PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by Gatorade_Jim

I don’t follow this stuff at all, although I’m trying to watch it more closely. How do we feel about this? More like Helen Gym or Allen Domb?

Looks like Vaughn served as Chief of Staff for Derek Green so she might be ok - not sure about Harrity though.

[TempleGuy1000]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

^ What is project in picture #6? Looks like it's on 2ns Street in Northern Liberties.

Beautiful pictures in all the threads though!

828-840 N 2nd Street. I don't think there has been a good rendering of what it will look like yet.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/eclipse-doc...022-003913.pdf

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by jaysb

I agree, I have two kids at a CC Elementary, and for all of the horror stories of the PSD I'm pretty pleased with the education they are getting. Every one of their teachers have been great. Like you said, we are foregoing some of the pure academic benefits of some of the suburban schools but I think the diversity and other intangibles will go far in helping them become well adjusted entering the real world.

We were in a top public school in Miami but they pretty much only taught to the funding criteria, drilling them in reading and math but little else. They had little to no humanities (they did however have excellent French/Spanish programs starting in Kinder, my only gripe here).

I fully understand my experience living in a nice area is not indicative of the school district as a whole but I do hear anecdotally of more and more schools getting better rather quickly.

I agree with you and mja. Great posts. I'm a parent of a very well-funded and supported CC public school and it's been an awesome experience.

There are some obvious disadvantages of our schools relative to many of their suburban piers but... I always like to point out one of the great inherent advantages city kids get when it comes to college admissions... you're not a white suburbanite. Any college admissions person will tell you, all things being equal - they'll take the city kid over the suburban kid every-time. There's just less of them. It's more interesting. Student body diversity isn't just about skin color, it's about where you grew up, and what your sensibilities can bring to the school.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

But the narrative that NYC parents are fleeing to the suburbs when children hit school age is simply not true. Sure, it may play a part when people do leave, but if that's what your or other people's friends are telling you, they're either being intellectually lazy, dishonest about their motivations, or both. It could simply be that they want their kids to have the sort of upbringing they had (suburban etc) which is a preference that has nothing to do with the quality of education, but it's easier to blame the schools. Even worse, they may have never even visited their local urban public school and then they turn around and run their mouths about how bad they are without any real first hand knowledge. That happens a lot too...and that's just simple ignorance.

The fact of the matter is more parents are raising their kids in the city. In my 'hood, both the private and public school are basically at capacity for Kindergarten admissions.

I'm fudging these numbers, but the point remains accurate. In 1992, 5% of parents with school age kids in the city would actually stay for school. Meaning 95% moved to the suburbs. In 2022, the number of parents staying is 25%.

Now, you can look at that number two ways.

1) The vast majority of parents (75%) are STILL choosing to move to the suburbs
or, 2) There has been a 5-fold increase in parents staying in the city over the last 30 years!

Half-empty/half-full?

[jaysb]

Originally Posted by Londonee

The fact of the matter is more parents are raising their kids in the city. In my 'hood, both the private and public school are basically at capacity for Kindergarten admissions.

I'm fudging these numbers, but the point remains accurate. In 1992, 5% of parents with school age kids in the city would actually stay for school. Meaning 95% moved to the suburbs. In 2022, the number of parents staying is 25%.

Now, you can look at that number two ways.

1) The vast majority of parents (75%) are STILL choosing to move to the suburbs
or, 2) There has been a 5-fold increase in parents staying in the city over the last 30 years!

Half-empty/half-full?

IMO, it's certainly full...
As my eldest gets closer to the teenage years I do have concerns about what his experience will be like int he city. I don't think we are going anywhere but its hard for us to envision what this will entail as our experience growing up was vastly different (in a diverse midwestern town, her from Latin America). When you see the a lot of the crime involving teenagers it does cause some anxiety; but I'm sure our new mayor will solve it by then

[Raja]

Originally Posted by TempleGuy1000

I flew a few places this summer. PHL was hardly the worst and our restaurants and stores are way more interesting than the lame generic irish pubs and starbucks that fill terminals in other places.

