Philadelphia 2035 (Pittsburgh, York, King of Prussia: technology jobs, real estate, lease)

[AshbyQuin]

Originally Posted by cpomp

I've seen the plans for the planned soccer fields and it appears as a positive for the park and area. It provides permanent recreation sites and new bathrooms and concessions. Is the plan to really destroy all the wetlands?

Report indicates only 8% of the park will be used, lol.


https://www.phila.gov/2022-06-16-the...-philadelphia/


Nobody will miss the “protected wildlife” except NIMBY’s who frequent the park.

[cpomp]

NY company billed as 'the world's insight network' to open 250-person Philadelphia office

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ia-office.html

Financial and information services firm GLG is opening its third major U.S. office in Philadelphia at the Bourse building.
The company is investing $2.5 million in the office project, and also received $250,000 from the state in the form of a Pennsylvania First grant. GLG has opened a temporary office space in the Bourse already, but the permanent space will occupy 15,718 square feet in the historic office building at 111 S. Independence Mall East in Old City.

Over the next three years, GLG expects the Old City office to house 250 employees. GLG also has the ability to double its office footprint in the city to accommodate future growth, a spokesperson said.

CEO Paul Todd said that the Philadelphia region's colleges and universities were a major draw for the firm in choosing the location for its next major office.
"Philadelphia is close to many of our clients and many of the world’s leading educational institutions," Todd said in a statement. "The smart and diverse talent pool available to us here will help us meet the increasing demand for our services."

The Bourse building is located across from Independence Hall. It underwent a $22.5 million renovation to turn its ground floor into a food hall and retail destination. The floors above house coworking spaces and offices, including tech startup Piano, which has its headquarters in the building.

[cpomp]

Some good business news.

Century Therapeutics nearly tripling planned space at One uCity Square

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...Pos=1#cxrecs_s

Century Therapeutics Inc. has expanded the amount of space it will occupy at One uCity Square to 90,000 square feet.
The fast-growing company initially signed in 2020 to take a single floor totaling 32,500 square feet in the building in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia. Century will now occupy space across the top three floors of the 13-story building that is under construction.

The $280 million, 400,000-square-foot One uCity is being developed in partnership among the University City Science Center, Wexford Science & Technology and Ventas Inc. With the Century expansion, the building is 45% leased.
“Century is a great example of a company that came into Philadelphia, saw the benefits of coming to Philadelphia and has grown here,” said John Grady, senior vice president at Wexford. “It continues to validate uCity Square as a place where companies can grow.”

The Wexford development team is expected to break ground this fall on another life sciences nearby building that will total around 200,000 square feet.

[Flyers Girl]

Originally Posted by AshbyQuin

Report indicates only 8% of the park will be used, lol.

https://www.phila.gov/2022-06-16-the...-philadelphia/

Nobody will miss the “protected wildlife” except NIMBY’s who frequent the park.

I don't live in the city and I'm not a NIMBY, but this upsets me. Based on the article, I assume that the 12-fields plan has nothing to do with the World Cup, it was already in the works. However, there is an abundance of wildlife in FDR Park that will be displaced by this project. Additionally, walking through that park, especially early in the morning, makes you forget you're in the middle of a major city. It's so peaceful and a real asset to the city. Why not bolster marketing/advertising for the park rather than doing this?

[cpomp]

More good news!


Demo Starts for Newest Addition to Schuylkill Yards in University City

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...niversity-city

[JamesJay64]

Originally Posted by cpomp

More good news!


Demo Starts for Newest Addition to Schuylkill Yards in University City

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...niversity-city

Are they still building a supertall at some point?

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by JamesJay64

Are they still building a supertall at some point?

No clue, but likely not. I think that plan was conceptual.

I hope the red blocky skyscraper (~500+ft) gets built, next to 3025 JFK. The demand is certainly there, Brandywine is approaching this plan very conservatively.

[cpomp]

Big news.

Bill cutting Pennsylvania's corporate net income tax heads to governor

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...a-cni-tax.html

Pennsylvania legislators on Thursday approved a bill cutting the state’s corporate net income tax rate from 9.99%— second highest in the nation — to 8.99% as of Jan. 1 and designed to phase down eventually to 4.99%.

Wolf has vowed to lower the CNI tax since first taking office in 2015. In February, he unveiled a $43.7 billion budget calling for immediately reducing the corporate net income tax rate from 9.99% to 7.99%, with a path to 4.99% as quickly as possible to make Pennsylvania more competitive and expand the tax base to level the playing field for all businesses.

News of the progress in Harrisburg was greeted enthusiastically. Susan Jacobson, the chair of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, said via email that the combination of Philadelphia's reduction of the wage and Business Income and Receipts Taxes (BIRT), along with the state's corporate net income tax reductions "will bring real benefits to Philadelphia job creators and workers."

[cpomp]

O boy, this is gonna turn into a big fight...

Protesters at University City Townhomes say they will camp out for as long as they need to in solidarity with displaced residents

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philad...-20220711.html

An encampment has taken root at the University City Townhomes, a show of solidarity with the West Philadelphia residents facing displacement after the sale and redevelopment of the property.

Around a dozen tents set up on the lawn of the Townhomes, the site of ongoing protests since the announcement of the planned sale and demolition of the 2.7 acre affordable housing complex at 40th and Market streets. As many as 69 primarily Black and Hispanic families are set to be displaced.

