Philadelphia 2035 (Washington: normal, credit, how much)

[cpomp]

https://philly.curbed.com/2017/11/8/...ew-market-west

Updates on 3 large projects.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Duderino

Blatstein is also all over the place. First it's a rooftop shopping district (I think he termed it a "European village") on top of a massive casino (would have been awful for that neighborhood), then it's a rooftop shopping district on an apartment building on Broad. Aside from rooftop retail being an awful idea (and in the way he was proposing, very tacky), these projects, including the super Wawa, have no rhyme or reason.

The man needs to focus, and hire some professional but realistic urban designers while he's at it.

He had a very nice vision for how to rehab/re-purpose the old State Bldg and the area immediately behind it at 15th and Spring Garden. That was only partially completed, resold it to someone else and now it's a kind of eyesore. Why? The current owner has done absolutely nothing to fix or replace the awful looking faux grass, block long fence, facing Spring Garden St.

And, casino plan for the old Inquirer Bldg? Thank goodness that failed.

[MarketStEl]

One thing you should know about Blatstein is that before he scored a couple of critical hits (commercial ones, less so) with Liberties Walk and the Piazza at Schmidt's (now Schmidt's Commons), he had built mainly strip malls. The one on Columbus Boulevard at Washington Avenue is one of his.

My thinking on what's happened of late:

--Having already invested so much into that rooftop shopping village in The Provence, he decided to carry it over to his Broad and Washington project. I remember being told at one of the meetings he held to explain the project to the Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition that one problem with the site is that there's contaminated soil underneath it, which would mean cleanup if he dug down for the parking garage (which some residents said was too small as it was). Hence the huge full-block podium, which a bunch of people hated too. The rooftop shopping may be an effort to compensate for the inability to dig down without spending a ton of money on cleanup.

--The Super Wawa was reverting to form. It's totally incompatible with the DRWC's vision for the Delaware riverfront.

[cpomp]

Work Officially Begins on Schuylkill Yards - Philadelphia Magazine

Written by Sandy (MarketStEl). I am excited this is finally beginning.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

One thing you should know about Blatstein is that before he scored a couple of critical hits (commercial ones, less so) with Liberties Walk and the Piazza at Schmidt's (now Schmidt's Commons), he had built mainly strip malls. The one on Columbus Boulevard at Washington Avenue is one of his.

My thinking on what's happened of late:

--Having already invested so much into that rooftop shopping village in The Provence, he decided to carry it over to his Broad and Washington project. I remember being told at one of the meetings he held to explain the project to the Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition that one problem with the site is that there's contaminated soil underneath it, which would mean cleanup if he dug down for the parking garage (which some residents said was too small as it was). Hence the huge full-block podium, which a bunch of people hated too. The rooftop shopping may be an effort to compensate for the inability to dig down without spending a ton of money on cleanup.

--The Super Wawa was reverting to form. It's totally incompatible with the DRWC's vision for the Delaware riverfront.

There were evidently similar , ground-level, environmental problems at the Piazza Schmidt's site and, obviously, he had enough resources then, or available to him, to fix whatever those problems were.

I agree. It looks like he tried to import the Provence idea south.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by kyb01

There were evidently similar , ground-level, environmental problems at the Piazza Schmidt's site and, obviously, he had enough resources then, or available to him, to fix whatever those problems were.

I agree. It looks like he tried to import the Provence idea south.

The difference with the Schmidt's site is he didn't try to build a parking garage as part of the package from the start.

[Pine to Vine]

Posh private club to open in Aramark’s new HQ: https://philly.curbed.com/2017/11/10...derings-photos

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

Posh private club to open in Aramark’s new HQ: https://philly.curbed.com/2017/11/10...derings-photos

This will be a spinoff of the popular Soho House clubs you find in New York, Miami, Chicago, etc.

I personally think this is a great asset to have in luring successful young people to Philadelphia. The Soho House in New York is wildly popular. This is also proof of the growing professional population in Philadelphia.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by cpomp

This will be a spinoff of the popular Soho House clubs you find in New York, Miami, Chicago, etc.

I personally think this is a great asset to have in luring successful young people to Philadelphia. The Soho House in New York is wildly popular. This is also proof of the growing professional population in Philadelphia.

It’s really amazing to see just how much the offerings in the city have grown in the nearly 7 years I’ve lived here. I can only imagine how long-timers must feel. I just hope the city is able to generate the jobs it needs to fill the capacity. And . . . the city can make significant progress in the schools now that we’ve taken back ownership.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

It’s really amazing to see just how much the offerings in the city have grown in the nearly 7 years I’ve lived here. I can only imagine how long-timers must feel. I just hope the city is able to generate the jobs it needs to fill the capacity. And . . . the city can make significant progress in the schools now that we’ve taken back ownership.

Well a lot of the comments from the press/ blogs I read were old negative people, but a lot of those comments were silenced by fresher and more optimistic opinions.