Given this article is now six years old, is this still true despite the recession?

I guess my question isn't worth responding to...

Not worth responding to but still apropos. As a travel destination, Philadelphia has only improved over time. :)

Here's a much more recent article:

Gov. Corbett: Another Pennsylvania Gilded Age? (http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Another-PA-gilded-age.html)

The energy boom in Pennsylvania promises to bring stability to the state and certain riches to Philly which can really use the new wealth right now. Lots of good stuff on the boards in Philly, lots of good stuff coming!

Family Court Building Pushes On (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/01/family-court-building-pushes-on.html)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bitKGn7besk/TwY1jjjH5-I/AAAAAAAACoI/wcS6rWs06SU/s1600/Picture+1.png
14 floors...or 15?


1/05/12

The new Family Court Building would come as a welcome addition to Philadelphia's government institutions by many who work in and use the facility, but a few sour neighbors think different. There is always someone to protest progress and change, even if there are no immediate threats to the environment, neighborhood, or patrons themselves. Some times these concerns consider the rights of neighboring citizens and way of life and at other protecting history and tradition, but in the case of the family court building, it is neither.

The new structure will take the place of a eye souring parking lot at 15th and Arch Streets, which has stood unbuilt for decades, and will only tower 14 stories above street level with 3 levels of underground parking. Sponsors recently approached the Art Commission for a variance that will allow a 15th floor to be added. The board was met by two protesters from the neighboring art deco Metropolitan apartment building, siting concerns of setback regulations and zoning, stating he had concerns about the new structure interfering with site lines, views and daylighting of his property. The Art Commission has table the discussion for further review.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cgzaz0xT8oQ/TwY1ufpzBWI/AAAAAAAACoU/4f2NTDxHcfY/s1600/Picture+2.png
PhillyShark

GlaxoSmithkline Moves To Navy Yard (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/01/glaxosmithkline-moves-to-navy-yard.html)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jaJKDonMDbo/TwJNRhGoekI/AAAAAAAACg0/jB64lwHbGco/s1600/Picture+6.png


Liberty property Trust and Synterra Partners create the workplace of the future at five Crescent Drive, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. GSK has signed a 15.5 year lease for the new building. The 205,000 square-foot, four story facility design by Robert A.M. Stern Architects will be designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The project represents a $81 million investment by Liberty. GSK plans to relocate all employes currently based in center city to the new location between fourth quarter 2012 and first quarter 2013, immediately after completion.

1900 Arch apartment building to add 236 units to Center City: http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2011/12/1900-arch-project-checks-in-to-center.html

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As reported about a month ago the fourteen story, mixed use building designed by Varenhorst Architects, will have 236 apartments, a restaurant, additional commercial and retail space, 131 underground parking spaces, and 79 bicycle parking spaces. the building is certainly ready for the eco-friendly city dweller, two blocks from major public transit, a grocery store, retail and entertainment.

2040 Market Gets New Lease On Life (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2011/12/2040-market-gets-new-lease-on-life.html)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x2Vo5aeQgfo/TvTHw2KeZVI/AAAAAAAACc4/DcGDdGSMqdQ/s1600/Picture+21.png
From this

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rf07CTWHBSE/TvTJGIOsYjI/AAAAAAAACdw/BRvO9jGKE0s/s1600/Picture+24.png
...to this.


The former AAA mid-Atlantic headquarters is finally getting second chance, and staking a place in the 21st Century. Ushering in new life to the often barren West Market Street, 8 additional floors will be added to the original 2040 Market building, bringing it to 13 floors. Two additional 13 story wings will be added to the back of the building, along Ludlow Street.

Designed by Steven Varenhorst Architects, the building will have 275 high-end rental apartments, 32 of which will be two bedroom apartments, at the request of Center City Residents Association, increasing the size of the building from 120,000 square feet to 300,000 square feet. The facade of the original building will be clad with panels that will create bunches of windows, rather than the seamless ribbon of windows it currently has. All parking will be underground, some of it within the existing building and some under the new additions. There will be two entrances to the parking, one on Ludlow and the other unfortunately on Market.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gCvRb-VRPvM/TvTHwANf11I/AAAAAAAACcw/6MalsTfevg4/s1600/Picture+20.png

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GhdFsbLpX4M/TvTH-UcBi5I/AAAAAAAACdc/9jzqLDo84fM/s1600/Picture+19.png

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fWqZsV926us/TvTH_6ahDQI/AAAAAAAACdk/sejcBUoVmEY/s1600/Picture+23.png

Not a skyscraper but a welcome boost to density in Center City's western flank.

