PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-WILMINGTON-ATLANTIC CITY-READING | Metro Development Thread

[Jawnadelphia]

It's been awhile, here's a rundown of some Wilmington projects:

Riverfront East:

1) The River House -






2) The Luxor -


(taken from across the river on the Riverwalk, The Luxor can be seen.


The Highlands/Brandywine Creek/Alapocas Run State Park:

1) Capano's - The Falls - gigantic luxury apartment project continues; building #3 is just about completed, and the framing for building #4 has another floor to go.




Forty Acres (don't call it Trolley Square! ):

The Lofts on Shallcross -


For those that love adaptive reuse, in particular, saving and renovating old city firehouses, this old gal was preserved and recently converted into mansion/single family home.


Downtown - Lower Market Street:

BPG's latest Wilmington project planned for the corner of 4th and Market is making its way through the Civic Design Review process. Last month, BPG presented plans for a 6-story luxury apartment building here, but the Design Review and Preservation Commission (DRPC) denied the BPG/DIGSAU proposed building due to "proposed scale and aesthetics." There is a re-review meeting this week, where BPG/DIGSAU will be presenting design changes. Hopefully, this project gets started soon - the building will go where that little fence/vacant field is now.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Balenciaga opened in the King of Prussia Mall.

Versace and Dior are confirmed to be coming soon.

Impressive.
Quick shopping comment, my friend works for Van Cleef and said the Philly area store opening was among their highest grossing openings in North America (more than Boston, Houston, DC, Atlanta), far exceeding expectations.
Seems like retailers underestimate the buying power in the Philadelphia region until they open.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by SouthCentralPA

Thanks. I imagine the same thing happened with Northern Lancaster County Regional Police. Don't know all the details, but seems to be working well.

And I know there have been some talks about implementing a regional fire/ems response. Still a long way away (and could never happen) but it's at least being discussed.

Yeah for as backwards as SCPA can be they are leading the way in this area but it is a necessity due to how the area has built and then how it's been growing over time.

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Impressive.
Quick shopping comment, my friend works for Van Cleef and said the Philly area store opening was among their highest grossing openings in North America (more than Boston, Houston, DC, Atlanta), far exceeding expectations.
Seems like retailers underestimate the buying power in the Philadelphia region until they open.

It's not just the region and KOP is drawing from all over, particularly further north and west, and this is the huge bonus here.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

BPG's latest Wilmington project planned for the corner of 4th and Market is making its way through the Civic Design Review process. Last month, BPG presented plans for a 6-story luxury apartment building here, but the Design Review and Preservation Commission (DRPC) denied the BPG/DIGSAU proposed building due to "proposed scale and aesthetics." There is a re-review meeting this week, where BPG/DIGSAU will be presenting design changes. Hopefully, this project gets started soon - the building will go where that little fence/vacant field is now.

It's nice to see all this multi-family development in Wilmington but concerning they are taking issue with a Digsau proposal. Digsau along with Gnome, Ambit, and Canno are putting out the best work in Philly.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Impressive.
Seems like retailers underestimate the buying power in the Philadelphia region until they open.

So true. It's clear for decades that the Philly region was being "slept on" as a major wealth hub as it shook off a "Rust Belt-y" reputation, but the tide has clearly turned to garnering much more attention.

As of the last BEA numbers (2021), Philly ranked 24th amongst 384 metro areas, right in between San Diego and Chicago, for personal per capita income. And total personal income growth is now roughly on par with DC, Boston, Atlanta and Houston annually (all grew by around $25B - $30B between 2020 and 2021). This is despite the Philly's region population growth being on the slow side.

It paints a relieving picture that, despite Philly's obvious challenges, so many data points keep indicating that its economy and attraction of wealth ::knock on wood:: are honestly increasingly challenges of the past.

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

It's nice to see all this multi-family development in Wilmington but concerning they are taking issue with a Digsau proposal. Digsau along with Gnome, Ambit, and Canno are putting out the best work in Philly.

Agreed, I actually talked to one of the DRPC's members about this. She stated that the initial proposal looked like something from the Bauhaus School -- ultra modern, minimalist -- and since the property falls within the Market Street Historic District, they want something more representative of the area, what was once there. Which there were some really nice, 19th century - 3 story buildings there on the corner, but those became really worn down, and when BPG bought the property -- they decided to raze the site.

