Philadelphia 2035 (Washington, Sandy, Penn: renters, job market, neighborhoods)

[cpomp]

Grain — of the fermented sort — is returning to historic Philly granary building, along with apartments

And a new Wine and Spirits Store.

https://www.philly.com/real-estate/c...fJYm19Urz6TlcI

[Pennsport]

Karen,
Music to your ears.

https://www.philly.com/news/city-cou...-20190409.html

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Grain — of the fermented sort — is returning to historic Philly granary building, along with apartments

And a new Wine and Spirits Store.

https://www.philly.com/real-estate/c...fJYm19Urz6TlcI

This is cool!

There was an architectural company( I can't remember the name of it!) that was on the ground floor of it back in the 90s. They've since moved to 1500 Spring Garden.

And the top floors were someone's residence in 80s. So, nice to see this.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Pennsport

Karen,
Music to your ears.

https://www.philly.com/news/city-cou...-20190409.html

Yes, I saw that! Hooray!

It's a beginning. Next up, dislodge one or two council people from their districts eventually.

[thedirtypirate]

https://www.philly.com/real-estate/c...-20190411.html

Developer Eric Blumenfeld is aiming to break ground in July on a 30-story North Broad Street tower with offices, apartments and a fitness club that he hopes to cap with digital screens featuring animated versions of the famous mural next door.


Blumenfeld said Wednesday that he was close to finalizing a deal with investors in the $160 million project who will be taking advantage of the Broad and Spring Garden Street site’s location in an “opportunity zone” under the 2017 tax bill.

Now we need Dranoff to come through with the tower at Broad and Washington. With the projects he has already completed, Eric Blumenfeld has achieved the unachievable. This tower will be more than most could ever dreamed of for that area.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

OK, gotcha. See my comment upthread about SEPTA running service outside its service area. If there is no public transit agency serving Pottsville, either the borough or Schuylkill County would probably have to buy into the project.




Since the breakup of the Penn Central and the creation of Conrail put local intraregional rail service in the hands of the various metropolitan transit authorities, unless SEPTA and New Jersey Transit reach some sort of agreement to operate through local service, you will be changing trains at Trenton for as far in the future as any of us might be able to see. kidphilly, please copy. Especially because, the way transit service is divvied up now, New Jersey Transit trains could not legally pick up passengers traveling between points in Pennsylvania, nor SEPTA trains pick up passengers traveling between points in New Jersey. Which would mean that absent a joint operating agreement, NJT NEC trains would run express from Trenton to 30th Street. SEPTA trains would have the added burden of having to negotiate access into New York Penn Station, which the New York MTA controls for purposes of intraregional commuter service, unless they terminated their runs at either Newark or Secaucus Transfer.



Given that a round trip from end of wire to end of route in just about all cases (Pottsville a possible exception) would be less than 186 miles, it's conceivable that battery EMUs could work to extend service back to non-electrified territory. And now that the FRA no longer requires that passenger rail coaches on mainline railroads be built like tanks, they could be practical too.



Why do you think Pottstown wants service to return?

I think you have a point here, but that would require regional thinking of a sort we've only just barely mastered within the one region of Greater Philadelphia.

In regards to battery electric locomotives, Scotland’s about to get some (Japan already has them): https://www.scotsman.com/news/transp...land-1-4894957

These are still pretty early generation, but they’re likely to quickly improve as battery energy density is set to increase quite a bit in the coming years and the price point for that density is being brought lower while fast charging technology has greatly advanced.

The idea would be that these trains can still draw power on electrified lines, but upon reaching unelectrified territory, they switch to battery power. At stations outside the electrified routes, the trains can recharge a bit each time and then recharge more at their terminus. This means that the start up costs of creating new or extended service can be a lot lower as they wouldn’t need to electrify the full segment (and can enter the commuter tunnel) and the trains have more power backup to boot in case anything happens even on the electrified segments. It takes a while for the political process to do any infrastructure to start up, so starting to get the ball rolling now makes a lot of sense.

[thedirtypirate]

State of the city 2019- Pew Trusts



Always an interesting read.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

https://www.philly.com/real-estate/c...-20190411.html








Now we need Dranoff to come through with the tower at Broad and Washington. With the projects he has already completed, Eric Blumenfeld has achieved the unachievable. This tower will be more than most could ever dreamed of for that area.

Stable Lofts, which is about a block away, opened about a month ago.

Anyhow Parkway still has not done a thing with their supposedly plans to develop their parking lot directly across Broad St from this.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

https://www.philly.com/real-estate/c...-20190411.html


Now we need Dranoff to come through with the tower at Broad and Washington. With the projects he has already completed, Eric Blumenfeld has achieved the unachievable. This tower will be more than most could ever dreamed of for that area.

LOVE this project. I really hope it goes through as planned. I posted in a FB group that I can't wait for the day when its a seamless stretch of buildings and activity from Temple all the way to Washington Ave.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

State of the city 2019- Pew Trusts



Always an interesting read.

Alarming points...

1. The poverty rate is the most startling point...

2. And the commuting patterns are not impressive for the city. The only counties that have a much higher flow of commuters into the city are Delaware County SJ counties. Montgomery actually has a higher reverse commute.

3. The homicide charts are not pretty to look at...

4. The city has a major drug problem

Some positives...

1. The public schools are making improvements at a very small level, but its a start.

2. Residents with a Bachelors degree are rising.

3. Home prices rising / a strong housing market (I see this as a good thing).

4. Unemployment is falling and the economy is stable (though not stellar).

5. Modest decline in other crime (non-homicide).

6. The cultural institutions stats I need to read up on more.

I would say the focus of Philadelphia leaders should be the economy and specifically poverty. Fighting crime, drugs, lack of affordability does nothing to address the economy and poverty, nor has anything been done to really combat those efforts, so why not focus on what is actually holding Philadelphians back?

Thats my 2 cents