^^
That's a pretty sweet makeover

Carpenter Square (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/01/carpenter-square.html)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zPyVjdQrvrs/TxoQ964aYdI/AAAAAAAACyo/igtOIj1CYRM/s1600/Picture+18.png


Goldenberg Group of Blue Bell was selected by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority to transform a vacant parcel at 1001-1035 S 17th St. into a $6.38 million sustainable, mixed-use development. The authority voted last week to have the developer, going under the name Graduate Partners LP, to do the project which will be called Carpenter Square. The development will include 11 townhomes, six condominiums and 2,000 square feet of commercial space as well as 1,000 square feet of open space and off-street parking.

PhillyShark (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/01/2200-amber-residence.html)


1/06/2012

2200 Amber Residence

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http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pNRrHT4Q9PY/Twc1HzeOUTI/AAAAAAAACrs/fDOKSAePfCA/s1600/2200amberendersmall.jpg

G8's 2200 Amber residence is barely kissing the face of its completion date with only minor interior accessorizing, a splash of color paint on its wooded exterior and a touch of greenery left to install. We said we'd have some healthy competition for the Kensington market, and here you have it, along with its Susquehanna cousin right next door.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7893roUIVFQ/Twc0rGCTgAI/AAAAAAAACrk/h_lgBr1F0U8/s1600/Philadelphia-20120106-00134.jpg

Anything on the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine or other developments at UPenn?

Curbed (http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2012/02/07/dilworth-plaza-the-jardin-de-luxembourg-of-the-east-coast.php)


Dilworth Plaza: the Jardin de Luxembourg of the East Coast

Below we present Curbed-relevant excerpts from the mayor's state-of-the-city address to the Chamber of Commerce.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/jenny/dilworthplaza/echelman01r.jpg

"Improving Philadelphia’s built environment will remain a top priority in my second term."

Dilworth Plaza will: "rival the parks of Paris, London and Rome."

Philadelphia is and will be:

· cleaner, healthier, safer, smarter
· a city of ideas, where ingenuity is celebrated
· world-class
· on the move
· a critical member of the global marketplace
· livable
· global
· international
· increasingly competitive
· progressive
· great
· educted
· sustainable
· green

Waterfront news:

"On the Delaware Waterfront, we opened the Race Street Pier and Connector and will complete the trail network, from Pennsport to Tacony. On the Schuylkill, the trail is extending below South Street. Soon Philadelphia will boast the two best waterfronts in the nation."

Neighborhood-specific progress:

· There has been revitalization of Woodland Avenue, El Centro De Oro and Girard Avenue East.

· Baltimore Avenue has the City’s first pop-up park in front of the Green Line Café.

· Bustleton and Castor Avenues have thriving Russian and Brazilian immigrant businesses.

· Market Street West between 46th and 63rd streets is a prime corridor for growth and development, right under the newly renovated El.

· We hope to redevelop the Reading Viaduct with the Center City District in the Callowhill/ North Chinatown neighborhood—our own “High Line Philly”.

· Xfinity Live will be opening in March in the Sports Complex area.

Market Street East and North Broad Street (two of Philadelphia's "great boulevards"):

"On Market Street East ... we are focused on working with businesses and retailers to make a cleaner, safer, more enjoyable experience for everyone and to stop the code violations and behavioral problems that currently hold this area back.

"I am committed to returning Market East to its former glory, creating a walkable boulevard from City Hall to the river—a connector from our city’s historic heart to the central business district and cultural corridors.

"Families finished visiting the sites on Independence Mall will walk to 13th Street’s Midtown Village or Rittenhouse Square for dinner, or even stroll all the way down the Ben Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Museum, which will soon make Philadelphia the art capital of the world."

Proof of North Broad Street renewal:

The expanded Convention Center;
The creation of Lenfest Plaza at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts;
The construction of the Pennsylvania Ballet’s new studios;
The dining destinations of Osteria, Route 6, Alla Spina and Via;
The impending redevelopment of the Inquirer building; and
Temple University’s investment of $200 million to help revitalize this street.

