PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread - Page 520

iamrobk · #**10381** Posted **May 9, 2018, 6:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

yup, those were from yesterday. Hopefully it will be that lively after they're done with everything. Nice views of city hall and the parkway.

Agreed - and I'm cautiously optimistic that it will be!

Boku · #**10382** Posted **May 9, 2018, 6:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

I get that the old Love Park was sentimental to skaters and it would have been nice if some element could have been included for them, but the renovations don't look that bad in person.

I'm sorry, but aren't we supposed to be OUTRAGED by the new and still unfinished Love Park? Stop posting lovely pictures like these.

Skintreesnail · #**10383** Posted **May 9, 2018, 6:08 PM**

progress on the island behind the art museum

JohnIII · #**10384** Posted **May 9, 2018, 6:12 PM**

I saw this today; are they going to make a bridge onto the island at the Waterworks; the channel was only a few feet but I think they widened it

Skintreesnail · #**10385** Posted **May 9, 2018, 6:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnIII

I saw this today; are they going to make a bridge onto the island at the Waterworks; the channel was only a few feet but I think they widened it

yeah, a bridge and some paths. I think OLIN used to have a plan posted.

edit: found this posting

Jayfar · #**10386** Posted **May 10, 2018, 12:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by McBane

It's also commendable that the new buildings have some variations. It's especially nice that the PHA did not raze entire blocks, giving this stretch of Ridge a nice blend of old and new. Do I like the siding? No, but if using this cheaper material stretched the PHA's budget to permit additional structures, then who am I to criticize? They're not aiming to build luxury homes here, but instead to replace inhabitable buildings and empty lots.

When you look at this holistically, I think the PHA did a pretty darn good job. Certainly better than what I thought they'd put up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noam215

I may be mistaken but I don't think the PHA had a hand in any of these projects. Most, if not all, are private developments.
The PHA's Sharswood project is on the stretch of Ridge north of Girard Ave

Noam215 is correct. None of the pictured buildings fall within the PHA's Sharswood project area. PHA's original plan called for a mostly scorched-earth approach, but I understand they've tempered that somewhat in response to public feedback.

See also an article from 2016 on Hidden City re the historic preservation aspect:

Redevelopment In Sharswood: Will It Come At The Expense Of Preservation? | HiddenCity.org

http://www.sharswoodblumberg.com

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...g?format=1500w

Justin7 · #**10387** Posted **May 10, 2018, 1:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

yeah, a bridge and some paths. I think OLIN used to have a plan posted.

edit: found this posting

This is great. Have always love strolling around this area. Will be even better now.

McBane · #**10388** Posted **May 10, 2018, 1:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noam215

I may be mistaken but I don't think the PHA had a hand in any of these projects. Most, if not all, are private developments.
The PHA's Sharswood project is on the stretch of Ridge north of Girard Ave

Damn! I knew it looked too good to be affordable housing by the PHA. That said, then yea, these deserve a bit more scrutiny. I still think the overall build looks good but the cheap looking siding has no place in private, market rate housing.

jsbrook · #**10389** Posted **May 10, 2018, 3:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by McBane

Damn! I knew it looked too good to be affordable housing by the PHA. That said, then yea, these deserve a bit more scrutiny. I still think the overall build looks good but the cheap looking siding has no place in private, market rate housing.

I daresay brick would look better. Even red brick. We don't all agree that it looks retrograde. I would say it's a damn sight better than a lot of the materials going up all over the cheaper areas of the city.

AbortedWalrus · #**10390** Posted **May 10, 2018, 4:04 PM**

A lot of the time the vinyl siding is used on walls that will be party walls to future development. Sometimes it's not though and it is ugly. I wish they'd use brick or stucco. They just vinyl sided a wall two doors down from my back yard and roof deck so I get to stare at vinyl in that direction. Still, I think the general build quality of the places in Francisville are pretty good.

Busy Bee · #**10391** Posted **May 10, 2018, 7:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbortedWalrus

A lot of the time the vinyl siding is used on walls that will be party walls to future development. Sometimes it's not though and it is ugly. I wish they'd use brick or stucco. They just vinyl sided a wall two doors down from my back yard and roof deck so I get to stare at vinyl in that direction. Still, I think the general build quality of the places in Francisville are pretty good.

Quote:

Situations like the above could be solved by a simple building code requirement that states if a lot line wall is unlikely to be completely covered by an adjacent structure, it needs to be built of the same material as the [masonry] facade or something of similar aesthetic quality. In this specific case, it wouldn't even need to be for the full depth of the property, because of angle of sight a proper building material would only have to extend ~10 feet from the front.

allovertown · #**10392** Posted **May 10, 2018, 8:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Situations like the above could be solved by a simple building code requirement that states if a lot line wall is unlikely to be completely covered by an adjacent structure, it needs to be built of the same material as the [masonry] facade or something of similar aesthetic quality. In this specific case, it wouldn't even need to be for the full depth of the property, because of angle of sight a proper building material would only have to extend ~10 feet from the front.

