PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[br323206]

Originally Posted by josef

Oh man I wish that were true Having lived in Cambridge for four years I can confirm Boston's "image" or whatever is of a super charming quaint American city everyone loves. As much as I hate to admit it, Boston is basically the "greene country towne" Penn wanted Philadelphia to be. They keep the city clean, friendly, and aside from a few spots downtown, you never really experience block after block of downtrodden Market East-style stuff. So I dunno, as much as I wish it wasn't the case, I think we have a bit of an uphill battle in the image department.

(Case in point: You know the expensive Meridian hotel across from the municipal services building? It's directly across from a concrete fortress and next to a place where people are regularly sleeping or strung out sprawled out on the sidewalk, like I saw yesterday. So... that's not a great "welcome to Philadelphia" )

But Boston has a concrete fortress for a city hall and many other buildings that are "unwelcoming" spread throughout the city. There are plenty of blocks that are just as ugly as Market East. Plus, Market East is pretty much our worst area downtown and it's going to be completely revitalized in five years.

[josef]

Originally Posted by br323206

But Boston has a concrete fortress for a city hall and many other buildings that are "unwelcoming" spread throughout the city. There are plenty of blocks that are just as ugly as Market East. Plus, Market East is pretty much our worst area downtown and it's going to be completely revitalized in five years.

That's true. It is one horrible building. Other than the West End part of downtown that's Boston's "concrete-y 60s urban renewal" area though, I can't really think of that many ugly buildings around. Though yeah, Downtown Crossing is basically Boston's Market East.

I guess it's a micro-level thing for me. There's some subtle line between, like, the levels of trash, the quality of things like sidewalks, how pedestrians and bikes are treated (this is not so subtle, actually; it's much, much, much better there), the subway vibe and cleanliness, between the two cities. It may be subtler than I can accurately articulate, but it's important. Maybe living there so long made me more sensitive to it. I really do believe that people's general, gestaltic reactions when thinking about the two places differ though, and to Boston's favor. And maybe it'll change, but only we feel the effect of potential, everyone else takes the city at face value.

[tsarstruck]

Originally Posted by Kidphilly

18 minutes? isnt right behind CBP - like 10 tops

I mean I get from the subway to CBP in like 5 minutes or less

Google says 17 minute walk from AT&T to the Holiday Inn. Probably more like 15 minutes depending on where the entrances are, but I think his or her point stands: no one is going to take the subway down there to gamble.

[VikingDutchman]

While I agree with most of that, I will say that Boston's core neighborhoods feel (from a pedestrian perspective) much more scarred by highways than Philly's. Even with the Big Dig, though it has restored access to the waterfront, it's still such a barren expanse that there's enormous cognitive separation of that portion of the city from downtown.

And while not technically Boston, Mass Ave in Cambridge (where I live now) is an eyesore of immense proportions and honestly the city would be better off if the entire length and all its buildings were knocked down and rebuilt from scratch. I'd take any of Philly's "transitional" Center City neighborhoods over Central, Harvard or Kendall squares.

[josef]

Originally Posted by VikingDutchman

While I agree with most of that, I will say that Boston's core neighborhoods feel (from a pedestrian perspective) much more scarred by highways than Philly's. Even with the Big Dig, though it has restored access to the waterfront, it's still such a barren expanse that there's enormous cognitive separation of that portion of the city from downtown.

And while not technically Boston, Mass Ave in Cambridge (where I live now) is an eyesore of immense proportions and honestly the city would be better off if the entire length and all its buildings were knocked down and rebuilt from scratch. I'd take any of Philly's "transitional" Center City neighborhoods over Central, Harvard or Kendall squares.

Definitely agree about the greenway. It's not a highway anymore, but now it's just an expanse of green instead of concrete. Better, yes, but I don't really like it, heh. The separation is still there, like you said.

Oh interesting, you don't like Mass Ave? Of all the things I ever didn't like about Boston, Mass Ave wasn't really one of them (and we lived in Central, where you can find Cambridge's methadone clinic). Maybe because it was one of the few streets you could take that went through different areas (I always hated how the lack of a street grid meant street were short/ended before they went anywhere useful). Plus it has a bike lane, which is nice.

But I agree that nowhere really has Center City's tight streets with shops and stuff, like there's no Walnut Street-scaled shopping area, it's all on the wider streets up there. I'd say that's one key difference between the cities, for sure. (That said, if you wanna feel like you're in a bizarro Society Hill, check out the residential streets of the South End.)