[...]

PhillyShark (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/02/drexel-university-breaks-ground-on-97.html#comment-form)


Drexel Gateway Gets Underway

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2uFeTR-RVhY/TzSrG4JIXAI/AAAAAAAADCo/jnQ5dHTD5EM/s1600/Picture+17.png

Drexel University breaks ground on a $97.6 million mixed-use development that will establish a new gateway to the school on Chestnut Street and be among the first projects that begin to transform its urban campus. This rounds the completion of the universities 2007-2012 master plan and the beginning of its second five year phase.

The University entered into a private partnership with American Campus Communities of Austin, Texas, to construct three buildings totaling 361,200 square feet on land it owns on Chestnut between 32nd and 33rd streets. The agreement gives American Campus a 70-year ground lease with Drexel and managing authority of the property.

The inaugural event will take place on February 21, 2012 with completion set for September 2013. Two eight story buildings will be constructed along Chestnut Street and a 19 story residential tower will be built at the corner of 32nd and Chestnut.

---

Waterview Grande Nears Opening

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hjDytsA8I-g/TzSOCcXAAjI/AAAAAAAADBg/92ToQG40juM/s1600/Picture+6.png



The Waterview Grande apartments, part of Penn Treaty Village, reported on earlier last year is nearing the completion of its first phase of construction with a full conversion of a former auto storage building. the new luxury property by Core Realty located at Front and Brown Streets is the latest addition to the Northern Liberties housing Market. Developers at Core Realty intend to redevelop as many as ten city blocks, with residential and commercial uses, effectively linking Northern Liberties to Fishtown.



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http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/02/waterview-grande-approaches-opening-day.html

Philly.com (http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Union-fund-Millions-for-2116-Chestnut-Girard-Block-to-follow.html)



Three new Center City high rise plans
Thursday, March 1, 2012

http://assets.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/natalie-kostelni/2-28%20nk%20John%20Buck%20rendering.jpg?v=1
2116 Chestnut

1) Financing for 2116 Chestnut St.: Chicago investor John A. Buck and the union-backed Indure Fund held a groundbreaking Thursday and said they've each invested $20 million in their planned $100 million 319-unit apartment tower (plus shops and a parking garage).

Banks led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. are lending Buck and Indure the other $60 million, and Pennsylvania taxpayers will be giving them $10 million when the job is done, in a move approved by Govs. Tom Corbett and his predecessor, Ed Rendell.

Buck, who founded John A. Buck Co. in 1981 and holds a Wharton MBA, said it's his first development in Philadelphia, and he thanked political leaders for sweetening the deal. He added, "I love Philadelphia. It's good to be back here. Philadelphia has more of a residential and warm feeling to it than our great city" of Chicago.

"We've been looking for a Philadelphia project with John Buck Co. for years; there was never anything that made sense before," Jeffrey J. Kanne, preisdent of Indure's advisory firm, told me. The project's backers say up to 800 workers will be active on the job site between now and its scheduled 2013 completion.

Indure is funded by the pension plan for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors' Association.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_DTbnUSpnx9w/Sx_1aw1_24I/AAAAAAAADX4/1JXrx8L4AUQ/s320/girard.JPG
The Girard Block proposal from 2009

2) Indure is also looking for government help for a propsal to redevelop the Girard Block, between 11th and 12th, Market and Chestnut streets, according to Kanne and Peter Soens, a partner in the group that agreed to develop the block after buying rights from the city-run Girard Trust.

Soens and Indure have big plans for the Girard block: They want to lure a Target-style discount or Giant-style grocery store, a hotel, and an apartment developer to that location. But "that depends on getting money" from the city or another government entity, Kanne told me.

Mayor Nutter, city councilemembers Kenyatta Johnson and Bobby Henon, and state economic development officials were also on hand. John Dougherty, president of Philadelphia's IBEW Local 98, noted his union had been active in convincing Indure to use union electricians' pension funds to back both the 2116 and the Girard projects, creating "good jobs, with good wages, and benefits."

http://www.uwishunu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/phs-pop-up-garden-680uw.jpg
Vacant lot at 20th and Market

3) J. Tmothy Duffy of Michael Salove Co. tells me he and his group are seeking tenants (corrected) for yet another Center City apartments and retail project, on Brandywine Realty Trust's grass-covered block on the north side of 20th and Market next to Independence Blue Cross. Independence is a likely participant. Officials there tell me it's too early to talk about plans.