Also, the DRPC board wasn't thrilled with how The Cooper ended up on Market Street. BPG teamed up with Digsau for The Cooper on the 200 block of Lower Market Street -- and the board feels the building was really value engineered at the end.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Yeah for as backwards as SCPA can be they are leading the way in this area but it is a necessity due to how the area has built and then how it's been growing over time.


It's not just the region and KOP is drawing from all over, particularly further north and west, and this is the huge bonus here.

What do you mean by further north and west? While KOP draws from all over, and is a tourist attraction in itself, the majority of wealth in Pennsylvania is the Main Line, and the closer by Philadelphia suburbs (Blue Bell/Spring House area), and parts of Chester County/Delaware County. A lot of shoppers in KOP mall are wealthy residents in Center City or wealthy students going to Penn or Villanova as well. The further north and west you travel towards Pottstown, towards Harrisburg or towards the Lehigh Valley, the noticeably LESS wealthy Pennsylvania gets on average. Most of these people would not be shopping at a store like Van Cleef and would either not be able to afford it (unless they're maxing out credit cards) or probably wouldn't even know what it was.

If you mean further north as in North Jersey/NYC area? All of these luxury stores are available in the NYC area, so they wouldn't be shopping here unless they were already in the area for another reason.

So, while you're comment may be correct that the mall draws people from North and West of the mall for some of the lower end, mid-range or even lower-high-end retailers.... shoppers coming to stores like Van Cleef, Balenciaga, Hermes, Bottega Veneta, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, etc... are ALMOST CERTAINLY mainly coming from Main Line/wealthy suburbs around Philly, wealthy Center City residents, or wealthy students in the area and/or their family's visiting them.

[summersm343]

Swiss chocolate manufacturer takes entire building, becomes first tenant at new Delco industrial park

Global cocoa producer Barry Callebaut has signed a lease for 350,000 square feet at Eddystone’s Delco Logistics Center, taking up an entire building as the company grows its presence in the region and aims for more efficiency. It's the first tenant at the Delco Logistics Center.

Barry Callebaut plans to use the warehouse space to store cocoa products and beans. The Delco Logistics Center, at 1500 E. 2nd St., is adjacent to where Barry Callebaut manufactures semi-finished cocoa products like cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and cocoa powder.

Zurich-based Barry Callebaut already leases the 388,000 square feet of factory and office space from Foxfield at 903 Industrial Highway, essentially next door.

The first building, which Barry Callebaut is leasing, has 350,000 square feet while the second building has 420,000 square feet. The second building is still being marketed for tenants by Cushman & Wakefield.

Read/view more here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...cs-center.html

[summersm343]

Ardmore master plan gets pushback over building heights, walkability

As Lower Merion Township contemplates an updated vision for Ardmore, a draft of the Main Line town's master plan is headed back to the township’s planning staff for revisions before being put forth for approval in the coming months.

On Wednesday, Lower Merion’s commissioners met to discuss a draft of the plan, which would create a path to allowing taller buildings and higher densities within Ardmore. Doing so, however, would require the additional step of more specific zoning changes. Planners and commissioners agreed the potential zoning changes distract from other ideas in the plan aimed at creating a more walkable, vibrant downtown.

“Improving the built environment at the streetscape and adding affordability – those were what we heard from the community,” Lower Merion Director of Building and Planning Chris Leswing said. “And that, I think, is what translated into the document.”

Commissioner Ray Courtney said there wasn’t enough in the draft addressing sustainability and that he wouldn’t accept the potential for taller buildings without an increased focus on it.

Leswing pushed back, suggesting the plan would provide a more walkable downtown and address some of Courtney’s concerns by encouraging more people to walk, bicycle and take short car trips rather than driving farther distances to Philadelphia or King of Prussia.

“The most unsustainable aspect of Lower Merion Township is our land-use pattern,” Leswing said. “We have a low-density, suburban, auto-oriented, land-use pattern. Simply changing those realities, that people drive less and live and walk and act in a more compact environment, changes that sustainability equation.”

That vision has started to come to fruition by way of developments like Cricket Flats. The five-story building on Cricket Avenue was erected on the site of a former auto body shop in what was considered a "pedestrian gap." Now that's not the case, said Pete Staz of Core Development, which built the property.

A big concern that came from Wednesday's meeting was the part of the proposal that includes a transit overlay near the Ardmore SEPTA and Amtrak train station, so much so that Courtney suggested eliminating it from the plan altogether. While further evaluation would be required, as proposed, it would allow by-right development of buildings up to four stories unless adjacent to lower densities. Five-story buildings would be allowed if they have frontage setbacks and affordable housing. Six-story buildings could be allowed with those elements and if the property is situated along the rail corridor near the popular Suburban Square shopping area.

