PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[summersm343]

Permits Issued For Prewar Building Renovation And Expansion At 7208-10 Germantown Avenue In Mount Airy

Current site:


Rendering:

Permits have been issued for a mixed-use renovation and addition to an existing building at 7208-10 Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy, Northwest Philadelphia. Designed by Bright Common Architecture & Design, the project will see the existing three-story building receive a two-story overbuild, as well as an adjacent five-story addition at the rear. The renovated development will span 21,423 square feet of interior space and feature commercial space on the ground floor facing Germantown Avenue, as well as 19 rental apartments situated above. The development will include parking for seven bicycles. Construction costs are listed at $2.1 million.

Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2021/12/perm...ladelphia.html

[summersm343]

Permits Issued For 48-Unit Building At 1212-16 North Delaware Avenue

Plans for the site:


Current site:


Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2021/12/perm...-fishtown.html

[summersm343]

Permits Issued For 1106-14 Spring Garden Street In Callowhill

Rendering:


Current site:


Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2021/12/perm...allowhill.html

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by summersm343

17th & Federal Pivoting to a By-Right Mixed-Use Plan

Construction already started at site:




Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...mixed-use-plan

Nice! I lived near there several years ago and Point Breeze DESPERATELY needs mixed use/retail spaces so I'm glad the rowhome project didn't pan out in the end.

[RowanGrad]

Is the power plant next to Penn Treaty Park being refurbished/renovated? I drove by it recently and it seems to be in better shape than it has been. Plus, I believe I saw a crane, too.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by RowanGrad

Is the power plant next to Penn Treaty Park being refurbished/renovated? I drove by it recently and it seems to be in better shape than it has been. Plus, I believe I saw a crane, too.

Yes. See below from Jan 2020:

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

Speaking of Delaware Avenue...

Lubert-Adler buys former PECO power station site on Delaware River

Originally Posted by Jayfar

This article is behind the mighty Philadelphia Business Journal paywall, but the gist of it is that Joe Volpe has flipped the former PECO Delaware Generating Station property at 1325 Beach St to a Lubert-Adler affiliate. Bart Blatstein had previously sold his partnership stake to Volpe as they apparently abandoned their plans to convert it into a multi-use event space. Dean Adler last year spoke of plans for the site as a one million-square-foot mixed-use project called the “Battery.”

More from Dean Adler on 'The Battery' in a 2019 article at Commercial Property Executive (cpexecutive.com): Opportunity Zones Can Make a Great Deal Greater | CPExecutive.com

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by blart

Thanks for that info... wanted to get some boots, but thought it had closed for good. (Oddly, still listed as closed on their website though.)

Well it's definitely open! Hopefully they update their site soon.

Originally Posted by Mayormccheese

This is great news if true. As always around here I wish they’d go taller but any additional height along this block is very welcome. The neighborhood can handle a lot more density and there’s a lot of room for opportunity.

Yes, I will take 12 stories as long as it's a nice building, not crap. But the new building needs to happen ASAP, the huge hole in the middle of the block is awful and sad.

From streetview, a new building would need to be 30+ stories to have any views of the park, and it would only be the top floors.

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

That would be great. Honestly, I don't see how the order to rebuild the historic facades would pencil out as profitable otherwise.

As Summers said, it wouldn't. I am still nervous to see how this turns out due to different ownership, insurance pay outs, timeline, architect choice, etc. It would almost be a dream come true if a solid proposal started construction within 2 years of the loss.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Schuylkill River Trail Updates

Christian to Crescent


For those of you who don't know. This will connect the Schuylkill River trail where it currently ends at Christian Street, with the already completed Grays Ferry Crescent Trail.

https://www.schuylkillbanks.org/proj...stian-crescent


Schuylkill Crossing Bridge


This is also under construction. This will connected the Grays Ferry Crescent (and now the rest of the Schuylkill River Trail) to the Bartram's Mile Trail. So, soon you'll be able to walk to Bartram's Garden from Center City.... I think that's HUGE and will be good to increase visitors to this underrated gem in the city.

https://www.schuylkillbanks.org/proj...lkill-crossing

Awesome stuff! Speaking of the trail, whatever happened to the plans for the submerged portion that would make you eye level with the water? I can't locate that on the site.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Well it's definitely open! Hopefully they update their site soon.



