Brandywine, was interested in making an architectural statement with the Cira Centre. Mr. Sweeney said he had reservations about being adventurous with design in such a high-risk location. But Cesar Pelli & Associates won him over because the firm focused on the building's place in the skyline.

Other than four piers that hold some commercial development on the Delaware River waterfront, Brandywine is a newcomer to the city itself, although most of its 300 buildings are in the greater Philadelphia region, including central and southern New Jersey and Delaware.

The design by Mr. Pelli turned out to be "a stroke of genius," Mr. Sweeney said. Because 30th Street Station is so square and massive, Mr. Pelli said he wanted the Cira Centre to be "very contemporary, luminous and sparkling."

The 727,725-square-foot building with a glass curtain wall has the look of a quartz crystal at different times of the day. The 42-foot-high lobby is a profusion of angles with a commanding view of the city; an elevated pedestrian bridge runs from the Amtrak garage through the lobby into the 30th Street Station. About 37,000 square feet on the lower levels have been set aside as conference, retail and restaurant space.

The building, now three-quarters complete, is leasing ahead of schedule, with nearly 75 percent of the tower taken. Space is leasing around the mid-$30's a square foot, which is about $10 a square foot higher than top-tier space in Center City, according to Matthew Guerrieri, research services manager with the Philadelphia office of Grubb & Ellis, a real estate services firm.

Because Brandywine wanted the building to be about 50 percent leased before starting construction, it was the signing of two Center City law firms that kicked off the project in December 2003. The Dechert firm took eight floors and Woodcock Washburn leased four. But the firms were criticized for the tax relief they will receive until 2018 for relocating to an opportunity improvement zone. One critic, Mr. Gillen of Wharton, said the Cira Centre project was stretching the definition of a distressed area and, in turn, benefiting wealthy, established firms.

Dechert's chairman, Barton J. Winokur, counters that his firm was poised to move its entire operations center and part of its legal offices out of the city. It was a credible threat. Statistics show suburban flight in the last decade and a half. The amount of occupied space in Philadelphia's suburbs in Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks and Chester Counties increased 63.8 percent from 1990 to 2004, while occupied space in the city fell by 8 percent in the period, according to Mr. Guerrieri.

The tax benefit of moving to the Cira Centre influenced Dechert's decision, Mr. Winokur said. But the firm also wants to be part of the city's effort to redevelop University City, he said.

Another major tenant is SCA Americas, a maker of packaging materials, paper towels, napkins and other paper products. It will relocate from Eddystone, Pa., to four floors in the building.

John O'Rourke, SCA's vice president for human resources, said the Cira Centre was attractive because it is close to Eddystone, so employees will not have to relocate. It is also near transportation hubs and it fits the image SCA wants to project.

The paper company also liked the idea that Penn had plans to redevelop the Main Post Office property next to the train station, he said. The university purchased the 24-acre property with its one-million-square-foot postal facility last year for $50.6 million as part of its plan to expand eastward toward Center City. The property is still occupied by the post office and used for mail sorting, vehicle parking and maintenance work, among other things. Penn is not expected to begin work until 2007.

Still, some critics say the Cira Centre is cannibalizing downtown and contributing to greater office vacancies in Center City. At 16 percent, the vacancy rate has risen to levels not seen in more than 10 years, Mr. Guerrieri said.

Proponents of the project maintain that the long-term benefits to the city will be well worth it.

"I really do believe the seeds have been planted for a connection between Center City and the University City district," said Stephen P. Mullin, a principal in the Econsult Corporation in University City.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/business/16prop.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1111273973-aBZrBxPesrZsbKbyynXfiA

Link has pictures + a map thing. Registration is free. I guess they'll have to have another article when the Comcast tower is almost complete too.

Killadelphia

March 20th, 2005, 02:23 AM

^^^^Alot of articles you got there. Yeah, but the whole area around Center City is growing. I think that is why people only mention CC, because they refer to the area. Pretty much teh rest of teh city (minus teh Near Northeast) is shrinking besides teh Center City area.