The township’s staff has identified certain locations that would make sense for redevelopment, but without a zoning change, planners believe that wouldn’t happen and the desired outcomes wouldn’t take place.

New development, however, could give the township control to request additional public space and wider sidewalks, for example.

“We heard a lot from community members about the desire for a more walkable Lancaster Avenue, wider sidewalks, better streetscapes, things that are not feasible today with the amount of sidewalk width that you have,” Ahramijan said. “… We do not see an opportunity with those current developments as they are to get the kind of streetscape amenities that community members are requesting.”

After the plan is revised, it’s on track to return to township commissioners in the coming months for approval.

Article behind paywall here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...-feedback.html

[summersm343]

Philadelphia lands among top five most active regions for venture capital in 1Q

Philadelphia has been working to cement its status among the most active regions for venture capital funding, and the first quarter of 2023 kept the region on that path. Greater Philadelphia ranked fifth in the U.S. for the most closed venture capital deals in 2022 and held that spot to begin 2023, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report.

The combined statistical area (CSA) — which stretches as far as Reading to the west, the Jersey Shore to the east, and Dover, Delaware, to the south — closed 94 deals worth about $700 million between January and March. Among the 10 CSAs included by PitchBook, Philadelphia trailed only the Bay Area (533), New York (422), Los Angeles (214) and Boston (167). It beat out regions like Seattle (71), Chicago (79) and Washington, D.C. (80).

Read/view more here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ndraising.html

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Swiss chocolate manufacturer takes entire building, becomes first tenant at new Delco industrial park



Read/view more here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...cs-center.html

This is so interesting to me. I just drove the Industrial Highway on Sunday because I was heading to Delaware and 95 was backed up. It struck me that it's lined with active uses and could feel so much more cohesive than it does, from Route 420 really all the way to the Commodore Barry Bridge. It has filled in over the years and gone from complete no mans land to having more active uses like hotels, etc. Like, you drive by this center and you don't even know it's there. But from Google Satellite, you can see there are multiple new buildings on the site. Just a bit of branded signage (with clear way making signs or markers for which companies are in each park) and some landscaping out by the main entrances of these "parks" would go a long way toward creating a better sense of place. I think it would also reinforce some civic pride. I bet you the people that live blocks from this place don't even realize its there...and it sounds like a quality employer.

On a random note, Boeing reskinned one of it's main production buildings and it looks really good from the road. Like, it has heft and a corporate presence which a huge Boeing logo on the side of it. Looks great.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Jawnadelphia

Also, the DRPC board wasn't thrilled with how The Cooper ended up on Market Street. BPG teamed up with Digsau for The Cooper on the 200 block of Lower Market Street -- and the board feels the building was really value engineered at the end.

They took issue with THAT? It looks great. And also, this is essentially the first wave of development in a secondary market. The first wave of development is always the worst...until the market proves itself.

Remember the Graduate Hospital Special?

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

They took issue with THAT? It looks great. And also, this is essentially the first wave of development in a secondary market. The first wave of development is always the worst...until the market proves itself.

Remember the Graduate Hospital Special?

Agreed, I think this local board basically just wanted some faux-19th century looking buildings. I am sure they would have approved something like that faux-warehouse/loft PMC built in Old City - 218 Arch Street - with flying colors. I'm curious to see what Digsau presents at the next meeting.

Other Wilmington updates:

The Chancery Market is open - downtown in the Hercules Building, 1313 N. Market, and the outdoor addition should be opening any day now.
https://www.thechancerymarket.com/

Wilmington will host its first-ever James Beard Dinner, in a nod to the area's changing and dare I say impressive culinary scene Downtown:
https://sports.yahoo.com/delaware-ho...090818547.html

The G-League's - Delaware Blue Coats won the Championship. https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelph...er-mac-mcclung

In the affordable housing market - a few important projects continue or were recently completed in Wilmington:

-Phase IV of The Flats - in Union Park Gardens has started. When completed, the seven phase project will bring 453 affordable/senior townhouses and apartments to the city.

https://www.delawarepublic.org/delaw...velopment-week

Nice map of the site here:
https://woodlawntrustees.com/the-flats/

-Solomon's Court was dedicated last week, which will bring 18 new, affordable units to Wilmington's West Side.
https://www.bereadycdc.org/projects/solomon-s-court

Back to luxury apartments - downtown:

-901 N. Market (high rise/conversion, see photo below) is now leasing, https://www.rent901market.com/

