Philadelphia vs San Francisco vs Boston Which has a more urban big city feel? (Los Angeles, size)

[john_starks]

Originally Posted by Summersm343

San Francisco and Philadelphia are actually pretty similar in development right now. Boston is behind.

exactly what i was thinking

[TAM88]

Originally Posted by Summersm343

San Francisco and Philadelphia are actually pretty similar in development right now. Boston is behind.

What are you basing this on?

[TAM88]

Here are some projects going on in Boston:

Northeastern dorm behind the YMCA on Huntington:





Construction is underway.

Berklee College of Music dorm currently under construction:





New tower to be built at the site of the old Filene's in Downton Crossing:



Tower being built on the edge of Chinatown at 120 Kingston Street:





Liberty Mutual is finishing up a big addition to the HQ:







The Victor, a residential building under construction downtown:





A new building for Joslin Diabetes Center:





New residential tower being built at Copley Square









Spaulding Rehab just opened up their gorgeous new building:









Residences at Kensington, residential tower downtown:







Wentworth University new dorm:





Tata Hall at Harvard Buisiness School in Alston:

[TAM88]

Here are some more

Pier 4:







Hotel being built over on Brookline Ave near Fenway:







New building for State Street over in South Boston:







Waterside place, also in South Boston:









319 A Street, also in South Boston:









Fenway Triangle project:







Millennium Place:







Ink Block:

Construction has begun as demo of the old Boston Herald site is underway.....





New Balance HQ expansion:







The Point (near Fenway) proposed:

[rainrock]

Nice Boston update.

Did I hear SF has 10-15 30 + story towers coming ? Nice. I think realistically Philly may get 1/2 dozen or so of those in the next 5- 10 years. 2 of them currently underway.




http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5214/...cc820573_z.jpg



http://www.city-data.com/forum/attac...re-thread-.jpg



http://i44.tinypic.com/72solz.jpg

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by tocoto

A Forbes story from 2012 that is still pretty realistic says Boston has more construction than either SF or Philly. Given the number of buildings U/C in Boston and Cambridge now, Philly would need to be in a really huge building boom that started in the last year to catch Boston.

4. Washington, D.C. - American Cities With The Most Construction Underway - Forbes

Well, for one, that article was for amount of projects in 2011... and Philadelphia's building boom did not start until last year. Two, that article ranks cities by amount of money, not total number of new projects. Since Philadelphia has 250-300 lowrise/rowhome developments right now, they're not going to cost as much as larger projects. Three, are you using Forbes as a credible source? Lol

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by rotodome

What if it's not a steel framed building?

Haha, you know what I meant jerk

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

Forgive me for finding this hard to believe.

Originally Posted by TAM88

What are you basing this on?

I work in Real Estate... and follow development pretty closely. I am actually taking a business trip to San Francisco next week, as my company is looking to buy land in San Francisco to develop a residential project.

For some reason PlanPhilly's License and Inspection tool is not working right now but when it is I will post all the new construction permits in Philadelphia. In the mean time, here are some of the larger projects happening.

2116 Chestnut- 34 floors- residential tower- nearing completion
http://buildingphilly.com/wp-content...507-131041.jpg

Wanamaker Plaza North- 14 floors- 214 ft- construction
http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.c...54311899_n.jpg
http://www.wrtdesign.com/files/large/2350

Temple University Science, Education & Research Center- 10 flrs- 241 ft- construction
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...71324542_n.jpg
http://arcusa.com/sites/default/files/SW_print.jpg

Morgan Hall- 27 floors- 312 ft- second 10 story tower- 3 story retail complex- nearing completion
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...21509683_n.jpg

The Grove- 33 floors- 400+ ft- plumbing lines going in- steel rising shortly
http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten..._riverview.jpg

Cira South- 40+ floors- 600+ ft- office tower- proposed- construction likely to begin in summer
http://www.city-data.com/forum/attac...ntre_south.bmp