Yes. PHL is convenient to the city, its security consistently moves quickly, its food offerings are above average, and it actually operates surprisingly smoothly given how chronically overcrowded its runways are. Baggage often takes too long, but that's basically the only area where PHL is consistently worse than other airports.

As with its namesake city, PHL's just old and dingy. And for better or worse, I think the average person, and specifically the average American who spends her life amidst the chemically treated lawns of suburbia, is very sensitive to that. We've talked about this at length in other contexts, like trash on the highways and the old junkyard pile below the Platt Bridge (RIP).

In the past year, every single one of my worst airport experiences was at the clean, airy, pristine Miami airport. Horrible experiences, but I'm sure it's ranked more highly based on the architecture alone.

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by Raja

As with its namesake city, PHL's just old and dingy.

Please don't feed the trolls.

[Raja]

Originally Posted by thoughtcriminal

Please don't feed the trolls.

Haha! I mean, PHL "has patina."

Edited to say that in all seriousness, for all the problems we've had lately (crime, QOL stuff), Philly is really a much cleaner place than it was just a decade ago. Dilworth, Penn's Landing, the Parkway, Franklin Square, and myriad other public spaces are just echelons above what they were not too long ago. Sometimes it's easy to overlook that fact because Philly is such an incremental place. There's no billion-dollar public spaces initiative here that screams "here comes the new Philly," but the changes are there. Same with the parallel discussion on here about the state of the school system.

Anyways, that's PHL, too. Terminal F is great. The B-C connector is cool. The gradual bathroom renovations are great. Hopefully the runway expansion happens. There's no massive overhaul to be seen, but the changes are still there. And I think that is part of why PHL just can't seem to shake its reputation.

[skyhigh07]

It also really depends on the terminal. The international wing is really nice and the recently renovated Terminal B has all of the fancy OTG upgrades.

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by TempleGuy1000

828-840 N 2nd Street. I don't think there has been a good rendering of what it will look like yet.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/eclipse-doc...022-003913.pdf

See here: http://www.rising.realestate/55-unit...nd-and-poplar/

[TonyTone]

Originally Posted by Raja

Haha! I mean, PHL "has patina."

Edited to say that in all seriousness, for all the problems we've had lately (crime, QOL stuff), Philly is really a much cleaner place than it was just a decade ago. Dilworth, Penn's Landing, the Parkway, Franklin Square, and myriad other public spaces are just echelons above what they were not too long ago. Sometimes it's easy to overlook that fact because Philly is such an incremental place. There's no billion-dollar public spaces initiative here that screams "here comes the new Philly," but the changes are there. Same with the parallel discussion on here about the state of the school system.

Anyways, that's PHL, too. Terminal F is great. The B-C connector is cool. The gradual bathroom renovations are great. Hopefully the runway expansion happens. There's no massive overhaul to be seen, but the changes are still there. And I think that is part of why PHL just can't seem to shake its reputation.

Do people really think PHL is bad? I've been flying out of that airport for years, and its solid, Its on the same level as Fort Lauderdale International.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by jaysb

IMO, it's certainly full...

I've mentioned (to others) on here before. I moved into Northbank...that massive new development out on the water north of Penn Treaty.

I didn't ask about schools when I bought because I'm childless and don't plan on having them, but I also assumed we'd be in one of the Fishtown catchments which are both quite good by city standards and continually improving (Adaire and Horatio Hacket).

Turns out, a portion of the neighborhood is actually zoned to Richmond School (in Port Richmond) and the other to Adaire. Hackett isn't even in the cards.

From my front door, it's 1 Mile to Adaire, 1.2 miles to Hackett, and 1.8 miles to Richmond School. By any measure, these are long distances for any elementary school walk. My house is assigned to Richmond School.