BPG has started work on converting the top floor at 8th and Market into apartments (The Kresge Building):


The gentlemen behind the beloved Bardea restaurants on Market Street - are planning 2 new places, a speakeasy and oyster bar for downtown.
https://outandaboutnow.com/market-street-magic/

If y'all head down to Wilmington, check out The Quoin - the rooftop bar, restaurant, and underground bar in the old bank vault room are great additions to the Frank Furness building:
https://www.instagram.com/thequoinhotel/?hl=en

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by summersm343

What do you mean by further north and west? While KOP draws from all over, and is a tourist attraction in itself, the majority of wealth in Pennsylvania is the Main Line, and the closer by Philadelphia suburbs (Blue Bell/Spring House area), and parts of Chester County/Delaware County. A lot of shoppers in KOP mall are wealthy residents in Center City or wealthy students going to Penn or Villanova as well. The further north and west you travel towards Pottstown, towards Harrisburg or towards the Lehigh Valley, the noticeably LESS wealthy Pennsylvania gets on average. Most of these people would not be shopping at a store like Van Cleef and would either not be able to afford it (unless they're maxing out credit cards) or probably wouldn't even know what it was.

If you mean further north as in North Jersey/NYC area? All of these luxury stores are available in the NYC area, so they wouldn't be shopping here unless they were already in the area for another reason.

So, while you're comment may be correct that the mall draws people from North and West of the mall for some of the lower end, mid-range or even lower-high-end retailers.... shoppers coming to stores like Van Cleef, Balenciaga, Hermes, Bottega Veneta, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, etc... are ALMOST CERTAINLY mainly coming from Main Line/wealthy suburbs around Philly, wealthy Center City residents, or wealthy students in the area and/or their family's visiting them.

My point was KOP gets the wealth from the immediate area AND beyond which is helping it even more. Contrary to your bizarre outlook Cumberland, York and Lancaster counties (you know, west of us) are also some of the richest counties in PA; and Cumberland's wealth is now nipping at the heels of the Philly metro. And since they don't have these shopping options they come here. Do you know how big the day trips to KOP to spend a lot of money are and how often they occur?

There is a world outside of the Philly bubble, I promise.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

My point was KOP gets the wealth from the immediate area AND beyond which is helping it even more. Contrary to your bizarre outlook Cumberland, York and Lancaster counties (you know, west of us) are also some of the richest counties in PA; and Cumberland's wealth is now nipping at the heels of the Philly metro. And since they don't have these shopping options they come here. Do you know how big the day trips to KOP to spend a lot of money are and how often they occur?

There is a world outside of the Philly bubble, I promise.

Yeah. This was a weird assertion. There is also a lot of money around the second ring cities beyond Philly (Lancaster, Harrisburg, York, Allentown, Bethlehem).

Some of Allentown and Bethlehem's suburbs are very posh: Saucon Valley, Center Valley, Macugnie, Coopersburg. In fact, I have distinct memories of running into classmates from Cornell at KOP over the holidays (when I was in college) who lived in those areas. It was a 45-50 minute drive for them down 476 and apparently they did it all of the time. Their parents were doctors, lawyers, engineers. One of the richest people I knew in college was from Saucon Valley.

Anyways.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

My point was KOP gets the wealth from the immediate area AND beyond which is helping it even more. Contrary to your bizarre outlook Cumberland, York and Lancaster counties (you know, west of us) are also some of the richest counties in PA; and Cumberland's wealth is now nipping at the heels of the Philly metro. And since they don't have these shopping options they come here. Do you know how big the day trips to KOP to spend a lot of money are and how often they occur?

There is a world outside of the Philly bubble, I promise.

Yep. Well aware of places outside of Philly. I definitely misread your initial comment on that, so I apologize. However, my point does still stand. I think you're overestimating the wealth in Central, PA and the Lehigh Valley. Median household income is not a perfect metric. It can be skewed by students, renters, etc....

Your comment is absolutely 100% correct when it comes to King of Prussia Mall. It absolutely gets visitors and daytippers from Lehigh Valley and Central, PA. My wife is actually from Hershey, so we head out that way from time to time and all of her family members and friends out there take routine trips to KOP. Surpringsly (or maybe not so surprisingly), KOP mall gets a good amount of daytrippers from South Jersey and Northern Delaware too.

My comment to you was directed at these ultra luxury stores. The people shopping in a store like Bottega or Van Cleef are almost solely upper class. The majority of the upper class shoppers here are coming from the Philadelphia region OR are visiting/kid going to school here, etc.

