PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[Philly Kid]

That housing unit looks so cheap...which is surprising given it's location and the likely sales price it will fetch

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by Philly Kid

That housing unit looks so cheap...which is surprising given it's location and the likely sales price it will fetch

Nothing says luxury like copious vinyl siding and mondo utility meters next to your front door.

[Insoluble]

Anyone know what's going on with the construction at the old Public Assistance office on Bainbridge Street between Broad and 13th? It looks like they've overbuilt the old building by at least two stories above the existing two. There's also a zoning notice on Broad at that location at the empty lot by the 1 story abandoned commercial building there. Not sure if it's all part of the same thing.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Nothing says luxury like copious vinyl siding and mondo utility meters next to your front door.

In its' defense most new construction has vinyl siding on the lot line wall as it doesn't matter since it will just be covered up when new construction occurs next door. That said, strangely enough it actually appears to be fiber cement lap siding not vinyl, so maybe they're not sure how long the next door lot will be vacant.

As for the meter box the size of a toboggan, yeah that's horrendous and quite surprising they made zero effort to conceal them behind a special alcove of some sort. Developers aren't all to blame, the city and PECO are equally responsible for this visual pollution all over the city. Its not rocket science, all it would entail would be a recessed facade feature with an attractive solid or ornamental grated door either unlocked or accessed by a universal key held by utility meter readers. But you know, that would take effort and all...

[cafeguy]

225 West Girard is underway with excavation! This will be a mixed use 4 story with pilot house building. The last rendering I saw was nice along girard, but looked pretty bad on Stiles St where I live. Hopefully they have made the Stiles St facade look nicer.

http://www.phila.gov/data/Pages/defa...its&eid=686289

This goes along with the very large Liberty Square project that is also currently underway across the street!

Additionally, there has been heavy machinery and men at the SOKO lot the past couple of weeks.

With 225 west girard going up, we will be loosing a very very neat 3D mural. Alas, they are only temporary art pieces.
http://billypenn.com/2015/11/16/a-ph...wn-and-girard/

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Its not rocket science, all it would entail would be a recessed facade feature with an attractive solid or ornamental grated door either unlocked or accessed by a universal key held by utility meter readers. But you know, that would take effort and all...

But the thing is, meter readers don't need physical access to the meters. Electric and water meters are no longer read visually (not sure about gas meters; PGW may still be in the dark ages).

[1487]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

But the thing is, meter readers don't need physical access to the meters. Electric and water meters are no longer read visually (not sure about gas meters; PGW may still be in the dark ages).

PGW's are read automatically.

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by 1487

PGW's are read automatically.

My god so there's actually no reason for any of these meters to be outside? I'm calling my councilman this is ridiculous... In the suburbs it's no big deal because they have room on sides of houses, we have no room here in city.. Utilities need to change their policies

[1487]

Originally Posted by Larry King

My god so there's actually no reason for any of these meters to be outside? I'm calling my councilman this is ridiculous... In the suburbs it's no big deal because they have room on sides of houses, we have no room here in city.. Utilities need to change their policies

I think it has more to do with emergency shut off access than meter reading. I do know several years ago there was discussion about an improved design in which the meters were enclosed and flush with the facade of the house. I dont think there is anything preventing developers from doing this, but it would cost more money obviously.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by 1487

I think it has more to do with emergency shut off access than meter reading. I do know several years ago there was discussion about an improved design in which the meters were enclosed and flush with the facade of the house. I dont think there is anything preventing developers from doing this, but it would cost more money obviously.

Effort.

Effort is all that's missing. Any architect [worth anything] could literally spend 10 minutes in CAD and design a solution that would be easy to build and aesthetically pleasing with little cost to the overall project scope. I guess that's too much to ask in bargain basement Philly.

[Knight Hospitaller]

^^ Heck, just sticking an IKEA kitchen cabinet over it would be an improvement.

[summersm343]

2990 Holme Ave - Immaculate Mary Center for Rehabilitation expansion- Northeast Philly

Looks like it has been reduced to 3 floors from 4.



http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...16_reduced.pdf

[summersm343]

PHA Headquarters - 2013 Ridge Ave - Sharswood/North Philly - 5 floors









http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...16_reduced.pdf

[Busy Bee]

^Hilariously surrounded by their ghastly suburban mistakes.

[Daario]

Don't tell me the PHA plans to build more suburban boxes as part of their sharswood plan.

[DudeGuy]

Originally Posted by Daario

Don't tell me the PHA plans to build more suburban boxes as part of their sharswood plan.

Nope. Those are already there.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9774.../data=!3m1!1e3

[Insoluble]

Originally Posted by summersm343

PHA Headquarters - 2013 Ridge Ave - Sharswood/North Philly - 5 floors

Depressing. Putting a crappy suburban office park surrounded by surface parking on Ridge is not going to do anything to help revitalize the avenue. Sadly this is pretty much what you'd expect from PHA. That whole area would be 1000 times better off if PHA just stayed the F out of it.

[Philly Fan]

Nice summary of current development trends--and the big picture--in Center City:

The resurgence of Center City fueling Philly's evolution

[1487]

Originally Posted by Insoluble

Depressing. Putting a crappy suburban office park surrounded by surface parking on Ridge is not going to do anything to help revitalize the avenue. Sadly this is pretty much what you'd expect from PHA. That whole area would be 1000 times better off if PHA just stayed the F out of it.

You expected a 20 story class A tower in the middle of North Philly?

[Insoluble]

Originally Posted by 1487

You expected a 20 story class A tower in the middle of North Philly?

Heh, no I expect nothing but the worst from PHA. Still, we can dream of a better world in which that agency wasn't totally garbage. All they really had to do was NOT surround their headquarters with a soul killing surface lot. But given the fact that the housing they built is usually at least 30 years behind the times this is pretty much exactly what I would expect from them. Blech.