---

Skanska to build Franklin Institute addition (http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Skanska-to-build-65M-Franklin-Institute-addition.html)

http://www.saylorgregg.com/slider-images/TFI/TFI2.GIF
http://www.saylorgregg.com/projects/TFI.htm


The Franklin Institute has hired Sweden-based construction giant Skanska's suburban Philadelphia office to build the planned 53,000 sq ft, limestone-faced Nicholas and Athena Karabots Pavilion, to house a conference center, a brain exhibition, and a new exhibit gallery.The project, designed by SaylorGregg Architects, will create 125 construction jobs and 20 permanent (fulltime and parttime) jobs, according to the institute, with work to start this Spring and end by summer 2014.

PhillyShark (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/02/post-brothers-apartment-building-at.html)


Post Brothers Apartment Building at 12th and Vine

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JubEdIwcc_U/T0b7KZILs0I/AAAAAAAADOw/JinGmeShEgI/s1600/Picture+2.png

The 10 story abandoned building at 12th and Vine is getting a new LEED on life with bright future as a 163 unit apartment building, 7,000 square feet of retail space, LEED-certification, rooftop pool and "dog socializing area".

The building was purchased by Post Brothers Apartments last year and due to be fully transformed sometime this upcoming Fall. The building will be wrapped in a brand-knew metal skin and vegetated biowalls, that will not only give it a modern aesthetic, but will also add to its energy efficiency.
[...]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WplZ7957HQY/T0b7IiKD4XI/AAAAAAAADOo/LW89IFjwk20/s1600/Picture+1.png


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Glaxo-Iroko Headquarters rising at the Navy Yards

http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/IMG_9933-1024x768.jpg
http://hiddencityphila.org/2012/02/into-the-frontier/

http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/IMG_9937-1024x768.jpg
http://hiddencityphila.org/2012/02/into-the-frontier/

phillyshark (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/03/central-delaware-master-plan-is-adopted.html)


Central Delaware Master Plan is Adopted!
3/09/2012

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Many have been waiting and anticipating the day a future is secured for Philadelphia's Premier Waterfront and it finally came. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission unanimously adopted the Master Plan for the Central Delaware Waterfront in its entirety, Tuesday afternoon. The new roadmap for the future of the waterfront is an ambitious plan, but very realistic. The plan aims to reunite the city and the waterfront with a system of linked parks and extended city streets. The Central Delaware Plan is now part of the city's comprehensive plan. It must be considered by by any city governing body when making a waterfront decision.

[...]

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The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Building Set To Be Reconfigured As Headquarters For Philadelphia Police, Health Dept. Medical Examiner (http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2012/03/20/pmlib-building-what-a-lovely-morgue-it-will-be.php)

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/4f68a65085216d638201961b/6848325102_9dd299b72a_b.jpg
http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2012/03/20/pmlib-building-what-a-lovely-morgue-it-will-be.php


The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Building (PMLIB) at 46th and Market is set to be reconfigured as a headquarters for the Philadelphia Police Department, the Health Dept. and the morgue. In other words, a building for the kind of crappy times in life—getting busted, getting sick, getting dead. The building itself, though, is far from crappy, as Curbed staff photographer Laura Kicey proves with this gallery of exterior photos. We especially like the ship atop the clock tower as a metaphor for passing from one life stage to the next. We hope the ship is retained.

XFINITY Live! opens on Friday!

http://www.xfinitylive.com/

Will The Divine Lorraine Be Saved? (http://ilovebricks.blogspot.com/2012/03/city-says-divine-lorraine-will-not-be.html)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6557181531_c4f02e571b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/roblawol/6557181531/)
Divine Lorraine (Hotel) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/roblawol/6557181531/) by Roblawol (http://www.flickr.com/people/roblawol/), on Flickr


A "Repair or Demolish" notification posted by L&I delivered a second punch to preservationists following a fire at the Divine Lorraine, abandoned by investors.

Fear not. Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger stated that the notification was a necessary measure allowing the city to enter the building and intervene.

A bill for all repairs made by the city will be sent to the building's owners, Michael Treacy, Jr. and a Dutch group, on top of the $700,000 in back taxes they currently owe.