[summersm343]

Penn College House at Hill Square - 34th and Chestnut

[summersm343]

That was quick. Fencing up for Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics - 36th and Walnut



Link to renderings:
http://www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/fi...s_overview.php


Penn Presbyterian South Pavilion expansion - 38th and Powelton Ave




Hub II - 40th and Chestnut




3900 Walnut




Penn Neural Behavioral Sciences Center - 38th and Baltimore Ave

[summersm343]

Museum of the American Revolution - 3rd and Chestnut




410 Society Hill - Front and Lombard

[summersm343]

1100 Block of South St.




Twelve40 - 13th and South




12th and Lombard - Pain Center replacement




SouthStar Lofts - Broad and South




1400 Block of South - new apartments




16th and South




1600 Block of South




17th and South




19th and Lombard




2400 South Townhomes




2400 South Condominiums

[jsbrook]

Wow, Summers! That last round of your posts really shows an incredible amount of activity! Especially impressive to see all that going on in South pulled together in one sot. I didn't realize so much was going on there.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by summersm343

That was quick. Fencing up for Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics - 36th and Walnut

This Daily Pennsylvanian article says that construction will begin in December 2015, which would make sense given the expected completion in early 2018:

http://www.thedp.com/article/2014/11...erelman-center

The article also states that they're still in the design phase, so I'd assume that construction won't be starting anytime soon. Makes you wonder why they'd be putting up fencing now.

[Cro Burnham]

If a State short funding were analogized to a village facing a food shortage, State sponsorship of casinos as a funding solution is no different than the village resorting to cannibalism.

[philatonian]

I was in University City for the first time in a while the other day. I was kind of blown away by the construction, and the speed at which this buildings are going up. At this rate, West Market Street is going to feel like a real extension of Center City, or even Center City itself. I want to see a 1000 footer go up on that lot at 36th and Market.

[Kidphilly]

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...-a-strong.html

[Mappy]

I was really expecting to hear something about archeological finds at the Museum of American Stripmalls on 3rd and Chestnut by the time they got to this phase of construction.

Kind of surprised they didnt bump into anything.

[Insoluble]

Originally Posted by Mappy

I was really expecting to hear something about archeological finds at the Museum of American Stripmalls on 3rd and Chestnut by the time they got to this phase of construction.

Kind of surprised they didnt bump into anything.

The building they just tore down is from what, the 60s? Wouldn't that have been recent enough for them to have done all the archeological review back then?

Originally Posted by Mappy

Museum of American Stripmalls

[bawdycav]

Originally Posted by josef

Oh man I wish that were true Having lived in Cambridge for four years I can confirm Boston's "image" or whatever is of a super charming quaint American city everyone loves. As much as I hate to admit it, Boston is basically the "greene country towne" Penn wanted Philadelphia to be. They keep the city clean, friendly, and aside from a few spots downtown, you never really experience block after block of downtrodden Market East-style stuff. So I dunno, as much as I wish it wasn't the case, I think we have a bit of an uphill battle in the image department.

(Case in point: You know the expensive Meridian hotel across from the municipal services building? It's directly across from a concrete fortress and next to a place where people are regularly sleeping or strung out sprawled out on the sidewalk, like I saw yesterday. So... that's not a great "welcome to Philadelphia" )

Having also lived in Boston and San Francisco for many years, I agree there is a lot that those cities do well. But I think the argument is more nuanced than just saying Boston is generally clean.

For example, the environment out front of Meridian that you use as an example of "unwelcoming" can be found all over other "quaint/admired" cities. San Francisco comes to mind as having the similar "unwelcoming" aspect in tourist central zones. San Francisco's main street (Market street) is more blighted than East Market. and Philadelphia doesn't have anything as "unwelcoming" as San Francisco's Tenderloin district in the middle of a tourist zone.

So at the end of the end of the day I think it comes down to a city's residents and what they project to the world. San Francisco has the "no body has it better than us" slogan. Boston has "Boston strong".

Nobody is going to define a city stronger than its own citizens. So at the end of the day we shape how quaint people want to view us...not whether homeless are sleeping outside of the Meridian.

[Cro Burnham]

Boston is cleaner and appears to be far better managed. Probably doesn't have a quasi-retarded city council constantly shooting the city in the foot.

Much more conspicuous wealth in both SF and Boston. Both also have lots more foreign rich kids trolling the streets with bags of expensive stuff in tow. Philly's getting more of that, though, it seems.

[Dean4983]

Originally Posted by bawdycav

San Francisco has the "no body has it better than us"

I think that's just the 49ers, not the city itself

And I agree with your assessment of San Fran. I visited there for the first time in 2012 and I was sort of shocked at just how unwelcoming many parts of the downtown were. A great city and I enjoyed my time there but I really was surprised.

[1487]

nice picture updates, ive never even seen some of that stuff before. Anyone know whats happening with the Boyd on Chestnut? Looks bad as ever with no signs of activity. THey have almost fully clad the AQ rittenhouse building with its concrete panels. Its coming together quickly. Someone mentioned activity at the One Water Street project on delaware ave. Any confirmation on that?