I also LOVE University City. I donno if I like it more than Center City but it is so fun and kool and just crazy. It has a got a Center City minus the history and skyscrapers feel along with the college feel adn that wodnerful West Philly feel. I LOVE UC.

josef

March 20th, 2005, 02:41 AM

Success articles are good :)
I get what you mean about people including the border neighborhoods in "Center City" when they talk about the increasing population. I guess if it makes it more marketable, fine. (Wasn't some site calling the 11th & Washington condos "Center City"?) But it's still cool UC is growing.

Joe84323

March 20th, 2005, 08:03 AM

Brandywine Realty is a fine company. I can't wait till we get our little Cira Centre knockoff :D

So.. It's gonna be 'till like Oct-November 'till I see the first floors of Comcast Center, right? Now that I know it's coming, the skyline looks empty without it. I'm pretty anxious. Damn I've turned into a dork.

Jay

March 20th, 2005, 08:08 AM

I suppose this would be a good place to mention that I am an architect and have designed 2 skyscrapers in my life (which have not been built but nevertheless...)
Mechanical floors are not always at the top, although they are more often than not. When buildings such as this are described as having however many floors for whatever its height, they usually include the mechanical floors. For example, the Sears Tower in Chicago is listed at 110 floors. It has 4 mechanical levels, each of which spans 2-3 floors. The last occupiable floor is 108, and the last mechanical level is 109-110. But the overall height is 1474 feet, which is the height to the top of the 110th floor. That does not even count the antennas, (which I think should not be included in record heights, etc., but that is another topic). Although the mechanical levels are not rentable, they contribute to the overall height of the building.
I am not sure where you got the info that Lib PL has 63 stories instead of 61, maybe you could post a link to where it says that because I have never heard that. I researched it in a structural engineering book that included a case history of its construction, and it lists the building as 61 stories.

Sears Tower is not 1474 feet, It is 1450 to the top of the box on the roof and 1429' to the "main bulk" of the tower.

One Liberty place does indeed have 63 floors, but the offices go up to 58. 59 and 60 are security and building management offices (same with 61 I think) and 62 and 63 are elavator equitment and such. Liberty two actually has 60 floors, not 58.

Killadelphia

March 20th, 2005, 08:25 PM

Wow. I never knew that. I mean I read earlier in teh thread about 1 Liberty Place having 63 stories, btu I had no idea 2 Liberty Place had 60 stories. Emporis.com should really rework their figures with the full numbers. It really makes me look at those skyscrapers differently.

Jay

March 21st, 2005, 02:02 AM

Yea emporis really doesnt know what the F*** there talking about.

Most buildings on there are to the highest occupied floor.

They call Citigroup 59 but it really has 64 for the tuned mass damper. The Empire state has 103 or 104 I believe. (the highest marked level in the ESB is 104, the top of the mooring mast, not 102)

They rank skylines on Number of 12 storey buildings in a city. In NY they don't have many 12 st. towers listed but they do in HK so HK automatically gest 3 times as many skyline points.

Plus they don't even have Blooberg tower listed on NY'c topped off towers yet!

LOL, I'm done with my rant...the moral of the story is... Emporis is retarted :cheers:

Baltimoreguy

March 21st, 2005, 04:28 AM

I agree that Emporis site lacks consistency. In Baltimore they have missed a lot of buildings and the heights are wrong on almost every one of the building and even the number of stories. If you email them to correct it you get a snobby response and it doesn't get fixed. Ocean City Maryland and Towson Maryland are even worse