Meanwhile the city is working with the New York bank that holds the mortgage to find a new owner ready and willing to develop the property.

Wowwwww! Once all this development is done Philly will look really world-class!

Sale Could Boost Planned Race St Development (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/03/race-street-hotel-residential-property.html)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JuMIKPR9Mnw/T2-XRkDYsKI/AAAAAAAADgA/NGUtIsmNVKc/s1600/Picture+8.png

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p5xjv8BSnM4/T2-XROpr5fI/AAAAAAAADf4/jWsqQ2q11P0/s1600/Picture+7.png



In Old City near the mouth of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, developer Robert Ambrosi of Arc Properties plans to build a hotel/entertainment/retail complex. This project included a residential building as well but the story is, the .67-acre site where the residences would stand is now up for sale. Ambrosi had planned to eventually build a 60-unit residential building with ground floor retail.

Ambrosi says the new action is part of a refinancing agreement which also includes selling the lot on Fourth Street....The sale could stand to be a positive move for the neighborhood, because it opens up the possibility of the residential portion being developed sooner the Ambrosi had planned. The residential phase was actually in the 3rd phase of the project.

XFINITY Live! officially opens today!

Go Philly!

New Renderings for Reading Viaduct Elevated Park Are Out (http://www.uwishunu.com/2012/04/behold-the-first-official-renderings-of-the-proposed-reading-viaduct-elevated-park-philadelphias-planned-park-in-the-sky/)

Before:
http://www.yourdailycheesesteak.com/wp-content/gallery/reading-viaduct/reading_viaduct5.jpg

After:
http://philly.curbed.com/uploads/ReadingViaPres0312.9.after.jpg
http://philly.curbed.com/

http://i.bnet.com/blogs/philadelphia-reading-viaduct-spur-4-680px.jpeg
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/philadelphias-reading-viaduct-gets-the-8216high-line-treatment/24991

http://www.uwishunu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/reading-viaduct-park-spur8-680uw.jpg
http://www.uwishunu.com/2012/04/behold-the-first-official-renderings-of-the-proposed-reading-viaduct-elevated-park-philadelphias-planned-park-in-the-sky/

http://i.bnet.com/blogs/philadelphia-reading-viaduct-spur-overview1-680px.jpeg
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/philadelphias-reading-viaduct-gets-the-8216high-line-treatment/24991

http://www.uwishunu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/reading-viaduct-spur-entrance1-680uw.jpg
http://www.uwishunu.com/2012/04/behold-the-first-official-renderings-of-the-proposed-reading-viaduct-elevated-park-philadelphias-planned-park-in-the-sky/


http://archpaper.com/uploads/image/philly_reading_line_05.jpg
http://archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=5801

tGLcXtro_WI

Will The Divine Lorraine Be Saved? (http://ilovebricks.blogspot.com/2012/03/city-says-divine-lorraine-will-not-be.html)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6557181531_c4f02e571b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/roblawol/6557181531/)
Divine Lorraine (Hotel) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/roblawol/6557181531/) by Roblawol (http://www.flickr.com/people/roblawol/), on Flickr

Well, lets hope that Philly preserves this very fine-looking treasure!

2116 Chestnut is underway:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7103/6896281974_0e155251cc_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dharmalar/6896281974/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dharmalar/6896281974/) by Dharmalar (http://www.flickr.com/people/dharmalar/), on Flickr

Ground Broken On Center City's First New Hotel since 2000 (http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120418_Ground_broken_for_a_new_Center_City_hotel.html?cmpid=124488459)


http://www.uwishunu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hilton-home2suites-philadelphia-rendering1-680uw.jpg

April 18, 2012|By Suzette Parmley, Inquirer Staff Writer

The city's first new ground-up hotel since 2000, and the first tailored to support the expanded Convention Center, broke ground Tuesday at 12th and Arch Streets.

Under a cavernous white tent, about 60 feet from the Reading Terminal Market and diagonally opposite the Convention Center, nearly 200 gathered to shovel the first dirt for the $60 million extended-stay Home2Suites by Hilton.

Some say the development may represent a thawing of the lending markets for new hotels here.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K7cRcR17PuA/Tz6ddOxwVFI/AAAAAAAADEw/dq8brXLhVJU/s1600/Picture+2.png
http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/02/hilton-home2-suites-expands-to.html

Here's a nice idea for the Divine Lorraine:

HAG0aF6rXxQ

nakedphilly (http://nakedphilly.com/rittenhouse/another-hotel-on-the-horizon-for-center-city/)


Another Hotel on the Horizon for Center City?