Many of the families have lived there for decades, protesters said Monday morning.
On Saturday, residents invited supporters to set up the encampment, at the tail-end of a daylong rally and party. Tenants and supporters said the encampment would stay on the lawn as long as the fight would continue.

“This is residents saying: This ends here. This ends now. This is where we rise up,” said Melvin Hairston, who has lived at University City Townhomes for 28 years.

The University of Pennsylvania, the rumored buyers of the property, was still formulating a response to the encampment, according to a university official

On Monday morning, chants of “Housing is a human right” rang out steps away from the 40th Street trolley station, with supporters donning T-shirts emblazoned with “Save the UC Townhomes.” Protesters draped a new sign over the University City Townhomes sign that read “The People’s Townhomes.”

Last year, IBID Associates, the family partnership that owns the townhomes, announced plans to end its federal affordable housing contract and sell the property to developers. Originally, tenants of the 69 units had until July 8 to move out, but residents now have until Sept. 7 to leave to accommodate the arrival of federal housing vouchers for displaced tenants.

Several residents on Monday told The Inquirer that IBID has not met with them, sending an intermediary to meetings instead. A spokesperson for IBID said Monday that the owners had been providing tenants with relocation services since last July.

“This does not — I believe — have to go this way,” said Sheldon Davids, a resident of the townhomes for 13 years. “This displacement is going to affect too many people. Have too much follow-up effects for us to take it lightly. And this is a phenomenon that’s not just affecting us. It’s affecting people all over the country.”
The townhomes are in the Black Bottom neighborhood, a historically Black neighborhood that has gradually gentrified.

In a statement, the property owners called Monday’s protest and the encampment “ill-advised.”
“The owners of 3900 Market Street are in the process of reviewing the unfortunate and ill-advised decision by a group of protesters to occupy a portion of the premises,” IBID said in a statement. “To be clear, while we respect their right to protest and express their opinions, these individuals are trespassing on private property and have no legal right to assemble on the site or access public utilities there.”

The encampment included people like sisters Jannie and Yolanda Mitchell, who camped out on the townhomes’ lawn in tents, a symbol, Davids said, of insufficient shelter. The sisters know full well the impact of homelessness and what could happen without a safety net. Jannie lived at the homeless encampment stationed outside the Philadelphia Housing Authority, dubbed “Camp Teddy,” in 2020.

“When you start putting people displaced out of homes on the streets, what do you get? Disgruntled individuals walking the community. It becomes a mental health issue. You might have mothers turn to drugs to try to cope. How do you feed your kids if you don’t have shelter? You might turn to crime,” said Yolanda.

“This issue creates 10 different issues that need to be addressed across the board,” she added.
A spokesperson for the city’s Office of Homeless Services said those camping out are “not a homeless encampment — yet.” Often, people who are experiencing homelessness will drift toward protest encampments because they believe the spots will attract food and services that will help them, said Stephanie Sena, a Villanova University professor and expert on homelessness.

She added that several housing activists who were involved in the homeless encampment on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway two years ago appear to be attaching themselves to the West Philadelphia protest.
Residents, along with their supporters, were prepared to camp out and fight as long as they needed to, said Hairston.
“They’re trying to move us out with no place to go,” said Hairston, who lives with and takes of his 68-year-old mother. “Housing inflation is up. People are on fixed incomes. And they’ve been stripping low income, affordable housing from these communities of Philadelphia for well over a half a century.”

Services provided by the property owners included ensuring tenants could secure federal Tenant Protection Vouchers, IBID spokesperson Kevin Feeley said. The vouchers can be used to pay for other affordable housing in Philadelphia and outside of the city, the spokesperson said.

But residents like Davids said the fear is that a shortage of affordable housing means that displaced residents will ultimately have nowhere to go, even with vouchers. What little affordable housing is available is often stymied by many Philadelphia landlords’ reluctance to accept housing vouchers.

And ultimately, many tenants who have raised children and built lives at the townhomes will now potentially have to uproot everything they know to rebuild in a place they’ve never lived before, said Davids.

“Where are we going to send our kids to school?” he said. “Schools have been already closed around the community. People have had to adjust and find alternative places to send their children to. They’re going to have to do that again. Not only are they going to have do that again, but worse: they have to do that again in a community with which they’re unfamiliar.”

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Big news.

Bill cutting Pennsylvania's corporate net income tax heads to governor

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...a-cni-tax.html

Pennsylvania legislators on Thursday approved a bill cutting the state’s corporate net income tax rate from 9.99%— second highest in the nation — to 8.99% as of Jan. 1 and designed to phase down eventually to 4.99%.

Wolf has vowed to lower the CNI tax since first taking office in 2015. In February, he unveiled a $43.7 billion budget calling for immediately reducing the corporate net income tax rate from 9.99% to 7.99%, with a path to 4.99% as quickly as possible to make Pennsylvania more competitive and expand the tax base to level the playing field for all businesses.

News of the progress in Harrisburg was greeted enthusiastically. Susan Jacobson, the chair of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, said via email that the combination of Philadelphia's reduction of the wage and Business Income and Receipts Taxes (BIRT), along with the state's corporate net income tax reductions "will bring real benefits to Philadelphia job creators and workers."

Yes, this is non-sexy type stuff, and might even anger some liberals, but big nonetheless. Should help significantly to make PA a much more attractive place for large corporations to set up shop.