I have to assume this is because Adaire and Hackett are bursting at the seams. But I will tell you this...this neighborhood is overflowing with children...they're everywhere...and a 1.8 mile walk to school for a 8 year old is untenable. And there will be 900 homes in this neighborhood alone, without consideration for all of the other development going on in this area.

I guarantee you we'll see a new Elementary School in Fishtown or on the Riverfront in the next 5 years.

[DeltaNerd]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

Do people really think PHL is bad? I've been flying out of that airport for years, and its solid, Its on the same level as Fort Lauderdale International.

FLL feels like a retirement airport, in a bad way. PHL at least has decent food opinions. The thing holding PHL back is the old finger style terminals. It limits aircraft movements because of the narrow alleys. Also it's very narrow hallways.
PHL has tons of space to make better terminals but its all about the investment from PA.

[McBane]

There are good and decent elementary schools city-wide. Masterman is the best high school in the entire state but difficult to get into. There's a few other good magnet schools; but other than that, the average neighborhood school (esp at the middle and high school levels) perform poorly and plagued by behavioral issues and lack of funding.

FLL sucks - cramped, old, and low ceilings. And PHL isn't as bad as perception. Especially terminals B (Chick Fil-A!) and F.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by DeltaNerd

FLL feels like a retirement airport, in a bad way. PHL at least has decent food opinions. The thing holding PHL back is the old finger style terminals. It limits aircraft movements because of the narrow alleys. Also it's very narrow hallways.
PHL has tons of space to make better terminals but its all about the investment from PA.

You mean from Philly. PHL is owned by the City of Philadelphia. Running a major airport is like running a Fortune 500 business. They collect revenue and have operating expenses. So if the City wants to obtain municipal bonds to pay for modernization, including optimal reconfiguration of terminals, they can do it. It is up to their leadership and what the major airlines want to make the airport grow and be more efficient and travel friendly to guests. As others have mentioned, the international terminal and renovated B terminal are nice.

[TonyTone]

Originally Posted by DeltaNerd

FLL feels like a retirement airport, in a bad way. PHL at least has decent food opinions. The thing holding PHL back is the old finger style terminals. It limits aircraft movements because of the narrow alleys. Also it's very narrow hallways.
PHL has tons of space to make better terminals but its all about the investment from PA.

I can see what your saying, but FLL is clean, fast, and gets you where you need to go just like PHL, its an airport not an hotel or resort.

Now the gripe I do have with Philly and PHL is the fact that we don't have a welcome sign going across 95 when you enter the city limits, and the fact that we don't have landscaping, and low level lights around the whole stretch from the airport to the bridge, that in my opinion matters just as much when viewing our world class city.

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by TonyTone

I can see what your saying, but FLL is clean, fast, and gets you where you need to go just like PHL, its an airport not an hotel or resort.

Now the gripe I do have with Philly and PHL is the fact that we don't have a welcome sign going across 95 when you enter the city limits, and the fact that we don't have landscaping, and low level lights around the whole stretch from the airport to the bridge, that in my opinion matters just as much when viewing our world class city.

I think they were plans to do that at some point, and maybe even online somewhere, but I guess it was never carried through.

[PHLtoNYC]

Project update, turned out well.

'Nothing else in this neighborhood like this': Riverwards Group tries something different with new Fishtown condo project

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...rds-group.html

Riverwards Group is set to open a 42-unit mixed-use building at 2636 York St. in Fishtown next spring, adding for-sale condos to a neighborhood becoming saturated with rentals.

[PHLtoNYC]

Update for the U City Townhomes mess. The residents now have until 12/27/21 to vacate and about half the residents have secured new housing so far.

I assume this land will be developed quickly once all the tenants are out.

West Philly affordable housing tenants get more time to move

https://www.axios.com/local/philadel...elphia-tenants

[TempleGuy1000]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

See here: http://www.rising.realestate/55-unit...nd-and-poplar/

Nice thanks for the update. It would be so awesome to see the 2nd Street Greenway project come to life.