This project went through CDR in November: http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...16_reduced.pdf

My guess is that the ground-up new construction 3700 Lancaster somehow morphed into this rehab/addition 3600 Lancaster for whatever reasons. I imagine there's still a long-term intention to complete both, but that they see the 3600 block as the next step.

oh ok, I do remember this. The old elementary school I was talking about is gone, that was between 37th and powelton I believe, just north of UCHS. Well this seems like the first project that will advance beyond 3675 Market.

3600 Lancaster Ave is the Lancaster Mews development (http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phill...ncaster-avenue). If you look at the uCity Square site (http://ucitysquare.com/where/#interactive-map) it's not part of uCity Square. It's shouldn't be a factor in what's going on with 3700 Lancaster Ave, which is part of uCity Square and had a Q1 2017 groundbreaking planned.

Two different projects by two different owners on two different blocks.

BTW I'm skeptical of One uCity breaking ground this quarter ... or year. Until they show otherwise, it seems like the Science Center only has a one-building pipeline. They didn't start 3601 Market until after they finished 3711; now they're working on 37th & Market.

While I hope Wexford allows them to double pipeline capacity -- and 3700 Lancaster is very much low-hanging fruit in that department -- I highly doubt that the Science Center could execute three buildings, two of which are offices, at the same time right now.

I find it interesting that they moved so quickly to tear down the schools when there was nothing coming in the near term future. Based on how fast the demo started I really expected this thing to move quickly. Looks like there will be a massive blank canvas there for some time.

Drives me nuts how they're allowed to do this.

The National building in Old City was an unbelievable example.

It was historically protected and they got around that by promising to reuse the exterior tiles. Then they declared that the tiles weren't sound (after they forcibly removed them) and promised to use something "similar."

Then they razed they building leaving nothing but a barren lot. And finally, they walked away crying money.

How does this happen?!

In that case, it was clearly an empty (or broken) promise. The site plan's promises strongly suggested to me that they would give the 2nd street face a façadectomy.

On the Uni City High site, there is no good reason for maintaining the old school buildings. They weren't placed efficiently which precluded reuse, and they would be empty anyway. I'm disappointed that the handsome little International Style school on the west side of the site got razed (that would've been a good reuse IMO) but otherwise uCity Square is a land bank until the Science Center can "get around" to developing the site.

3700 Lancaster will be next. They're in the process of selecting a new developer as Southern Land Company backed out of the development to focus on 1911 Walnut. After that, they will then focus on One uCity Square. The two buildings that will sit between 36th and 37th Streets will actually be developed by Drexel, not the Science Center and Wexford. These buildings will include an Elementary School, and a high-rise mixed-use building.

The full site breakdown is here, and lays out who will develop what properties:
http://ucitysquare.com/wp-content/th.../site-plan.pdf

The original developers of the National sold to another developer. That project should be moving forward in Q2 or Q3 of this year.

[QUOTE

On the Uni City High site, there is no good reason for maintaining the old school buildings. They weren't placed efficiently which precluded reuse, and they would be empty anyway. I'm disappointed that the handsome little International Style school on the west side of the site got razed (that would've been a good reuse IMO) but otherwise uCity Square is a land bank until the Science Center can "get around" to developing the site.[/QUOTE]

The old Uni City High School site included a good amount of raw land, so if they had wanted to, there were numerous building sites along north 38th St. that were available before needing the land that the school was sitting on.

I too was surprised by the speed in which the demo was done, and it was done quick, Quick, QUICK. To me it almost seemed the owners were running afraid that the school building was going to be listed as historical or that some new environmental danger was going to be announced.

I'm alittle surprised that Drexel with all its recent student population increases wasn't interested in using some of the classroom space for a few years----

I don't know what its like in other major cities but here in Philly there never is a lack of money to do demo. A owner can be in debt up to their eyeballs, and in bankrupancy court, but they can always find a way to afford demo.

The old Uni City High School site included a good amount of raw land, so if they had wanted to, there were numerous building sites along north 38th St. that were available before needing the land that the school was sitting on.

I too was surprised by the speed in which the demo was done, and it was done quick, Quick, QUICK. To me it almost seemed the owners were running afraid that the school building was going to be listed as historical or that some new environmental danger was going to be announced.

I'm alittle surprised that Drexel with all its recent student population increases wasn't interested in using some of the classroom space for a few years----

I don't know what its like in other major cities but here in Philly there never is a lack of money to do demo. A owner can be in debt up to their eyeballs, and in bankrupancy court, but they can always find a way to afford demo.[/QUOTE]

What good is an empty building sitting there? If it was never going to be re-used the quicker they could knock it down the safer it is. There are way too many abandoned buildings sitting around costing money.

From what I understand the building was a bit of a nightmare and required constant maintenance when it was in use. So the notion they could repurpose some of it temporarily seems impossible.

Construction is humming along...

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2618/3...82127730_b.jpg

^^This project is 3675 Market, which we have a separate thread for:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=218027

Even though it is a different address, is it still part of the overall uCity Square development? Walking past it, the fence around it had uCity Square advertising all over.

From the City Planning Deck shared on a few of the boards (http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/me...powerpoint.pdf), they included adding 37th Street back into the grid and upgrading 38th based on the expected increased traffic.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4162/3...c33a875e_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4173/3...43581b52_b.jpg

Are these just proposals or were these changes voted on or approved? Not sure of how far along things are based on this, but glad they're still planning on moving forward (no matter how slow)

A temporary one acre meadow to grow at UCity Square:
https://philly.curbed.com/2017/7/11/...k-philadelphia

Nice rendering of One uCity Square on ZGF's (the architects) website:

https://www.zgf.com/wp-content/uploa...38df16ccbd.jpg

https://www.zgf.com/project/science-...-ucity-square/

Looks good ^^

KOZs proposed, renewed to lure Amazon to University City

Read more here:
http://planphilly.com/articles/2017/...niversity-city