PHILADELPHIA | 1001 S. Broad Street Phase I | 180 FT | 14 FLOORS

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by Arch+Eng

You guys would rather have that crap box...than a much taller tower with street retail and unique roof top retail and houses??

I just don't understand you guys.

I'd rather have that "crap box" than an empty lot which is all Blatstein's development is or ever will be if he continues to push his ridiculous concept that seemingly has support from only yourself.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by Williard Mouse

http://www.wrtdesign.com/projects/de...ndominiums/254


Looks like this proposal will not happen.

Yeah, that was when Toll was involved. I kind of liked it (better than the current proposal, which is fine, if not inspirational).

[Knight Hospitaller]

Blatstein revises yet again. This time with a monster staircase to get to the airborne village. This is just too comical. If anyone was arguing that his folly isn't driving the design, I'm not sure how much more evidence can be provided. http://planphilly.com/articles/2016/...ington-project

[Boku]

Blatstein's revised designs for Broad & Washington project

Developer Bart Blatstein has submitted new renderings of his proposed mixed-use apartment tower and rooftop village at Broad & Washington Avenue to the Civic Design Review Committee, which will see the project for a second time on April 5.

http://planphilly.com/articles/2016/...ington-project

[Knight Hospitaller]

Couldn't get the three renderings posted via Imgur for some reason.

[Philly Fan]

^ Here you go:

[Knight Hospitaller]

^Thanks. Dig those steps to Olympus!

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

^Thanks. Dig those steps to Olympus!

Dude, that's a Stairway to Paradise. Or a Stairway to Heaven. Depends on whether you're a fan of George Gershwin, or Led Zeppelin.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

Dude, that's a Stairway to Paradise. Or a Stairway to Heaven. Depends on whether you're a fan of George Gershwin, or Led Zeppelin.

Gershwin. In any event this is looking more and more like some mega-bloc seventies project. They even took New Market and put it on top. Make festival marketplaces great again!

[summersm343]

This has been resubmitted for April CDR Review

Looks like the tower lost some of it's heft along Carpenter Street and added the heft back to the Broad Street frontage as well as the stairs along Washington Ave being redesigned as you guys already pointed out. Height is still the same at 34 floors and 426 feet tall.

CDR submission also claims:
~1000 residential units
~143,000 square feet of retail
~25,000 square feet of office space

Images from the CDR submission:











PDF:
http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/pr...6_Complete.pdf

[summersm343]

Learning From The Piazza At Broad & Washington

Good article:

http://hiddencityphila.org/2016/03/l...ad-washington/

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Learning From The Piazza At Broad & Washington

Good article:

http://hiddencityphila.org/2016/03/l...ad-washington/

That is a great article. Particularly what stood out to me was this:

Where the Piazza’s flaws have become larger over time, they’re right up front at Broad and Washington. Urban scholars, most notably William Whyte, have consistently proven the ineffectiveness of raised or depressed public spaces. Without a close linkage to the street (“access” as Miller calls it), organic community use is much less likely to coalesce. [...] At four stories above the sidewalk, the Broad and Washington “village” will feel more like entering a mall than a public plaza. And like a mall, it will require successful and attractive retail, which will be difficult without the benefit of a city street’s visibility and walk-in customers.

I really can't stress this enough. I am more than convinced already that the rooftop village will fail for exactly this reason. Even the Piazza's public space isn't very well utilized and it's connected at ground level. A vibrant city is one where there is activity in the street, NOT on a rooftop. It goes against everything urban design scholarship has concluded in the last 50 or so years. The developer in me says "yes" but the urbanist says "no." But since I'm not the developer I'll stick with "no." I'd really rather that retail capacity be absorbed elsewhere along Broad and Washington so as to really make the whole area vibrant and attractive.

[Frontst17]

It seems that you're expecting this and the piazza to be some city-wide destination when on an individual neighborhood scale these two projects are game changing. I don't necessarily think the rooftop village helps the project much but it certainly doesn't take anything away from it.

