This brings to mind an image from the 1980s. Peter Gabriel and his band were touring, and when they played in Philadelphia at the Spectrum, they stayed at the old Hershey Hotel on South Broad. When it was time for them to leave the hotel for the sound check or whatever at the stadium, they all got on bicycles and rode down South Broad ringing the thumb bells as they went.

Article on this Philly.com

http://www.philly.com/philly/home/20..._S__Broad.html

One noticeable albeit small change is the height in the article is listed at 567 feet. Inga gives her seal of approval. :cheers:

http://media.philly.com/images/carl-dranoff-sls-600.jpg

Nice! I just skimmed over the article, but from what I could see, she does give her "stamp of approval" basically. I like how she referred to NY with their own condo boom around Central Park area, (432, One 57, etc) She seems optimistic that Philly may follow suit (as to the height). Sounds exciting. I do agree with her that the "Lobby" area is a bit regimented toward a business sense. Check out Miami's version of SLS proposal, here on SkyscraperPage.com

MIAMI | SLS Brickell | 52 stories | 550 feet | Proposed

Albeit, Miami's is "sexier" with all of those rainbow colors, but that's Miami's environment, hot & sexy.
(Not sure if this will come thru as a link. I'm not that familiar with inserting info.)

Great to hear Philly is kickin' it for development.

Can I just say, I stared at this mesmerizing photo for about 3 minutes. lol

Nice; Looks like this tower WILL in fact be as tall as sunglasses dude.

Only 3 minutes? lol :haha:

Looking at the Photo it would be amazing to line Broad N&S and Market W&E with skyscrapers and build out from there.

I would love to see this one built!!!! The view is remarkable with the building!!!!! Center City does need a few more condos, a few more midrises, and a few more Wawas!!!!!! 7-11 SUCKS!!!!!

I actually just noticed Morgans Hall way at the top of the picture. Does anyone notice what Zoning is like along North Broad to Temple. I though I heard or read somewhere that near Temple that height is not a problem.

Depends on the lot but along broad it is mostly CMX-4. North of Temple most of the lots have very low height limits.

Is there a map of how tall a lot can be?

Philadelphia zoning map will tell what zone a lot is in. Zoning code will tell you the restrictions. www.philadelphiaplaneto.com will explain everything. CMX-4 does not actually have height limits. The zoning limits the size of the improvements.

Zoning Map http://www.phila.gov/map

Zoning Code Page http://www.phila.gov/cityplanning/pr...es/zoning.aspx

What each zone means can be found here http://philadelphiaplaneto.com/wp-co...de_reduced.pdf

CMX-4 allows a maximum floor area ratio of 700% with bonuses. So a 10,000 square foot lot can at most have a 70,000 square foot building.

Floor area ratio explained http://philadelphiaplaneto.com/wonky...on-floor-area/

For real dude. I make trips to New Jersey from Staten Island just to go to Wawa, because it's BOSS. :cheers:

South Broad Street Expansion
 

Yes, that would be grand. Whatever happened to the proposal at Broad & Washington Ave.? I'm assuming it was "whistled dead", (from neighborhood Nimbys) I vaguely remember the initial rendering showed 2 "twin" 50+ story towers. ( probably got blasted out of the water from the "get-go".)

If Philly can gradually "inch" their way forward, perhaps more development could occur southward, at least. This Hotel/Condo is a very vital project that fits that description! :notacrook:

Now owned by Blatstein



http://articles.philly.com/2013-12-2...nue-retail-hub

possible height increase?
 

From the article that Flyers2001 posted here earlier (From Philly.com)

(See above link) Post #62

I overlooked that there would be a City Council meeting on February 12th (tomorrow) to discuss some changes in the plan when it comes to the loading dock areas, wider driveways, and a "possible height increase" ?? Gee, I hope so! That would be icing on the cake! It never hurts to think positive!

Here's what it says (copied & pasted from article):

"But the mix also makes things more complicated on the ground. To serve the building, Dranoff is seeking zoning changes from City Council to allow big driveways on both Broad and Spruce Streets, as well as a height increase. Because the building's loading dock is planned for narrow Spruce Street, delivery trucks will have to back in, a maneuver sure to cause traffic headaches. The first Council hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12."

It sounds like they are talking about a height increase from what current zoning would allow. I'm not sure what height the FAR and zoning restrictions currently allow but this may just be a hoop Dranoff has to jump through in order to build to 562 ft. I would love to be wrong though.

Zoning changes approved by City Council for this:

http://planphilly.com/articles/2014/...hotel-on-broad

Yes Insoluble, I realized after I posted my comment, that the height increase was to seek approval for the existing proposal.
Although, maybe a misprint, but it did grow by 5 feet. 562>567 ft. lol.

Hey, every nickel counts to make up a dollar! Summer, please update header page of the thread please. :D

(I didn't realize Philly had so many height restricted areas. Just to get approvals from City Council seems to be an extra hurdle a builder has to get thru.)