As we continue to claw our way back from the financial crisis that’s weighed us down since 2008, we’re encouraged when we hear about major downtown projects that indicate renewed optimism in the marketplace. The hospitality industry has been fairly stagnant over the past decade, though we’ve seen some recent action when the Hotel Palomar opened in 2009. Hotel Monaco in Old City is set to open later this year.

Last week was the groundbreaking for the new 246 room Home2 Suites by Hilton at 12th and Arch Sts., a project we told you about six months ago. Though about $10M in government loans and grants are funding this project, another $50M of private capital makes up the difference. Just last week, we gave you the heads up about a boutique, 150 room hotel planned for East Chestnut Street.

And now, according to a thread on Philadelphia Speaks, another hotel is in the works, just down the street from City Hall. User Aro1419 contacted Starwood Hotels about a future W Hotel listed on their website, located at 1441 Chestnut St., with an expected opening date of January 2015. Representatives responded in the affirmative, which is good news indeed.

Provided this hotel gets built (not something that we’ll consider a guarantee until they break ground), the former site of One Meridian Plaza will finally be filled in and fully utilized for the first time in over two decades. For those unfamiliar with the story, One Meridian Plaza, an office building, caught fire in 1991, resulting in the tragic deaths of three firefighters. The blighted, unusable building remained until 1999, due to litigation. A surface parking lot was located here for seven years, until The Residences at the Ritz Carlton, completed in 2009, filled the other half of the lot.

Hopefully, downtown parking will get a little more difficult in the near future, when hotel construction begins and the remaining surface lot closes down for good.

----


Now This:


From: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120502_W_Hotel_planned_for_Chestnut_Street.html

W Hotel planned for Chestnut Street

http://www.michaelangelina.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/W-Hotel.jpg

May 03, 2012|By Suzette Parmley, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

An upscale W Hotel is scheduled to break ground next year on a half-acre site that was originally planned for a $420 million Waldorf-Astoria Hotel with luxury condominiums before the lending markets collapsed four years ago.

The new hotel would sit on what is now a surface parking lot at 1441 Chestnut St, just behind the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and its condo tower, according to a representative of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., which owns the W brand.

“It is going through,” Katherine Tory, a member of Starwood’s development team, said Tuesday. “Construction is set to begin in about a year.”



Given this site was cleared for the cancelled Waldorf Astoria, a W Hotel could rise as high as 700 ft. Most likely it will be in the low 300s...but who knows?

http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/Waldorf_Astoria_Hotel_Philadelphia_Rendering.jpg
Hotelchatter.com

Barnes Museum nears May 19 opening

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/imgart/Barnes-philly-2012.jpg
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Barnes-Foundations-general-counsel-Brett-Miller-found-dead/26296

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7151220975_80c21de170_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillytrax/7151220975/)
At The Barnes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillytrax/7151220975/) by phillytrax (http://www.flickr.com/people/phillytrax/), on Flickr

Groundbreaking Soon For LGBT Senior Center (http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/Coming-soon-a-home-for-LGBT-seniors.html)

http://philly.curbed.com/uploads/LGBT%2Bsenior%2Bliving.jpg
http://philly.curbed.com/

PlanPhilly (http://planphilly.com/mid-rise-apartment-building-planned-empty-lot-just-north-ben-franklin-bridge)


Mid-rise apartment building planned for empty lot just north of Ben Franklin Bridge

http://planphilly.com/sites/planphilly.com/files/BridgeProj.jpg

Another new development is proposed for the Central Delaware Waterfront – an 11-story apartment building, just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge in Old City.

Previously, the development proposed by Ensemble Real Estate, called Marina View Tower, was going to be a high-rise. It is now set to be a mid-rise, more than 120 feet tall, slightly shorter than the stone pier of the bridge.

While shorter than it once was, the building is higher than the 100-foot height limit called for in the draft of the Central Delaware Zoning Overlay.

[...]

University Place Set To Break Ground (http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/05/20-university-place.html)

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http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2012/05/20-university-place.html

Karabots Pediatric Care Center

http://www.chop.edu/locations/primary-karabots/home.html