from here:
http://www.planphilly.com/node/9425
July 21
By Thomas J. Walsh
For PlanPhilly
Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission was packed with seemingly significant development proposals, zoning implications and policy. But observers were left wondering what much of it will mean in the long run.
Philly Live, exclamation point, in its latest incarnation, was presented in “information only” mode to the Commissioners, which means it carries no recommendations from the Planning Commission staff.
Gary Block, vice president in charge of Philly Live for Cordish, said the development would be one of the company’s “lifestyle urban entertainment complexes” that have become “kind of our forte.”
He showed renderings of what the gleaming facilities would look like from various angles. Block and an architect showed what was described as “a market-style building that opens up to park-like seating before or after the game.”
Philadelphia is the only city in the country right now with a stadium complex where all four major American sports have home teams. Block said that there is at least one event at the complex more than 300 days a year. “When you talk to prospective tenants, their eyes just bug out of their heads” at that fact, he said.
But as detailed as it seems, the project is far from certain. And aside from a mild request from one Commissioner asking that the developer do what they can to incorporate the Broad Street subway station into the plans, no questions were asked.
Schelter’s list of unasked questions was similar to PlanPhilly’s. Though Block said the company would furnish many more parking spaces than called for in the plan, there was no mention of how parking and traffic at Philly Live would impact parking and traffic during home games for any of the teams.
Other factors which will presumably be made public later:
• The impact on existing infrastructure (specifically, but not limited to, the subway, the surrounding surface streets and interstates 95 and 76)
• Impact on the Navy Yard and port
• Impact on the surrounding neighborhoods (though there was an assurance that neighbors’ “reaction has been fantastic,” there was nobody representing a neighborhood or the South Philly Sports District who testified)
• Details on the 300-room hotel, or if there is a hotel company onboard, or interested
• Any mention at all of eight other buildings mentioned on the agenda for the meeting
• Retailers, and types of retail
• Environmental factors, such as possible remediation, or green buildings
The agenda’s description of the information-only presentation for Philly Live said, “The structures are proposed to be constructed in a fashion which will provide a practical and visual connection between the existing Wachovia Center and Citizens Bank Park. The development will reduce available parking by approximately 700 parking spaces however the proposal will still exceed the required parking for the District.