Yes, I will take 12 stories as long as it's a nice building, not crap. But the new building needs to happen ASAP, the huge hole in the middle of the block is awful and sad.

From streetview, a new building would need to be 30+ stories to have any views of the park, and it would only be the top floors.



As Summers said, it wouldn't. I am still nervous to see how this turns out due to different ownership, insurance pay outs, timeline, architect choice, etc. It would almost be a dream come true if a solid proposal started construction within 2 years of the loss.

I saw the same social media post as well. It mentioned that the old facades would be reconstructed with existing materials into the new building (that was the original condition for the permit btw). I’m not what sure what people are talking about in terms of government subsidies - the Laurel did a great job at reconstructing the small terra cotta building on Moravian rather quickly. It’s not that difficult to do with facades.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Awesome stuff! Speaking of the trail, whatever happened to the plans for the submerged portion that would make you eye level with the water? I can't locate that on the site.

I believe it's still happening. Maybe because the projects on that site are specifically being completed by the Schuylkill Banks Organization, and the project you're referring to (FloatLab) is being completed by Mural Arts? That's the only thing I can think of.

https://www.bartramsgarden.org/about...ects/floatlab/

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by skyhigh07

I saw the same social media post as well. It mentioned that the old facades would be reconstructed with existing materials into the new building (that was the original condition for the permit btw). I’m not what sure what people are talking about in terms of government subsidies - the Laurel did a great job at reconstructing the small terra cotta building on Moravian rather quickly. It’s not that difficult to do with facades.

Well then, that makes sense. If the facades are going to be redone and incorporated into a new highrise building, then yes, a developer can make that work.

What was mentioned before is that the owner's were going to be forced by the city to rebuild the 4-story buildings as they stood originally. If that were the case, the numbers wouldn't pencil out without government subsidies.

[RowanGrad]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

Yes. See below from Jan 2020:

Cool. Thanks for the info.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by summersm343

I believe it's still happening. Maybe because the projects on that site are specifically being completed by the Schuylkill Banks Organization, and the project you're referring to (FloatLab) is being completed by Mural Arts? That's the only thing I can think of.

https://www.bartramsgarden.org/about...ects/floatlab/

That's it, thank you! Different pic and info from what I have seen before, though, and I could have sworn it was on their site; but what you are saying makes sense.

*Did a little more research and it was this pic/site that I was thinking of, looks neat from this perspective:

https://billypenn.com/2021/04/22/phi...rtrams-garden/

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

That's it, thank you! Different pic and info from what I have seen before, though, and I could have sworn it was on their site; but what you are saying makes sense.

*Did a little more research and it was this pic/site that I was thinking of, looks neat from this perspective:

https://billypenn.com/2021/04/22/phi...rtrams-garden/

Yeah it looks so cool! It'll be a nice addition and add to the Bartram's Garden Attraction and will make people want to walk the Schuylkill River Trail to check it out.

[summersm343]

Permits Issued For 1640-48 North Hancock Street In Olde Kensington





Read/view more here:
https://phillyyimby.com/2021/12/perm...ladelphia.html

[summersm343]

As development marches northward, COFCO sells North American Street building for $8.75M

COFCO has sold its 64,000-square-foot warehouse that also served as its corporate headquarters and showroom at 2200 N. American St. in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia for $8.75 million.

The corporate office furnishings dealer bought the building in the fall of 1999 for $1.5 million. Brick Capital Real Estate Development, a Philadelphia developer of multifamily properties, purchased the property that spans an entire block.

COFCO has a lease to remain in the building for three years, though the new owner could ask the company to vacate with six months notice. Where will it go if it has to move out is an issue.