Joe84323

March 21st, 2005, 04:59 AM

Emporis is on top of my city. They've got two buildings ass-backwards and are still a year behind. Not like it matters, nobody really cares about Wilmington anyway :/

yournewmayor

March 21st, 2005, 05:11 AM

I wouldn't call 10th and Filbert convenient to 95. And as far as traffic is concerned, it's always bumper to bumper in Chinatown ,also, the bus's destination determins wheather it has to go on 76. If it has to go on 95 it would use 676 which is a totally different animal. Even if the bus uses Market St to access 95 its still better than using Arch St.,Race St or 10th. And yes it is right next to Market East, which has access to the Reginal Rail and the El. But 30th St has access to the Reginal Rail, El, Trolley, and Amtrak. Not to mention the roads in that area are designed to hold the bus sized tractor trailers that the post office uses to haul mail.And since the Post office is moving its operations out of the area in a year or two, theres going to be alot more room on those streets. :soapbox:

There is no way the chinatown traffic for a bus leaving the terminal at 5:15 going to be worst than the traffic on 76 around that same time. When buses leave the terminal to get to 95 they do not take 676, the take market street and get on below columbus blvd. The buses coming into the city going northbound get off 95 at 676 and exit on 8th street. Once they are on 95, if the bus is going toward NY,Boston it will take 95 North all the way up, and for northern/western Pa it will take 95 to the pa turnpike... The only time you really see a greyhound on 76 is for the limited services to KOP or Pottstown... They could have easily put the terminal in the area of 30th, but there is a reason they didn't... :cheers:

Killadelphia

March 21st, 2005, 06:57 AM

Emporis is nice, but always comes up short. There are like a dozen Philly proposals that arent even on there.

Jayayess1190

March 22nd, 2005, 11:52 PM

http://img163.exs.cx/img163/6650/ciracenter4qw.th.jpg (http://img163.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img163&image=ciracenter4qw.jpg)

Cira Centre 3/22

debbus

March 22nd, 2005, 11:57 PM

is that as tall as the building is going to get or is there more to come? it looks good so far, but i can only imagine what another 100 - 200 feet would do for it ;)

dreadnought

March 23rd, 2005, 03:38 AM

is that as tall as the building is going to get or is there more to come? it looks good so far, but i can only imagine what another 100 - 200 feet would do for it ;)
No, the building is topped out. Not going to get any taller. The are putting the cladding system on now.

Killadelphia

March 23rd, 2005, 06:26 AM

I actaully like it at this height. If it were in the core of Center City, I think another hundred feet might have done it well. But considering where it is being built, 436 ft sounds just about perfect. :)

volguus zildrohar

March 23rd, 2005, 07:02 AM

I've thrown up some photos of the Frankford El for anyone to check out in the Subways/Transport forum.

Click Here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=3653875#post3653875)

Joe84323

March 23rd, 2005, 08:05 AM

I drove up to 30th street station like a dork yesterday to see Cira. I've never seen a shinier building in my life. Maybe it is just virgin to our famous acid rain, but that sucker is marvelous.

I also love how it slopes up toward the fab 4 in CC CBD. I sat there like a Delawarean until they finished intalling a double pain of glass toward the pinnacle on the tall side. I'll remember that when it's all done and I'm roaming around plastered one night.

::Memories::

josef

March 24th, 2005, 08:13 AM

I like seeing it from the walt whitman. i never really thought about where west philly is from that perspective, but now that i see where it is, i think from that bridge more of the bigger buildings in UC would look really cool.

Killadelphia

March 30th, 2005, 03:09 AM

I am falling absolutely in love with teh big C-ra.

josef

March 30th, 2005, 03:10 AM

New House of Blues, plus some news about two parcels on Arch.

House of Blues is moving to The Grand

THE HOUSE of Blues Inc., which has wandered around Center City for months in search of local digs, has reportedly decided to set up shop in The Grand.

The luxury apartment building at 15th and Chestnut is in the midst of converting to condos. However, building owner Metro Development Co. will keep control of office and retail space in the 25-story building.

Previous reports had the world's second-largest live music promoter looking at several other Center City locations, but this time it's serious.

