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Originally Posted by reparcsyks
Sometimes I think most people on here are 16 year olds with zero conception as to how commercial real estate works.
Also, the need for commercial office space has changed radically since the pandemic. Apps like Teams and Zoom are only going to get better and more sophisticated. The die has been cast. Remote work is going to grow in popularity.
SY is building the structures for the future, and that includes a lot of lab space. And labs don’t need massive vertical space.
I, for one, am excited by the possibility of West Philly continuing its rise in becoming a dominant force in genetic engineering. That, to me, is more important than skyscrapers. As long as ugly 1-story buildings and surface lots are being erased, I’m happy with whatever replaces them in the 200-400 foot range.
Trust me, it’ll be 100x more impressive to see a sea of 200-400 foot buildings filled with scientists doing groundbreaking work, than a sea of empty parking lots as we wait for the one mythical company that needs a 1200 foot tower in a shifting economy where the majority of white collar jobs are trending to remote work.
I doubt we’ll see a super tall in Philly ever again, which is fine by me. I’d rather see more 300-500 ft residential towers built and a ton of 200-400 ft commercial/lab buildings built as we emerge as the epicenter of genetic engineering.
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Excellent points, and I'm 100% in agreement. The reality is that office space is going to become less relevant over time globally, which obviously isn't a Philadelphia-specific trend, and frankly that was the trend prior to COVID. We've just seen a massive shift in a short time out of the necessity to protect public health. I still think there are more limits to remote work that will become more apparent over time, but nevertheless, we're looking at very minimal growth in office space as the general rule for the world moving forward.
But to your overall point, the chase to land the "big mega corporate tenant" for a "mega corporate skyscraper" is not only a fool's errand from an economic development perspective to begin with, but that kind of development always over-promises in what it actually delivers for revitalizing a city. Bring on more residential and new recreational uses with MUCH more activity outside of the 9-5 workday. Make it as human-scaled as possible to actually contribute to neighborhood revitalization in much more meaningful way.
And you're also right to not let "perfect" be the enemy of the good. Every new development that represents an increase in use and the removal of a dead zone/severely underutilized parcels. It's all progress for the city. To suggest otherwise is asinine.
So many folks still neglect to consider that there's still SO much progress to be made throughout Philadelphia relative to bringing severe depressed/blighted areas back to much more livable status. Concentrating massive developments in about 10 square miles in/around Center City does very little to further that process.