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well, the ACC is still on hold, so i don't want to jinx it. also, i've heard rumors that they may scale down the height a little
one thing that Philly and SF share is unyielding NIMBYs (not in my backyard's) who impede growth of any kind. i know the economy is doing a pretty good job limiting construction itself, but those annoying blue hairs don't help. they need to move to the country if they can't handle tall buildings blocking their precious sun
i gotta say i'm envious of Houston for having such lax zoning restrictions...
philly is the third best skyline in the U.S. and dont think we dont know that half of S.F. density is due to those hills. When the american commerce center, mandeville place, cira centre two and all the hirise condos and hotels on our new casino strip are built philly will be by far the most dynamic destination spot in the U.s. outside of n.y, Think a cross between chicago and las vegas.
I'm from San Francisco and have been to Philadelphia. Philly tends to have taller buildings- but that's it. It in no other way compares to SF's skyline. SF has a larger skyline, is denser, and the scenery that the skyline is built on make this a silly comparison.
As someone who's lived in both regions, what fascinates me about this discussion is that I don't think of either Philadelphia or San Francisco as highrise cities. I think of New York, Chicago, Miami, Honolulu, Toronto, and Vancouver as the North American highrise cities.
Philly seems to me to be defined by the rowhouse fabric, San Francisco by Victorian houses and low rise (4-6 story) apartments. Somebody said nothing's been built in San Francisco in decades, actually there's only been a bit of highrise construction, but a ton of low-medium (up to about 10 stories) scale developement. It's often said that it's impossible to build buildings between 6 and 10 stories, because wood frame is no longer legal and steel frame is too expensive. But with the strength of the San Francisco market--high prices and rents--those buildings get built. But I've always loved Center City Philly, especially west of Broad St., it seems like a really good urban district to me.
Photo 8536 is interesting because it shows how the Downtown core quickly drops away to a much lower scale area. Some may think that's a good thing, others not. Is that the area south of Center City that we're seeing there?
Philly just passed the first overhaul of its Zoning Ordinance in something like 50 years. Has that helped facilitate positive development yet?
Nice shots pwright. From that angle, the cities look nearly the same as far as density and height. I know Philly has taller buildings and more highrises, and San Fran has more skyscrapers, but from that angle in the air, the difference appear rather moot.They both have a dramatic drop off as you leave the CBD with some high rises scatter shot throughout the area.
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philly skyline
