518' Completion late 2008
Handel Architects LLP
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/435578.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_0585-1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/435576.jpg
Progress as of Sept 9th, 2007
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1058.jpg

PHilly is doing AMAZINGLY with their skyscrapers! So many going up will add to such an amazing skyline! This project is really nice and will be a great addition to the PHilly skyline! Keep it up PHilly!

Bryson, thanks for the update. I needed my fix. :)

Bryson, thanks for the update. I needed my fix. :)
Without SkyscraperPage I am going crazy!

Without SkyscraperPage I am going crazy!

Why? SSP sucks.


Anyways, nice building.

It's comin along!

There is already an existing thread for this project and it is right here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=463556), and I insist on looking for the existing threads on projects before making new ones in the future.

There is already an existing thread for this project and it is right here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=463556), and I insist on looking for the existing threads on projects before making new ones in the future.
Sorry but the search engine didn't bring them up for me. Actually it doesn't seem to work.....but thanks anyway for your help.

A very nice design!

Update.....the glass has arrived and it doesn't look like the
architects drawings.
Actually the glass looks black to me. Maybe in bright sun it may have a blue cast. There are interesting brushed aluminum mullions (here they are verticle)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1098.jpg

Down here the mullions are horizontal

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1100.jpg
The second pane from the right here seems to be clear (you can see through it) Don't know what that is about
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1101.jpg

And two more of the general progress. The core is on the 14th floor now.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1104.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1105.jpg

nice where in relation to the skyline will this be?

nice where in relation to the skyline will this be?

It is pretty much in the center of the CBD but it won't be tall enough to have much impact on the skyline.

even at the steps from Rocky at the museum?

this is a good filler building! classy!

nice where in relation to the skyline will this be?

It's right by City Hall.

Official Website (http://www.philadelphiaresidences.com/index.cfm)

There was a false alarm on the "black glass" reported earlier. The panels are being shipped and installed with a protective film that peels off to reveal only lightly tinted glass. It seems that it will look like the architect's rendering after all.

this isa great tower, mabe one day nashville can have a ritz!

Major Update: 2007

This is my contribution highlighting Philadelphia's most energetic development happening today.

In this update are the following new skyscrapers:

1. Residences at the Ritz-Carlton
2. Murano
3. Comcast Center
tQZ9YPLK_Ls
Photos edited with iPhoto.
Presentation with Keynote.
Music composed with GarageBand.
Video produced with iMovie.

Enjoy! :D

great vid fish! Do Baltimore next :D

great vid fish! Do Baltimore next :D

I'll credit anyone who provides me the photos and official links to do my proper research and create the video.

Send a request via PM to my inbox. :)

A quick photo of RATR from across City Hall's Dilworth Plaza.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2097/1571621946_ace4ef73f2_b.jpg

The way its being built it looks like the murano

From last night. The 2nd and 3rd floors have glass across the front now. (The older building on the left is the Ritz Carlton hotel itself)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1179.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/IMG_1178.jpg

^^ Way to go bryson! :okay:

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/12-4-7B.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/12-04-07.jpg

pretty dark cladding, looks nice!

This one should top out by the end of march.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/bryson662001/01-10-08.jpg

Today:

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4391/068dd2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

looking good. I used to park there once!

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=146869

to the bottom left
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2302965219_e809652b4f_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2206/2303066935_df6e7ae6b6_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/2303761320_9fb3b05ee8_b.jpg

Awesome looking tower!!!!! Philly is on a roll!!!!!!

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=148729
from ssp, the top of this tower can be seem from some club atop the mellon bank tower


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Swinefeld/Pyramid%20Club/PyramidClub008.jpg

Isn't this the location where a skyscraper caught fire and had to be torn down? As this occurred before 9/11, the massive damage caused to the structure was considered shocking at the time.

Huge impact on the square, in a positive way IMO. Makes it more intimate.

From flickr viewed from city hall's observation deck

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2360/2393253013_70004972db_b.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/mattohara/2393253013/

Ritz Carlton is everywhere :) Nice! ;)

I passed by the RATR the other day and it's looking incredible. It really completes the sense of urban density in that area with it's height.There are some new photos of the RATR over at urbanconstructionindex.com/philadelphia.

ya know this is having a greater impact on the skyline than i thought (seen in the middle between comcast to the right edge of the photo) :

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/2412272108_81dbb9f735_b.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/familymanstudios/2412272108/in/photostream/

from flickr

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3256/2576410006_9163b74814_b.jpg\
http://flickr.com/photos/mendrakis/2576410006/

Heres from at ssp GotToLovePhilly

I took a tour of City Hall this past Friday and took these shots of RATR.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Ty60798/STP82236.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Ty60798/STP82243.jpg

^^ Incredible update - thanks MDguy! http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/Yay.gif

Nice pictures.

great-lookin' tower, philly!!!!:okay:

i wish baltimore would've done the same with our recently-built residences at ritz carlton. ours is a serious of buildings at only 6 stories high.......


http://www.baltimoreritzcarlton.com/index.photo1.gif

I love this city and this new building is really nice! (it would be a residence tower or a Ritz Carlton hotel? (or both???))