“That’s the million dollar question,” Waters said. “Do we stay in the city or do we leave the city? Candidly, it’s a very hard thing for me. The city doesn’t make it easy for small businesses. It doesn’t make it easy for us. That said, we’re 75 years old and we’re a Philadelphia-based company. It would break my heart to leave the city. Thankfully, we haven’t had to make that decision.”

COFCO continues to own 2400 N. American St., a 60,000-square-foot building. “We have no plan on selling that one any time soon,” Waters said, though, there have been offers.

Article behind paywall here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...Pos=1#cxrecs_s

[summersm343]

2021 in Review: Center City retail struggles

Philadelphia, wistful for pre-pandemic life, began to embrace its current state of affairs last December by adapting with streeteries for outdoor dining and repairing and reopening shops that had been vandalized during civil unrest sparked by the murder of George Floyd.

In the year since, the residential population and the return of college students helped buoy retail and restaurant activity but has been unable to compensate for the continued absence of office workers that populated Center City before the pandemic. Philadelphia, like other cities, is finding it still needs office workers for its retail corridors to recover and thrive. It remains unknown when that will happen as Covid-19 and its variants remain circulating and companies push off having employees return to offices.

In October 2021, the city saw an average of 309,600 pedestrians a day, which is 75% of January 2020 levels and the highest volume in 20 months, according to Center City District’s most recent retail report. In contrast, on West Market Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard, the main corridors comprising the Central Business District, pedestrian activity languished at 26% of pre-pandemic levels with 84,000 office workers still absent from the city each day, CCD data show.

The lack of office workers has contributed to the closure of some stores along Center City’s High Street retail corridors and in the CBD. There are 331 empty store fronts and the overall vacancy rate, which had been 11.3% in June 2020, climbed to 14.8% in October 2020 and 18.1% in January 2021, according to CCD. The rate dropped to 17.4% by September.

Before the pandemic, vacancy on the prime High Street retail corridors of Walnut Street and Chestnut Street was approximately 6%. It now sits at 22% on Walnut and 25% on Chestnut, according to CCD.

In spite of the challenges, there is some renewed momentum. From March 2020 to fall 2021, 67 retailers and restaurants opened in Center City, including 24 national brands, and an additional 34 new retailers are scheduled to open by spring 2022, according to CCD.

“We are seeing activity, which is very heartening, but the deals are different,” said Larry Steinberg, a retail broker with Colliers. “The character of the tenancies is a little different and the landlords are a little more desperate to almost take any tenant and that does not bode well for our High Street retail districts like Walnut.”

For example, banks have started to overtake corners and even though they pay high rents, those financial institutions don’t create pedestrian traffic and don't draw people into the city to shop, Steinberg said. While Walnut Street has historically been the premier retail corridor, Chestnut Street is seeing more activity these days. Four Eyes moved to 1711 Chestnut and Starbucks opened a new location at 1709 Chestnut.

"There was a big delta between the two streets and that has changed as tenants moved off Walnut to Chestnut," Steinberg said.

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

[mcgrath618]

One of the midrises on 63rd in Overbrook has started. Where the old junkyard lot was next to the tracks.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by summersm343

2021 in Review: Center City retail struggles



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

Pretty brutal to see the numbers. Walnut and Chestnut are doing far worse than average from what I've seen, and it's kind of a cycle, because if there's no draw that then affects the businesses still there. Local neighborhood shopping streets seem to be doing a lot better. My area has actually had more businesses open than close over the past 2 years.

[kool-ski]

Sure would've been nice if they could've added another story to this project to qualify as a high rise but nonetheless, as others have stated before, this is going to be HUGE for this intersection/area of 44th & Market Streets

BUILDING PERMIT CP-2021-006236
COMMERCIAL

NEW CONSTRUCTION OF A 11 STORY HIGH-RISE STRUCTURE FOR USE AS SHELL COMMERCIAL SPACE (USE REGISTRATION & FIT-OUT PERMITS REQUIRED PRIOR TO OCCUPANCY) AND ONE HUNDRED (100) DWELLING UNITS WITH ACCESSORY PARKING GARAGE AS PER APPROVED PLANS

https://eclipse.phila.gov/phillylmsp...ctId=393045685