PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

I think this was what I was remembering:

https://www.pahighways.com/interstates/I676.html

I was always a fan of this plan by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. It allows people coming down 6th St to take the same shorter ramp as people coming off 676, whereas if it went over 6th St, it would force people coming down 6th St to take the indirect approach, which would still cause a lot of congestion at that corner. It reduces the lane count to three lanes south of there and shortens the crossing distance for pedestrians and creates a much larger contiguous green space.

PHS has bold plans to redo base of Ben Franklin Bridge

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

I was always a fan of this plan by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. It allows people coming down 6th St to take the same shorter ramp as people coming off 676, whereas if it went over 6th St, it would force people coming down 6th St to take the indirect approach, which would still cause a lot of congestion at that corner. It reduces the lane count to three lanes south of there and shortens the crossing distance for pedestrians and creates a much larger contiguous green space.

PHS has bold plans to redo base of Ben Franklin Bridge

Love it. Looks exactly like my proposed charges in red and blue.



Is there any hope of this actually happening?

Oh and thanks for posting that map Skintreesnail, very interesting, though to be frank, I'm having a difficult time understanding it

[Justin7]

Originally Posted by allovertown

Red: This is the biggest problem with the area. So many drivers get off 676 then down 6th to get on the BFB. Instead of the ramp here coming down to street level, it should remain at the same grade as 676 and run directly beside 676 and right onto the BFB. All that traffic stays off the streets. The only downside is a wider overpass that peds have to walk under when going down 6th or 7th, but it's already a wide overpass, what's another 20 feet? Both should have a beautified pedestrian experience anyway. Also drivers will no longer be able to get off 676 and head straight down 6th street, which currently a lot of drivers do. But who cares, just get off one exit sooner and go south on 8th or stay on 676 to go south on 95. These minor inconveniences are more than worth it to keep all of this speeding traffic off the roads.

I don't think it's even necessary to add width. There are currently too many lanes heading west. Have the two bridge exit lanes cross over on terra firma between 6th and 7th.

[McBane]

I agree this is a mess of roads that should be fixed. But replacing it with green space, to me, isn't worth the expense, unless there's a critical mass ready to utilize it. Franklin Square is right there and, even with the improvements, is still underused. Another underused green space will just become a magnet for the homeless.

Maybe if there are other incremental changes to other nearby streets (like those suggested by Allovertown) and something exciting gets built in place of the Roundhouse then maybe conditions could be ripe to redevelop these car lanes into green space, or better yet, sell the land to a developer.

I don't know if this is the right way to go, but that's my 2 cents at least.

[Knight Hospitaller]

^Franklin Square is underused because it is surrounded by (1) wide, high-traffic roads (which this wouldn't change much), (2) a block long "blank" side of the American College of Physicians, (3) the dead roundhouse block, and (4) the biggest waste of space ever (the condo/parking lot formerly known at Metropolitan Hospital). I don't know what to do on the stupid lightning bolt block. Nobody's likely very interested in getting a closer look at the bolt if that's the only attraction, but the excess roadway needs to go regardless. Maybe a monument more worthy of the site?

[iheartphilly]

^It's too bad it's under-utilized. And, I've been there and it's a rather nice park but being surrounding by traffic whizzing by all day long doesn't make it feel like a park, with noise and car fume pollution. That's being said, I think they have a nice programming there with the Philly Chinese Lantern Festival which was very well received that they are now doing it annually. However, getting more residential developments adjacent to it would certainly help increase it's use, perhaps a fenced in dog-park area too and I agree with Allovertown's sketch of road deletion improvements to make it more pedestrian friendly for folks to walk to the park so they don't have to play "frogger" with their life.

[blart]

8/11

1400 block N. American St.

[Urbanthusiat]

I was wondering when we'd hear about this again. New art museum coming to Fishtown.

The West Collection in Fishtown Moving Forward with an Updated Plan

[PHLtoNYC]

^ Really cool and great addition to Fishtown!

That corridor of Frankford has a lot of projects going on.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

I was wondering when we'd hear about this again. New art museum coming to Fishtown.

The West Collection in Fishtown Moving Forward with an Updated Plan

Awesome!! I thought this must have fallen through with the pandemic. A permanent gallery says a lot for the area.

[Holt]

Really disappointed to see the design here for the Rite Aid on Walnut.. Is there any chance they'll have edit the design?

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20220812.html

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by Holt

Really disappointed to see the design here for the Rite Aid on Walnut.. Is there any chance they'll have edit the design?

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20220812.html

Yikes, that's really bad as far as Center City goes

[TempleGuy1000]

I want to see the historical commission and the ZBA come out against this project for not fitting the character of the neighborhood. They block so many better projects, and this one is awful and truly doesn’t fit at all.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

I was wondering when we'd hear about this again. New art museum coming to Fishtown.

The West Collection in Fishtown Moving Forward with an Updated Plan

Years ago I took a tour of their collection at SEI and it was really inspiring. This can truly transform the art scene in Philadelphia, which is sorely lacking representation (in the gallery space) for emerging contemporary artists. My only complaint is that I wish it was bigger and they did keep the initial plan to add onto the building.

They are super prolific collectors and I am certain their collection only continues to grow. In a way, the building could end up being a constraint.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by TempleGuy1000

I want to see the historical commission and the ZBA come out against this project for not fitting the character of the neighborhood. They block so many better projects, and this one is awful and truly doesn’t fit at all.

Unfortunately, it appears the lot just falls over the line from the Rittenhouse Square Historic District. So no PHC review for this one. Hopefully, it’ll get some criticism elsewhere.

Apart from the article which is a bit scant, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of info for this project yet. Is there even a CDR submission file? I can’t seem to find anything.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by Holt

Really disappointed to see the design here for the Rite Aid on Walnut.. Is there any chance they'll have edit the design?

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20220812.html

Probably should be taller tbh

[iheartphilly]

taller is the least of its problem...

fundamentally...inferior design and cheap materials says it all.

[Knight Hospitaller]

It's like a multi-storey Rite Aid. Even if low-rise, its surrounded by better designed townhomes.

[summersm343]

^^We're talking about this on the highrise thread guys. Keep in mind, this thread is for anything 11-floors and under. The highrise thread is for anything 12-floors and taller.

[summersm343]

A Colossal Change for a Tiny Intersection in East Kensington

Aerial view of the site in the past:


1924 E. Hagert Street rendering:


1924 E. Hagert Street current progress:


1929 E. York Street rendering:


1929 E. York Street current progress:


1901 E. York Street rendering:


1901 E. York Street current progress:


1817 E. York Street rendering:


1817 E. York Street current progress:


1810 E. Hagert Street rendering:


1810 E. Hagert Street current progress:

For those keeping score at home, that’s 629 units, 126 parking spaces and loads of studio spaces for just these five projects. Zoom out just a bit and those numbers are even larger, meaning perhaps a thousand new residents could be living here in the next couple years. To say that will completely change this area is a bit of an understatement; the mass of people joining the neighborhood should lead to an uptick in retail and commercial options in the neighborhood, while encouraging further development. We have a funny feeling that the York-Dauphin Station on the El, just a short walk away, will be much more crowded soon enough, as these projects and others continue to come online in the coming years.

Read/view more here:
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...ast-kensington