Sources said House of Blues Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Metro. The two parties are seeking state funds to add to the roughly $12 million they're willing to invest in the project.

Officials at House of Blues could not be reached. The Los Angeles-based company has clubs in eight U.S. cities, plus 22 amphitheaters in the U.S. and Canada.

Metro's president and CEO David Grasso declined to comment on the House of Blues deal. The local developer had slightly more to say about his imminent purchase of a parcel at 16th and Vine Streets.

The two-plus-acre lot has been owned by the Redevelopment Authority since the early 1970s, when it was condemned as part of the Franklintown Redevelopment Area.

Grasso said he expects to finalize the purchase of 1601 Vine St. within the next three weeks. Then, he went mum.

"We are proposing a large development composed of retail, parking and residential, that's all I want to say because the deal isn't ready to go yet," Grasso said.

Plans that Grasso submitted to the RDA show a 40-story tower with 300 residential units, and 200,000 square feet of retail, including a supermarket. Project costs are estimated at $157 million.

RDA director Herbert Wetzel said there's a run on city-owned parcels these days.

"After years of sitting on this stuff, we got a lot going on," Wetzel crowed.

Just this week, RDA selected a developer for another long-vacant parcel in Old City.

Parkway Corp. and Pan Am Realty will pay $3.6 million for the parcel at 9th and Arch Streets. Their $28.8 million proposal includes 80 condos, 12 retail stores and associated parking, Wetzel said.

Another developer purchasing a parcel at 12th and Arch Streets for $4.5 million also plans to build condos and retail.

The RDA has owned the 9th and Arch land for 30 years and the parcel at 12th for six, Wetzel said.

The RDA also rejected several bids for the Beau Rivage site at Kelly Drive and Calumet Street. Wetzel said the community felt the proffered plans required too many zoning variances. The parcel, which is valued at about $2.5 million, will be re-bid with new criteria next month.

In other redevelopment news, Target put an end to speculation on its plans for the former Adams Mark Hotel at City and Monument Avenues. A site plan submitted to the city Planning Commission shows a 160,000 sq. ft. store with 567 parking spaces. It will be the fourth Target to open in the city.

----

I wish they'd do something cooler on the Arch St parcels than more condos.. Something cultural, they *are* in Chinatown :\

wheelingman

March 30th, 2005, 04:23 AM

Approximately how tall are the 1441 Chestnut Condos and the Ritz Carlton tower supposed to be?

volguus zildrohar

March 30th, 2005, 05:55 AM

1441 Chesnut has always been planned to be 615 feet tall. ResRitz was originally slated for 740 feet tall but is being whittled down to make it more palatable for the Zoning Board. It would still, however, rise high than City Hall.

Killadelphia

March 30th, 2005, 06:01 AM

Will it? I remember on SSP.com, when gio mentioned it a WHILE ago (I have been reading for quite a long time, seriously), he said that the rumors stated that it woudl eb around the same hieght as the Ritz, making it between 380-400 ft (?).

House of Blues news is c-raazzzyyyyy!!!! :)

wheelingman

March 30th, 2005, 08:01 AM

Thanks for the height info.

*Sweetkisses*

March 31st, 2005, 04:57 AM

:banana:

Killadelphia

March 31st, 2005, 04:58 AM

Hehehe... Dancing banana.......

*Sweetkisses*

March 31st, 2005, 05:30 AM

^lol

josef

April 6th, 2005, 12:49 AM

Anyone read about a company buying the lots at 9th and 12th & Arch? (Maybe it was two individual companies.) This was in the paper today. I'm glad they're working the community into their plans like this... It would be such a shame to have Chinatown become a condo park at the expense of the awesome neighborhood that's already too small.

In shift, development may buoy Chinatown

By Joseph A. Slobodzian

Right now, the site doesn't look like much: a scrubby, windblown parking lot bisected diagonally by the station entrance of the Ridge spur of the Broad Street subway.

