Wall Street Journal: Glass Mostly Full in Center City This Season

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Radicals, natch, beat up on it as a means of regulating or suppressing the marginalized, but it sure seems to me now that clamping down on those little violations of social order can make a big difference, even if those doing the violating are doing nothing worse than lighting up spliffs on trains.

There needs to be some semblance of authority, I agree. I think for myself overall, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed more progress wasn't made in the last decade in terms of taking care of the little things around the city. I just have no confidence our city government is at all capable of implementing the type of change needed. Who ever the next mayor is, has got to flip the streets dept and septa on it's head somehow.

[Muinteoir]

It's cool to see the WSJ give us a little shoutout, even if they are an unimaginative MSM newspaper. It's great to hear how we in fact are outpacing many city's downtowns. Even as remote work hemorrhages many cores, for those who haven't given up on urbanism, Philadelphia has a lot of appeal.

Until this past Monday, I don't think I'd been to Center City during the daytime since about October. I was happy to see all of the activity in Rittenhouse, and all of the active shopping going on before 5 PM on a Monday. The biggest standout to me is the still-vacant storefront on the 1700 Block of Walnut St. That's prime real estate, and I wonder when it will fill.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

It's cool to see the WSJ give us a little shoutout, even if they are an unimaginative MSM newspaper. It's great to hear how we in fact are outpacing many city's downtowns. Even as remote work hemorrhages many cores, for those who haven't given up on urbanism, Philadelphia has a lot of appeal.

Until this past Monday, I don't think I'd been to Center City during the daytime since about October. I was happy to see all of the activity in Rittenhouse, and all of the active shopping going on before 5 PM on a Monday. The biggest standout to me is the still-vacant storefront on the 1700 Block of Walnut St. That's prime real estate, and I wonder when it will fill.

Paul Levy brought up that hole in his quarterly rundown on how Center City was doing at yesterday's Central Philadelphia Development Corporation membership meeting.

He was making points about crime and safety mainly. And one of the quotes he trotted out was: "When it comes to crime and safety, perception is reality. But perception is not always grounded in reality."

Like shootings elsewhere loom large in some city residents' heads, so that hole sends a message that things are worse than they are to meny.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Paul Levy brought up that hole in his quarterly rundown on how Center City was doing at yesterday's Central Philadelphia Development Corporation membership meeting.

He was making points about crime and safety mainly. And one of the quotes he trotted out was: "When it comes to crime and safety, perception is reality. But perception is not always grounded in reality."

Like shootings elsewhere loom large in some city residents' heads, so that hole sends a message that things are worse than they are to meny.

Did he mention any plans for the site? Still in limbo I assume?

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Did he mention any plans for the site? Still in limbo I assume?

No talk of plans at all. Haven't heard of any either.

But to put this in some perspective, One Meridian Plaza (nee Three Girard Plaza) stood partly wrapped in plywood for something like two or three years before it finally got torn down and replaced with the Residences at the Ritz. There are often multiple parties involved in cleaning up the legal mess after a major fire, and they spend some time wrangling over who gets compensated for what and what should happen next.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

No talk of plans at all. Haven't heard of any either.

But to put this in some perspective, One Meridian Plaza (nee Three Girard Plaza) stood partly wrapped in plywood for something like two or three years before it finally got torn down and replaced with the Residences at the Ritz. There are often multiple parties involved in cleaning up the legal mess after a major fire, and they spend some time wrangling over who gets compensated for what and what should happen next.

A shame the city, Rittenhouse District, owners, etc. can't at least erect a high decorative fence that says "Big Changes Coming Soon" or "Excuse Our Appearance".
It's literally a burned out hole in the middle of Philadelphia's high retail street...