This is not to say that middle class people can not buy at these stores, and they do, but definitely not with regularity due to the cost of these stores.... definitely not enough regularity comes from sales of people in the middle-income range or you'd see more of these stores in a place like Park City Mall and Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley. How many middle classers from Mechanicsburg or Emmaus do you see walking around with an $3,300 Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet? The majority of these people are coming and shopping at a place like Nordstrom, Aritzia, Hugo Boss, Cole Haan, Coach, Anthropolgie and Urban Outfitters. If they're buying luxury, they're more often than not getting something from the popular names like Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Tiffany & Co (which is typically why you see lines waiting to get into the former two).

The wealthy, posh, gentry, WASPs, socialites and debutantes of the Main Line or Rittenhouse Square or your wealthy trust-fund college kid or international student attending Penn are the ones buying from Bottega, Van Cleef, Hermes, Fendi and Jimmy Choo with such regularity to keep them in business and have more luxury brands kicking down the doors to get in. Most of these stores have VERY LIMITED store counts in the US, and are located in high wealth areas.

Also not a perfect metric as real estate values can vary per region, but to help show the complete wealth disparity amongst these counties, here are the $1M+ dollar homes sales in the past 365 days:

Lehigh County - 15
Northampton County - 20
Lancaster County - 45
York County - 15
Dauphin County - 23
Cumberland County - 31
Berks Coutny - 20

Delaware County - 397
Chester County - 465
Bucks County - 436
Philadelphia County - 464
Montgomery County - 524

For good measure, here's the other counties in the Philadelphia Metro Area:

New Castle, DE - 90
Burlington, NJ - 85
Camden, NJ - 57
Gloucester, NJ - 7
Salem, NJ - 3

[PHLtoNYC]

^ Wow at the $1M+ home sales stats.
I figured SEPA was the dominant area, but didn't realize it was that much of a difference.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

^ Wow at the $1M+ home sales stats.
I figured SEPA was the dominant area, but didn't realize it was that much of a difference.

It's a pretty stark difference. While there are certainly wealthy people in the Lehigh Valley and Central, PA, the wealthy located in Montgomery County alone is more than all of those counties combined.

Here's total number households making greater than $200K a year as of 2021. I would also say $200K a year for a household is still middle class, but this is the highest number the Census goes up to. I would say upper class is $400K or more per year for a household.

Lehigh - 33,798
Northampton - 28,226
Lancaster - 44,452
York - 27,521
Dauphin - 17,244
Cumberland - 18,403
Berks - 34,347

Delaware - 86,077
Chester - 118,502
Montgomery - 163,509
Bucks - 109,836
Philadelphia - 96,227

New Castle, DE - 51,453
Burlington, NJ - 69,640
Camden, NJ - 52,377
Gloucester, NJ - 42,626
Salem, NJ - 3,902

Sooo, while the city of Philadelphia continuously gets ragged on for being poor, it actually has more wealthy than any other county in Pennsylvania not named Montgomery, Chester, Bucks or Allegheny, and also has more wealthy than any Southern New Jersey county.

[summersm343]

Most Millionares

Lehigh - 318
Northampton - 223
Lancaster - 458
York - 247
Dauphin - 187
Cumberland - 224
Berks - 275

Delaware - 1,235
Chester - 1,745
Montgomery - 2,746
Bucks - 1,375
Philadelphia - 775

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

^ Wow at the $1M+ home sales stats.
I figured SEPA was the dominant area, but didn't realize it was that much of a difference.

Originally Posted by summersm343

It's a pretty stark difference. While there are certainly wealthy people in the Lehigh Valley and Central, PA, the wealthy located in Montgomery County alone is more than all of those counties combined.

Of course it's a stark difference, SEPA is the behemoth of the state and even the country population-wise. Dauphin Co. doesn't even have 300K people in it and is home to a small, poor city so of course there are going to be less million dollar home sales. But if there are 187 millionaires in Dauphin Co. and 100 of them shop at KOP regularly, how would I be overstating the wealth there and that is being drawn?

But it looks like we are all in agreement on the main point now.

Originally Posted by summersm343

Most Millionares

Lehigh - 318
Northampton - 223
Lancaster - 458
York - 247
Dauphin - 187
Cumberland - 224
Berks - 275

Delaware - 1,235
Chester - 1,745
Montgomery - 2,746
Bucks - 1,375
Philadelphia - 775

Yes but not surprising: far more people so the chance for far more millionaires.