But how do you define unlikely? That building could be torn down tomorrow and replaced with a taller structure. Plus, that siding is very visible in the angle we see but generally people walking down the street can only see it from a relatively small area. It's really hard to justify spending on premium materials on an area the actual homeowner will basically never see.

The visible area of siding is about 20 by 15, so 300 sq ft. the front facade is black brick. installing that will easily be over $10 a sq foot in Philly vs a few bucks a sq foot for vinyl siding. That ends up being a difference of around 3-5 thousand dollars. that is a lot to ask of someone for a largely unseen area that could be covered by future development anyway.

Busy Bee · #**10393** Posted **May 11, 2018, 1:27 AM**

Those flanking buildings don't look like structures that one would expect to be demolished like they are a dilapidated two story row houses or something. An added 3,4,5 thousand to do the right thing doesn't seem like too much to ask from a developer. Call me crazy.

hammersklavier · #**10394** Posted **May 11, 2018, 3:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Those flanking buildings don't look like structures that one would expect to be demolished like they are a dilapidated two story row houses or something. An added 3,4,5 thousand to do the right thing doesn't seem like too much to ask from a developer. Call me crazy.

There have been overbuilds on similar types of structures in other parts of town, though. I would not be surprised to see overbuilds start to happen as the more convenient development sites along Ridge fill out.

AbortedWalrus · #**10395** Posted **May 11, 2018, 4:32 PM**

Yeah I think overbuilds on Ridge ave very likely given it's entirely CMX-2.5 and they can go up to 55 feet by right. Most of those older buildings are only 2-3 story.

But I definitely do get annoyed when they use vinyl in areas that will NEVER be covered by future development, mostly because it ruined the view from my roof deck and back yard! When it comes to party walls I'm willing to be a little more lenient with them due to the associated costs. I have no idea what effect it would have on costs but if it's not obscenely expensive to require at least stucco or cladding it wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

iheartphilly · #**10396** Posted **May 11, 2018, 4:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbortedWalrus

Yeah I think overbuilds on Ridge ave very likely given it's entirely CMX-2.5 and they can go up to 55 feet by right. Most of those older buildings are only 2-3 story.

But I definitely do get annoyed when they use vinyl in areas that will NEVER be covered by future development, mostly because it ruined the view from my roof deck and back yard! When it comes to party walls I'm willing to be a little more lenient with them due to the associated costs. I have no idea what effect it would have on costs but if it's not obscenely expensive to require at least stucco or cladding it wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

I'm a fan of real stone but that's cost prohibitive unless it's a high end project. If it is siding, I like the higher end stuff of James Hardie siding. But, most residential small builders cheap out where they can. Sucks, but that happens more often than not!

eixample · #**10397** Posted **May 11, 2018, 8:45 PM**

I didn't see this discussed on here but there was a partial collapse of a chimney at the top of the Hale Building construction site at Juniper and Chestnut this morning (the collapse was on the Juniper side). Worker taken to hospital, police on site and construction stopped and Juniper Street completely closed to pedestrians and cars. According to Action News, the worker was in stable condition. I saw the bricks and stone, it wasn't that much that came down and hopefully they can fix it up without too much difficulty or delay.

PhillyEngineer · #**10398** Posted **May 12, 2018, 1:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boku

I'm sorry, but aren't we supposed to be OUTRAGED by the new and still unfinished Love Park? Stop posting lovely pictures like these.

I took these on Monday around 5 pm. Not too many people there but I think it will used more once the fountain properly works and the greenery grows.

Knight Hospitaller · #**10399** Posted **May 14, 2018, 2:05 PM**

Cities are using their Amazon pitches to lure other businesses. Philly snagged a relocating London firm. https://apple.news/AAUZNXZrtR8W4x_uDYEQrUg

Boku · #**10400** Posted **May 14, 2018, 2:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Cities are using their Amazon pitches to lure other businesses. Philly snagged a relocating London firm. https://apple.news/AAUZNXZrtR8W4x_uDYEQrUg

Quote:

Last fall, the founder and chief executive at Elm Partners were drafting a headquarters list of their own, as they planned to move the small algorithmic investment firm from London to the U.S. The founder’s children would soon all be in the U.S. with his youngest hoping to attend college in Philadelphia, said Chief Executive James White. Philadelphia was high on their list, but they didn’t know the city well and were considering more familiar terrain in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Boston.

Then, a friend sent a link to the video Philadelphia put together as part of its Amazon pitch.

The video just resonated with us really well,” Mr. White said. The piece highlighted Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial community and its burgeoning food scene. It helped push the city to the top of their list, and the company began its move to Philadelphia in January.

He had never lived in Philadelphia before, Mr. White said, “but this made us feel OK about taking that risk.”

Wow!