CHOP Ambulatory Care Center- 14 flrs- 292 ft- construction
http://buildingphilly.com/wp-content...507-130704.jpg

2040 Market- 13 floors- nearing completion
http://buildingphilly.com/wp-content...507-130450.jpg

1900 Arch- 14 flrs- plumbing lines going in- steel to rise shortly
http://buildingphilly.com/wp-content...506-100836.jpg
http://www.varenhorst.com/images/siz...04-979x700.jpg

Family Court Building- 15 flrs- 265 ft- construction
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...53168500_n.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x7w_kMXKe1.../Picture+5.png

Drexel LeBow College of Business- 14 flrs- nearing completion
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...13920072_n.jpg

3737 Market- 11 flrs- office building- construction
http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.c...completed..jpg

Penn Medicine at Washington Square- 19 floors- 260 ft- office building- construction
http://buildingphilly.com/wp-content...401-120025.jpg

Chestnut Square- 19 flrs- two 8 floor wings- construction
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...58846295_n.jpg

Soko Lofts- approved- construction shortly
http://nakedphilly.com/wp-content/up...nt.752.397.jpg

1213 Walnut- 26 flrs- 294 ft- approved -initiating funding
http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/publicaciones/58/1.1.jpg

W Hotel- 52 floors- 600+ ft- approved- renders to change- construction in summer
http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/69..._Rendering.jpg

Lancaster Square- 25 flrs- 279 ft- approved
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...69532900_n.jpg

Edgewater II- 24 floors- approved- construction in summer
http://www.realen.com/gallery/projects/edgewater/05.jpg

3601 Market- 27 floors- 309 ft- approved- construction in summer
http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.c...r-campus-1.jpg

Marina View- 11 floors- approved- construction anytime now
http://planphilly.com/sites/planphil...MarinaView.jpg

Chinatown Eastern Tower- 23 floors- 265 ft- approved- initiating funding
http://planphilly.com/uploads/media_....752.752.s.jpg

Castleway Tower- 42 floors- 525 ft- proposed
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1MENfRLEv-...astleway01.jpg

205 Race- 16 flrs- approved
http://planphilly.com/uploads/media_....481.519.s.jpg

401 Race- 13 flrs- proposed
http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.c...11/401race.jpg

The Residences at Schmidt's- 25 & 15 flrs- proposed
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1.../Schmidts2.jpg

735 S. Columbus- 15 floors- approved
http://planphilly.com/uploads/media_....752.510.s.jpg

Sugarhouse Casino- phase 3 includes two 300 foot hotel towers- phase two about to get underway
http://chkvl.files.wordpress.com/201...use-casino.jpg

Wynn Casino Philadelphia- 300 ft- proposed
http://www.phillymag.com/realestate/...-rendering.jpg

38th and Chestnut- 25 floors- 278 ft- approved- construction to begin summer
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...78545148_n.jpg

1919 Market- 30 floors- proposed
New rendering for 1919 Market Street surfaces | Philadelphia Real Estate Blog

1901 Arch Office Tower- 27 flrs- 370 ft- proposed
Liberty eyes new tower - Philadelphia Business Journal

Renaissance Plaza- two 426 foot towers- two 227 foot towers- proposed- likely to get cut down
http://gingert.net/images/philadelph...issance-03.jpg

Broad Street Armory apartments- 6 floors- construction
Redirect Notice

College House at Hill Square- 8 floors- approved
Redirect Notice

William's Way LGBT Senior Residences- 6 floors- construction
Redirect Notice

Hub 3939- 8 floors- approved
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K...b%25203939.jpg

Wistar Fox Tower- 8 floors- construction
Redirect Notice

Broad and Spring Garden- 14 floors- proposed
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S...2520Garden.jpg

Tower Place phase II- 18 floor tower- 2 floor retail complex- approved
Redirect Notice

Waterview Grand at Penn Treaty Villege- two 8 floors- construction
Redirect Notice