[McBane]

I agree it depends on the retailers. But I can't think of a "destination" retailer that can easily overcome not being visible on the street AND wanting to be located here. Indeed, mass market destination retailers (read: luxury) won't venture into this unknown territory.

On the other hand, I am scratching my head why so many people and the city is going out of their way to tell Blatstein what will and will not make this project successful. Shouldn't his ability or failure to lure retailers to the rooftop village be the main driver of how the retail component is ultimately designed? In other words, the retailers not some bureaucratic city agency should be the ones telling Blatstein that access needs to be improved.

I know we all think it's a dumb idea but if he can't sign a single lease then expect the design to change based on the market not the CDR's input. Let that drive the design.

[Arch+Eng]

Rooftop village is now RETAIL VILLAGE, and it was good.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

I really think Blatstein may be losing it. He's got his finger in a half dozen mega projects between Philly and AC, all potentially grotesquely gaudy, and yet he can't seem to get going on any one of them. It's like he can't focus, and in odd moments when he can, he comes up with something so awful and tone-deaf, you have to wonder what state of mind he's in.

Agreed. It's like the adult version of only-childism

"Bart, son, you can't have that."

"But, moooommm, I want a rooftop village!"

"Bart, that's silly and arbitrary."

"But I want a rooftop village!!!!!!"

This has to be one of the most bizarre proposals we've ever seen...

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by Londonee

This has to be one of the most bizarre proposals we've ever seen...

Unless Bart has gone completely insane, the only rational thing I can imagine is up his sleeve is that he does not really intend this to be a retail village - it's so hard to imagine any respectable retailer wanting to be on a roof in a neighborhood already lacking foot traffic - he probably wants to create a Vegas-like island in the sky of bro-appealing bars, nightclubs, sports-related entertainment venues, pool clubs, and restaurants (think PhillyLive) that the neighborhood would likely fight a lot if at street level but might be more prone to ignoring if 80 feet in the air and out of sight. All the drunken foolishness will be fairly well sealed off from the neighborhood, as long as they can keep the drunks from wiping out down that grand staircase onto Broad Street.

I think this is what he semi-achieved for the Piazza before he sold out to the next guy who has a completely different (or, more likely, no) vision for the Piazza.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by Frontst17

It seems that you're expecting this and the piazza to be some city-wide destination when on an individual neighborhood scale these two projects are game changing. I don't necessarily think the rooftop village helps the project much but it certainly doesn't take anything away from it.

It does because it's an inferior model to street level retail at this location (and most any location), and street level retail would be more likely to be utilized, attract tenants, and make this project a success (and actually get off the ground). The rooftop village also creates a host of other design and other problems for the project as a whole.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

Unless Bart has gone completely insane, the only rational thing I can imagine is up his sleeve is that he does not really intend this to be a retail village - it's so hard to imagine any respectable retailer wanting to be on a roof in a neighborhood already lacking foot traffic - he probably wants to create a Vegas-like island in the sky of bro-appealing bars, nightclubs, sports-related entertainment venues, pool clubs, and restaurants (think PhillyLive) that the neighborhood would likely fight a lot if at street level but might be more prone to ignoring if 80 feet in the air and out of sight. All the drunken foolishness will be fairly well sealed off from the neighborhood, as long as they can keep the drunks from wiping out down that grand staircase onto Broad Street.

I think this is what he semi-achieved for the Piazza before he sold out to the next guy who has a completely different (or, more likely, no) vision for the Piazza.

Seems like Xfinity Live is already provides that close to a subway stop with no neighbors to offend (and the benefit of sports venues adjacent).

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

It does because it's an inferior model to street level retail at this location (and most any location), and street level retail would be more likely to be utilized, attract tenants, and make this project a success (and actually get off the ground). The rooftop village also creates a host of other design and other problems for the project as a whole.

This continues to seem entirely backwards to me. If big chain retail is going to go here (which I think is his street-level plan), I suppose that they might generate some traffic for the sky-village. However, I think that big chain retail would easily draw customers upstairs on its own. Then, at street level, small retail would see not only traffic from the big boys upstairs, but their own traffic just due to visibility/accessibility.