PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[PHLtoNYC]

Center City hotels doubled room revenue in 2021 but face a long road to full pandemic recovery

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...tels-2021.html

"Center City hotels saw sizable increases last year in all key performance metrics, including occupancy and revenue per available room, as the recovering leisure travel segment carried the local tourism industry."

"There were 2 million room nights sold at Center City hotels in 2021, a 71.6% spike from the 1.16 million room nights sold the preceding year when the Covid-19 pandemic first hit locally..."

"There were 4.88 million room nights in supply last year, a 30.6% increase versus 2020 as more properties came back online after temporary closures and a handful of new hotels like the 755-room W/Element and the 208-room Live! Hotel Philadelphia debuted in the market."

"Despite the strides in recovery, Philadelphia’s hotel sector still has a long way to go to return to its pre-pandemic prime of 2019, which was widely considered to be the best year on record for the city’s then-booming tourism and hospitality world."

"While hotel room supply in Center City increased 4.5% in 2021 compared to 2019 because of the newly opened properties, demand still paced 44.2% behind overall."

[summersm343]

^^Good to hear the hotel and tourism industry is rebounding.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Nice project coming to Old City.

Former Old City Hotel Getting New Lease on Life After Years of Vacancy

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...ity/dummy-post

This is great!

Current site of 312-14 Race Street:


Rendering of project:

We bring this extremely Old-Cityish building to your attention today because a proposal to redevelop the property recently landed with said Historical Commission. The developers not only own the former hotel building, but they also have the two adjacent buildings at 316 and 318 Race St., which are not nearly as old as their neighbor. They date back only to the 1950s, and as such are not considered contributing to the Historic District. So they are not protected from demolition or modification. BUT, if they were to be torn down, anything that replaces them would need approval from the Historical Commission.

The project would largely leave the historic building intact, aside from demolishing a rear section of the building that’s almost invisible from any direction. The two non-historic buildings, however, would be completely demoed and replaced by a new structure. The new plans call for a six-story building across the entire property with 26 apartments and two commercial spaces. Four existing floors to the east will be joined by four new floors to the west with frontage at Race Street, with a facade that will be designed to look like other buildings in Old City. New 5th and 6th floors will be set back from the street, as to not distract from the existing historic facade or the faux-historic facade next door.

Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...old-city-hotel

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Demo is complete, hopefully construction soon.

On the Clock for Former Bank at Ridge & Spring Garden

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...-spring-garden

Love this project!

Current progress:




Project Renderings:








Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...-spring-garden

[summersm343]

In Pennsport, a Giant Appears But Wawa Won’t

Aerial view of site plan:


Rendering of apartment buildings facing the river:


The Giant from Columbus Blvd:


The Giant facing the parking lot:


Photo of Giant from what will be the new extension of Dickinson Street at Columbus Blvd:


Site where apartment buildings will go:


South side of the site where more retail buildings and parking will go:

The long-vacant lot at that runs southeast from the intersection of Reed Street and Christopher Columbus Blvd. has had a pretty wild life, at least as far as long-vacant lots go.

And plans are seemingly still in flux, as the mixed-use project on the eastern section of the property is not yet underway and plans for a Super Wawa have met a similar fate similar to Foxwoods. But fee-fie-foe-fum, we do see a Giant on the northwest quadrant of the site, marking the first signs of progress for a property that’s been stuck in the proverbial mud for years.

A grocery store is without question a huge benefit to the neighborhood, however this project doesn’t exactly align with the spirit of the approach called for in the Master Plan for the Central Delaware, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation’s guide to thoughtful development along the waterfront. This is indeed a very auto-oriented project, as the street-facing side of the building is functionally a blank wall – the building can only be entered from the back. While there is a pedestrian path under construction along Columbus Blvd., we noticed that charging stations for electric vehicles were already fully up and running.

We hope that the next phases for this site better suit the future of a walkable Columbus Blvd. corridor, especially given the proximity to the Delaware River Waterfront Trail, which continues to progress. The blank canvas surrounding this site sure would look good with some attractive mixed use buildings and hundreds of new residents. Fortunately, we see that the City issued building permits at the end of last year for the mixed-use project on the eastern section of the site, so we’re hopeful that we’ll soon see construction here.

Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...-but-wawa-wont

[summersm343]

Construction Underway At 58-Unit Complex At 620 Moore Street in Dickinson Square West/Wharton

Entire project rendering:


Current progress of the west side of the site:


Rendering of the west side of the site:


Current progress on the east side of the site:


Rendering of the east side of the site:


Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2022/01/620-...ladelphia.html

[summersm343]

YIMBY Looks At Recently Completed 18-Unit Rental Building At 1331 South Juniper Street In Passyunk Square





Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2022/01/yimb...ladelphia.html

[summersm343]

Permits Issued For 50-Unit Mixed-Use Building At 5542-44 Ridge Avenue In Roxborough

Current site:


Aerial of current site:

Permits have been issued for the construction of a 50-unit mixed-use building at 5542-44 Ridge Avenue in Roxborough, Northwest Philadelphia. Upon completion, the new building will stand three stories tall, with commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above. The structure will contain 45,500 square feet of space as well as multiple roof decks. Construction costs are estimated at $6.8 million.

Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2022/01/perm...ladelphia.html

[PHLtoNYC]

Love the new Giant on Columbus, but the execution goes against the entire idea of a pedestrian oriented, inviting waterfront... Besides the actual supermarket, what a miss this was.

[Busy Bee]

In general, slapdash development on former waterfront railyards without a master plan has been a total disaster. A guess they're considered placeholders.