Canal Street North entertainment complex- approved
Redirect Notice

2021 Chestnut- 12 floors- approved- construction to begin anyday
Redirect Notice

Philadelphia Mormon Temple- site prep
Redirect Notice

Hilton Home2Suites- 8 floors- construction
Redirect Notice

Goldtex- 11 floors- construction
Redirect Notice

The Sansom- 9 floors- nearly complete
http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.c...3/photo-36.jpg

Southstar Lofts- 8 floors- site prep
http://www.southstarlofts.com/holder/img/home1.jpg

1601 Vine- 27 floors- proposed
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dG1269YceI...00/loganLg.jpg

Girard Square redevelopment- 500+ ft tower- 400+ ft tower- 250+ ft tower- proposed- may actually get underway soon
http://www.pbase.com/phillytrax/image/130780821.jpg

15th and Walnut retail complex- approved
http://www.phillymag.com/realestate/...08-630x298.png

The Granary- 9 floors- construction
http://buildingphilly.com/wp-content...215-160358.jpg

Xfinity Live! expansion- approved
http://z.about.com/d/philadelphia/1/..._live_001a.jpg

Cira II- 600+ ft office tower- proposed
http://philadelphiaheights.files.wor...3/img_1167.jpg

Drexel development plan
http://drexelmasterplan.files.wordpr...pg?w=640&h=344
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gBtLzfiZyV...ion+drexel.jpg
http://drexelmasterplan.files.wordpr...pg?w=640&h=324

Navy Yard development plan- about 7 buildings complete- 2 under construction
http://www.navyyard.org/master-plan-...mages/0001.jpg

Waterfront development plan
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tgrR2wvRem...Picture+14.png
http://blog.thesomersteam.com/wp-con...ding_After.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nXeJU89D7q.../Picture+8.png
http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/...elaware_01.jpg


...and that's not everything. Nor is that including all of the lowrise projects which would be insane to list because there is several hundred of them.

That is just city limits... not including any other cities in the metro or any suburban development.

[Trafalgar Law]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Nice Boston update.

Did I hear SF has 10-15 30 + story towers coming ? Nice. I think realistically Philly may get 1/2 dozen or so of those in the next 5- 10 years. 2 of them currently underway.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5214/...cc820573_z.jpg



http://www.city-data.com/forum/attac...re-thread-.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/72solz.jpg

I'm not the world's biggest fan of Philadelphia or it's skyline but that first and third picture are nothing short of amazing.

In the future, I hope to see more towers like Comcast Center go up in Philadelphia, I really like that building and the two Liberty's but the rest, ehh. To keep it 100 though, out of the three cities in this thread, I definitely do prefer the Philadelphia skyline over the other two, albeit for it's size and location the Boston one is pretty rad, especially from street level. The San Francisco skyline I just hate with a passion (I like the city though), ugliest skyline I've ever seen in person. Driving into the city, some of the buildings, cough Trans-America cough look like concrete super jail towers, so grey(ish) looking, so ugly, in my opinion.

That Transbay Tower is like a chick's vibrator on steroids. Looks awful. However the San Franciscans can rejoice, there is hope on the way when and if that 50 First Street Tower gets started, in my opinion.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by Code Lyoko

I'm not the world's biggest fan of Philadelphia or it's skyline but that first and third picture are nothing short of amazing.

In the future, I hope to see more towers like Comcast Center go up in Philadelphia, I really like that building and the two Liberty's but the rest, ehh. To keep it 100 though, out of the three cities in this thread, I definitely do prefer the Philadelphia skyline over the other two, albeit for it's size and location the Boston one is pretty rad, especially from street level. The San Francisco skyline I just hate with a passion, ugliest skyline I've ever seen in person. Driving into the city some of the buildings, cough Trans-America cough look like concrete super jail towers.

That Transbay Tower is like a chick's vibrator on steroids. Looks awful.

It's also important to take into account that Philly didn't really have a skyline until 1987. It's truly remarkable how the city was able to catch up in such a short period of time and compete with the skylines of other cities.