^^ It shall be a residence tower.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/Cool.gif

Some of the best views of the Philly skyline are from the Walt Whitman bridge.

I am convinced that Philly's skyline ranks 3rd after NYC and Miami on the east coast of the US. It is better than Boston's or Baltimore's ... not to put those cities down, I'm only talking about skylines here.

<Pointless quote snipped>

Excuse me, but what does that have to do with the construction of the Ritz Carlton http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/q.gifhttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/q.gifhttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/q.gif

Excuse me, but what does that have to do with the construction of the Ritz Carlton http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/q.gifhttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/q.gifhttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/mr-fish/Miscellaneous/q.gif

Oops! Sorry! I guess I was off topic. :hammer:

The inimitable PHILLYSKYLINE.com has all kinds of great pics of this one.

Really looking good...I'm glad it's darker than the renders.

http://phillyskyline.com/bldgs/residencesattheritz/ratr_uc462.jpg

No updates in this thread since last October, but I want to make this announcement: The Residences at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia has bee completed as of June 2009.

There's something funny about this whole situation: The old One Meridian Plaza may have been used as an office building, but its exterior facade had the look of that of an apartment building. When the building stood vacant in the mid 90s, there should have been a proposal to dismantle the upper half of the tower, rebuild it the was it was before the fire, and convert it into apartments, which would have matched well with the hotel at Two Meridian Plaza.

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4672/phill2.jpg http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/2974/phill.jpg
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4259/phill3.jpg

Wow, beautiful tower :D

i really dig the glass

nice choice of color.

Amazing looking building!

Excellent building. I love the colour.

Color is a little too dark for my tastes but nice building either way.

Ooff, those shots give me aches in the knees. :\

I like the design & i think the color will mix well with 1 & 2 liberty place.

Philly is an interesting mix of colors.

- A

Color is a little too dark for my tastes but nice building either way.

In real life it does not look too dark ... it's a silvery sapphire blue ... not foreboding like Chicago's Hancock Tower (nearly black!) ... but it is blue though. BTW the condo apartments are rather expensive but nothing near Manhattan prices. I believe the smallest 1 bedrooms go for about a half-million, but the penthouses are about 3 - 4 million (I could be mistaken). :)

I went inside this building yesterday ... and I wish to re-confirm that it indeed has 48 floors. Not 44 floors.

Phenomenal tower. Contextually, it seems to integrat well into the surroundings, I'm glad the glass ended up being darker. Great Job !

a few days ago I was was in Philly for the first time and, among the other things, I saw in person the Ritz-Carlton tower: really beautiful building ... maybe the overall shape isn't particularly imaginative, but the cladding makes all the difference..so sleek and elegant.
The color darkly glows like a sapphire.
BTW wonderful city, somewhat surprisingly so.....here in Europe Boston is much more renowned, but I found Philly far superior: great urban layout (the American grid PLUS the European leafy squares) , beautiful buildings galore (old and new) and amazingly friendly people.

^^
Thank you.

In my opinion Boston is a richer, more refined city ... whereas Philadelphia is bit "rougher" and more "working class". Boston has more of a European charm to it. But ... our Art Museum is better than their's.

What did you think of the Comcast Center, our tallest building?

^^

Maybe..but that's precisely why, as a European, I loved Philly..it's a very interesting mix of America and Europe, whereas Boston was less intriguing to my eyes.

The Comcast Center is very interesting, a building that needs a little time to be understood....at first it doesn't seem to have the "wow" factor, it seems "just" a nice sliver of glass like many others, but with time you appreciate the sleekness of the shape, and I really loved the way the top seems to fade and disappear in the sky, if seen from afar.
And of course the lobby, with the Comcast Experience, is stunning.
I have to say , though, that among the Philly skyscrapers, Liberty Place still rules ,IMHO.
As a tribute to the city of brotherly love and its people.....a few pictures: :cheers:

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/733/philly37.jpg (http://img42.imageshack.us/i/philly37.jpg/)

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9920/philly73.jpg (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/philly73.jpg/)

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4638/philly52.jpg (http://img268.imageshack.us/i/philly52.jpg/)

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/3724/philly55.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/i/philly55.jpg/)

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6927/philly107.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/i/philly107.jpg/)

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6818/philly61.jpg (http://img403.imageshack.us/i/philly61.jpg/)

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3160/philly62.jpg (http://img43.imageshack.us/i/philly62.jpg/)

LOVE the US Customs building!

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9070/philly21.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/i/philly21.jpg/)

now...THIS is a stunning building!

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1214/philly81.jpg (http://img16.imageshack.us/i/philly81.jpg/)

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/1559/philly82.jpg (http://img268.imageshack.us/i/philly82.jpg/)

^^
The Kimmel Center, one of our performing arts venues.

Just a block or two away, also on the west side of Broad Street, is the Academy Of Music, which opened in the 1850's and is still very elegant.

If only I had a few million laying around, I'd buy a condo there =-0)

So this was completed a while ago right?

yea i really wish we had a grid out here