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Yes, it's a good topic as it'll be pretty awesome if implemented.
Supposedly the Manayunk/Norristown line also stops in North Broad, so the combined service of the two would mean that's pretty good frequency and that's alongside the North Philadelphia station. I'd certainly want to, if possible, gradually move the North Broad station up the tracks a bit and make an even shorter direct in-system transfer possible between North Broad and North Philadelphia train stations along with the BSL subway station, but it's fine if that's a gradual process as just moving the current Regional Rail lines that do stop there to S-Bahn like service frequencies would mean this area would be the most transit rich areas outside of Center City and University City.
Just a note on the physical configuration of the three stations:
North Philadelphia subway station has entrances just north of Broad and Lehigh and just south of Broad and Glenwood.
The two RRD/intercity stations sit a short distance away from each entrance (North Broad across Lehigh to the south and North Philadelphia across Glenwood to the north). At least in theory, it should be possible to extend the mezzanine north and south to provide direct connections to each station.
Whether SEPTA would want to do this given current concerns over safety and homelessness in the subway concourses is another matter entirely. The South Broad Street concourse has been completely fenced off between City Hall and Walnut-Locust stations, the passageways under the southern half of Center Square are likewise closed, and SEPTA has also closed off the connections to the PATCO Locust Street concourse, where the stations at 12th-13th and 15th-16th and Locust have become homeless shelters. The agency has managed to keep the sections of the concourse that remain open clear of sleeping bums, and I guess they don't want to backslide on that achievement.
And I'm pretty sure it does not want to reopen the North Philadelphia station mezzanine at all (it's been walled off at either end for years).
Philadelphia seems pretty booming to me. Folks already mentioned neighborhoods like fishtown/nolibs, francisville and center city. It also seems like nw Philly is seeing a good deal of development too, in manayunk, east falls mt airy and Germantown. South philly was already dense, but it is getting a lot of renovations it seems and any vacant lots that were left are getting filled.
Regarding Baltimore, I go there periodically for work and am always confused at how the city has such great bones but still seems to struggle to get out of its rut. Maybe I'm not getting an accurate picture, but even places like fells point seem too quiet for what it is, and places like mount Vernon seems like it should be crawling with people. And the downtown is just screaming for someone with deep pockets to reinvigorate it. It really is a cool city with lots of great architecture. During the day it seems pretty quiet and at night it's a ghost town.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheProf
- SEPTA itself, a month or so ago, suddenly and unexpectedly pulled the plug on their much-planned, much-anticipated King of Prussia extension of the Norristown High-Speed Line due to rising costs. While no rapid transit extension is cheap -- esp a completely grade-separated project as this one (all elevated). But with approx 3 miles and 4 stations, this one is on the cheaper end of such expansions.
Just wanted to say that although I am usually a big fan of rail expansion, i think the kop spur would have been a disaster, with the caveat of my having no experience in planning or transit. It was estimated at 3 billion dollars right before it was scrapped and had a fairly low projected ridership when compared to other plans like the blvd subway. KOP has a wealth of parking lots and highways and a pittance of pedestrian amenities, even basic ones like sidewalks. It just didn't seem like a good idea. Norristown or Conshy next door fit the bill for TOD, and they both already have train service.
On the bright side, SEPTA released their 10 year capital plan this week and much of the funding that would have gone to kop rail will go to much needed projects like the reimagine regional rail project to run more like a metro already mentioned, as well as the trolley modernization project to convert our trolley to more of a light rail like the Toronto streetcar. The el is finally getting new cars as well. https://planning.septa.org/wp-conten...m-Proposal.pdf
KOP I'm sure will get their transit in the form of a train station served by amtrak as part of the proposed line to Reading, and I wouldn't be surprised if SEPTA also extended the regional rail line from Norristown and on to Phoenixville or further. Coupled with shuttle bus service to the various office parks that sprawl all over the place would serve it pretty well.
Last edited by skintreesnail; 04-13-2023 at 08:58 PM..
The U District's numbers in Seattle get even better. The majority of those 3,700 "units" are actually cluster of 3-4 student bedrooms rented separately. Including the regular units, I'd guess it's really at least double the 3,600. The first five new towers total about 3,000 beds, all recently completed or topped out. Probably 500 regular apartments have also opened in the past year.
The District included Seattle's densest census tract in 2020, at over 124,000 per square mile.
Also three office buildings are under construction, iirc at 9, 11, and 12 stories.
Several other towers could start this year, but it remains to be seen whether they will in today's atrocious cost environment. They're mostly housing. One more, a developer-built lab with the UW leasing a big chunk, could start this spring but the losing developer is litigating their loss.
None of that counts the also-booming U Village area at the bottom of the hill to the east, or the core campus itself.
DC released their annual development report today. The sustained residential new construction happening in DC proper within 61.4 sq. miles for the last 6 years has been absolutely staggering.
DC Proper 61.4 sq. Miles
New Unit Delivery 2017: 7,035 units
New Unit Delivery 2018: 6,147 units
New Unit Delivery 2019: 6,044 units
New Unit Delivery 2020: 9,548 units
New Unit Delivery 2021: 6,444 units
New Unit Delivery 2022: 6,749 units
New Unit Delivery 2023: 7,744 units (Projected)
New Unit Delivery 2024: 7,012 units (Projected)
I think when people talk about booming, it’s one thing to say a city is booming, but it’s a completely different thing to sustain that boom.