[PHLtoNYC]

Another awesome project coming to Broad & Ridge, designed by Ambit.

North Broad to Get Its Own Flatiron-ish Building Near the Divine Lorraine

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...ivine-lorraine

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Another awesome project coming to Broad & Ridge, designed by Ambit.

North Broad to Get Its Own Flatiron-ish Building Near the Divine Lorraine

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...ivine-lorraine

Whoa. Wish it was a bit taller, but it’s a beautiful nod to the old building and Ambit always does great work.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

Whoa. Wish it was a bit taller, but it’s a beautiful nod to the old building and Ambit always does great work.

Agreed to both.

Ambit and a few other firms should be the obvious choices for small or midsize projects, especially on prominent corners like this.

I'm tired of seeing crap buildings that were supposedly designed by architects. Ambit almost always proves that a handsome building can work in any part of the city on any budget.

For example, JKRP Architects is the design firm for the former PHA HQ at 2012 Chestnut. This is the best a relatively large design firm can do?... at this location... https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...in-rittenhouse
(Not all JKRP work is bad, but they have some horrific projects in their portfolio).

Sorry for the mini rant

[summersm343]

Love it! What a great project. North Broad from Spring Garden to Fairmount is becoming such a nice little stretch. There's literally only a few lots left to be developed here now with this project going up:

1. Broad & Spring Garden Mural West Tower (get going already Blumenfeld!)
2. Broad & Mt. Vernon site (hopefully we see more info about that highrise there)
3. Meineke Car Care Center and that awful building next to it at Broad & Wallace
4. The massive parking lot at Broad & North
5. The jumbled mess of properties bounded by Melon, Broad, Ridge & Fairmount (hopefully we'll see a proposal here soon)

That's 5 projects and this entire stretch is built out. Just impressive.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Another awesome project coming to Broad & Ridge, designed by Ambit.

North Broad to Get Its Own Flatiron-ish Building Near the Divine Lorraine

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...ivine-lorraine

Current site (photo taken before Jimmy G's closed):


Project renderings:

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Agreed to both.

Ambit and a few other firms should be the obvious choices for small or midsize projects, especially on prominent corners like this.

I'm tired of seeing crap buildings that were supposedly designed by architects. Ambit almost always proves that a handsome building can work in any part of the city on any budget.

For example, JKRP Architects is the design firm for the former PHA HQ at 2012 Chestnut. This is the best a relatively large design firm can do?... at this location... https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...in-rittenhouse
(Not all JKRP work is bad, but they have some horrific projects in their portfolio).

Sorry for the mini rant

I wish Ambit, Gnome and Canno did all projects in the city big and small.

I live a few blocks away from LVL North which was also designed by JKRP. The renderings are God awful. However, it’s shaping up to be a little better than I thought. It’s still bad but the materials are a notch better than expected and the wood panel patches aren’t as orangish as they were in the renderings. It’s still far from good architecture, but I guess it probably won’t be a total eyesore...

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Current site (photo taken before Jimmy G's closed):


Project renderings:

The Aldi facade across the street is starting to look even more ridiculous.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

I wish Ambit, Gnome and Canno did all projects in the city big and small.

Yes! Exactly this. I too think of these three firms as the trifecta of top-notch modern architectural design in the Philly, at least consistently. I think it really comes down to designs with aesthetically-pleasing proportions, great fenestration, being more historically sensitive, and of course incoporporating good/solid materials.

Definitely the gold standard for other firms to model, although that CosciaMoos proposal at Ridge & Spring Garden also looks great too in that regard.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by UrbanRevival

Yes! Exactly this. I too think of these three firms as the trifecta of top-notch modern architectural design in the Philly, at least consistently. I think it really comes down to designs with aesthetically-pleasing proportions, great fenestration, being more historically sensitive, and of course incoporporating good/solid materials.

Definitely the gold standard for other firms to model, although that CosciaMoos proposal at Ridge & Spring Garden also looks great too in that regard.

Yes! Was gonna say - CosciaMoos deserves an honorable mention. Their renovation of the brownstone on 20th/Spruce with the mansard roof addition is fantastic and their black “glass box” at Hamilton Court is pretty cool. Ah, and of course, M Arch + M Design may take the cake these days...

It’s simply amazing how far the city has come architecturally in the last decade. I’d say at this point it’s become THE leader of contextualism in the country thanks to emerging architects and developers who understand and appreciate what the city is. Stern really started the contextualism movement in NYC. However, his projects seem a little tired as of late - *see the Museum of the American Revolution. I also think most developers in NYC have much different priorities than ones in Philly. For instance, the redevelopment plan of the area in and around Penn Station is basically just “knock everything down, start from scratch and maximize square footage”. I’m not saying the proposed new buildings there aren’t impressive but they’re certainly not contextual to the area.

Perhaps part of the reason is that Philly has such a rich architectural history and an abundance of smaller available parcels by which architects and developers have more opportunities to build contextually. I know there’s probably similar firms like them elsewhere and I’m well aware there’s still quite a few Philly flops but within this group they seem to be cornering the market for small to medium scale residential. They’re sort of the much needed “missing link” vernacular between traditional and modern architecture and I think developers here are taking note.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

In general, slapdash development on former waterfront railyards without a master plan has been a total disaster. A guess they're considered placeholders.

Without which master plan? Or did you mean in disregard of the master plan?

MASTER PLAN FOR THE CENTRAL DELAWARE | Delaware River Waterfront Corporation