There's not even an artist's rendering to hint at what developers hope it will become: a neighborhood of more than 300 residences built around the subway tunnel on a lot bounded by Eighth and Ninth, and Race and Vine Streets.

None of that worries John Chin. He has what he wants: the project developer's respect as embodied in an unusual commitment that 10 percent of those units will be "affordable" and available to the people of Chinatown.

Chin, 39, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., called such a commitment between builder and neighbors remarkable.

"To even have the conversation is amazing," Chin added.

Chinatown's residents could be forgiven for viewing developers and the city with skepticism. For decades, urban renewal in Center City - Independence National Historical Park, the Gallery shopping mall, the commuter rail tunnel, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center - has meant bulldozers that ultimately devoured almost a quarter of the original Chinatown.

Just five years ago, residents fought for months to defeat a plan to put the Phillies' baseball stadium at 11th and Vine Streets.

"This community has always been in the way of something," said Chin, a financial adviser who grew up in Chinatown and returned five years ago to head the development group after the legendary activist Cecilia Moy Yep retired.

Lisa Welsch, director of development for Synterra Ltd., said the Philadelphia firm hoped to break ground late this year or in early 2006, with construction lasting up to 36 months. She said it was too early to discuss such details as its look, the exact number of units, or what "affordable" will mean.

But what is firm, she said, is Synterra Ltd. owner William A. Wilson's commitment to Chin and Chinatown, an agreement reached in talks that began a year ago.

Welsch said Wilson's relationship with Chinatown dates to the late 1980s, when Synterra was hired for the difficult task of making the Vine Street Expressway more palatable to the community it almost doomed.

It was Wilson's firm that designed the shrubs and plantings along the north-south streets crossing the expressway as well as red-brick sound barriers emblazoned with the Chinese "shou" character, which symbolizes long life.

"I think [the people of Chinatown] knew Bill Wilson and that his word could be trusted," Welsch said. "We have a different approach."

Chinatown's biggest challenge today is not so much loss of land to major projects as it is gentrification caused by Center City's hot real estate market.

Fueled by low interest rates and the city's 10-year real estate tax abatement on new residential construction and conversions, Center City added 6,436 housing units from 1998 to 2004, with 6,000 more units to come, the Center City District's 2005 report said.

The average Center City home-sale price went from $155,958 in 1985 to $525,960 last year.

Chinatown has lagged behind nearby neighbors in this explosive growth. According to the Center City District report, the median residential sale price increased 9 percent from 2003 to 2004, to $386,000, for homes and 3 percent, to $207,000, for condominiums.

During this time, there were increases of 2 percent for homes and 25 percent for condominiums in Northern Liberties to the north, and to the east in Old City, increases of 29 percent for homes and 4 percent for condominiums.

The pressure is only building. Across Eighth Street from the Chinatown site, the MetroClub condominium complex is being born in the shell of long-vacant Metropolitan Hospital, with 130 units selling from about $260,000 to more than $1 million.

Chin said the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. has experience in making mixed-income residential sites work.

On the other side of Vine on North Ninth, Chin pointed to Hing Wah Yuen, a 51-unit complex built in the late 1990s that includes families of mixed income, from those renting with "Section 8" aid to those paying full market rates.

Also north of Vine, the agency is sponsoring similar developments as part of a plan that Chin says will take Chinatown north to Spring Garden Street.

If the commitment between Synterra and Chinatown is small in numbers, it is large in symbolism for Chinatown's leaders in regard to whether their community remains viable or becomes just a theme park for tourists.

Chin remembers the Chinatown of his youth, a vibrant community even when it coexisted with a mushroom crop of corner bars and nude photo "studios" and the Trocadero Theater when it was a strip-tease palace.

"What made us special was the culture and the people who lived here," Chin said. "This has always been a gateway for new immigrants, and if we're going to continue to be successful, we must have affordable housing."