Had a chance to dive into this report. This is a real world case study on the impact housing production has on affordability and supply and demand. DC is putting on a clinic for the rest of the nation for how to make (or keep) a city affordable. Cities need to be as pro growth as possible and build as much housing as possible. It’s really that simple.
”In a ranking of 35 of the largest major cities in the United States by apartment affordability (based on income and rent data from ESRI and RentCafe, respectively), the District places 27th, below Portland, Oregon, and above Richmond, Virginia. Generally, Midwestern cities that have historically struggled with population loss tend to be the most affordable, followed by rapidly growing cities in the Sunbelt/South, with major cities on the West Coast and Northeast ranking as the least affordable. Accordingly, New York is the least affordable city for apartment renters in the nation, while Detroit is the most affordable.
The cities that have been most competitive with the District, and other pricey Northeastern markets, for renter households (particularly young professionals), are Southeastern markets such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Nashville. Other markets further west, including Denver and multiple cities in Texas, also compete with the District for renters but tend to draw more new residents from California than elsewhere.
It is worth noting that the affordability advantage of many Southern cities is steadily shrinking as rents grow at a blistering pace and outpace income growth by two-to-one in some instances.
In fact, at the current annual rent and income growth rate, the District will match Atlanta in apartment affordability by 2027, Dallas by 2029, and Charlotte and Austin (whose already high rents have been offset by a relatively high median income) by 2032.”
Had a chance to dive into this report. This is a real world case study on the impact housing production has on affordability and supply and demand. DC is putting on a clinic for the rest of the nation for how to make (or keep) a city affordable. Cities need to be as pro growth as possible and build as much housing as possible. It’s really that simple.
”In a ranking of 35 of the largest major cities in the United States by apartment affordability (based on income and rent data from ESRI and RentCafe, respectively), the District places 27th, below Portland, Oregon, and above Richmond, Virginia. Generally, Midwestern cities that have historically struggled with population loss tend to be the most affordable, followed by rapidly growing cities in the Sunbelt/South, with major cities on the West Coast and Northeast ranking as the least affordable. Accordingly, New York is the least affordable city for apartment renters in the nation, while Detroit is the most affordable.
The cities that have been most competitive with the District, and other pricey Northeastern markets, for renter households (particularly young professionals), are Southeastern markets such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Nashville. Other markets further west, including Denver and multiple cities in Texas, also compete with the District for renters but tend to draw more new residents from California than elsewhere.
It is worth noting that the affordability advantage of many Southern cities is steadily shrinking as rents grow at a blistering pace and outpace income growth by two-to-one in some instances.
In fact, at the current annual rent and income growth rate, the District will match Atlanta in apartment affordability by 2027, Dallas by 2029, and Charlotte and Austin (whose already high rents have been offset by a relatively high median income) by 2032.”
From DC, currently living in Boston and was just having a conversation with a coworker about this the other day. They had come across a stat somewhere that had DC and Boston with similar rents maybe ten years ago. Something like $1600 average in both. Since then DC is still at like $1700 and Boston is well over 2k. I was explaining to him just how much new housing gets built in DC and that has to be why. Even more shocking to hear from friends in the Richmond area that rents there are actually starting to creep up to NOVA/DC levels. There was a time when rents in DC would be double that of Richmond.
Agreed 100%. I actually did my urban studies capstone on Baltimore and that very issue you raised. The idea that those adjacent new downtowns will take away from the center of the city whereas the center should be the first on the agenda. 10-15 years ago when I did my paper Legg Mason had moved from Harbor East.
But I noticed a newish skyscraper right on the harbor so Bmore is going in the right direction post 2015. The problem with its downtown if we’re being honest, with some, is the proximity of poor Baltimore to the downtown. The (appeal) of these adjacent downtowns is that the poorer would have more difficulty reaching it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joakim3
I mean it's been "supporting" multiple CBD's for a while now. Harbor East/Point are obviously doing fine, and Hopkin's campus is obviously self-explanatory. Baltimore Peninsula took the Harbor Point/East blueprints and put them on steroids.
Baltimore's CBD is significantly bigger than Detroit's. DT Detroit employees ~92k were as Baltimore's employees ~125k and that's before we touch on population differences.
Baltimore has a lot of cooperations/agencies, just very little HQ's.
You have some money going there like the Arena renovation and especially Lexington Market renovation, but then overall even the residential conversion are not reaching full potential for the reason that had been pointed out many times - crime and lack of amenities.
And even for Lexington Market basically you have people driving there, run into the market, then run out back into their car quick b/c the surrounding areas IS truly scary.
You have some money going there like the Arena renovation and especially Lexington Market renovation, but then overall even the residential conversion are not reaching full potential for the reason that had been pointed out many times - crime and lack of amenities.
And even for Lexington Market basically you have people driving there, run into the market, then run out back into their car quick b/c the surrounding areas IS truly scary.
Is it "scary" compared to Fells Point or Canton Crossing, sure but let's not pretend the area around Lexington Market is Park Heights.
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