[skyscraper]

This yet unnamed project has gotten zoning approval.
From today's Globest.com:
http://www.globest.com/news/1024_1024/philadelphia/165515-1.html

[SJPhillyBoy]

This will be an amazing addition to the continuation of the skyline down south Broad Street and the continued refinement of the Avenue of the Arts.

[donybrx]

Is this site on the east side or west side of South Broad?

[Swinefeld]

Is this site on the east side or west side of South Broad?

East. It's known as the Cirque du Soleil lot since they perform there each summer.

Plans call for twin towers, which will be between about 30 and 37 stories each
I'm guessing it will be closer to 37 than 30. Don't want to piss off the neighbors...

[TheMeltyMan]

Here is a bigger rendering from the Hawthorne Employment Coalition.

http://www.hecphilly.org/z-broadwash.htm -> has some older renderings of the project.

http://www.hecphilly.org/02-26-07B-Wpcpcsketch.jpg

[blorkishdork]

late 2008 seems rather far away... but they still seem to be in the early stages. I dunno, I just get the feeling this isn't going to happen. Its just they aren't even thinking of breaking ground until then, plus market and blah blah and i dunno, I hope i'm wrong. Plus with the all the varied retail, hotel, both rental and a few condos and offices, it does sound like it should come about because of how varied it is. But i dunno, I just got this feeling. Really hoping i'm wrong.

[UCityPhila]

To me, the towers look like mini-versions of Comcast.

[Plompy Lfeata]

they also look like 1441 cheasnut (i think thats it).
they look good though
by that pic they look grey, itd be awesome if they were green instead of blue, too much blue, and were just getting more
maybe though if its luxury it will be like 10 rit. brick!
does anyone have info on this?

[donybrx]

East. It's known as the Cirque du Soleil lot since they perform there each summer.


I'm guessing it will be closer to 37 than 30. Don't want to piss off the neighbors...

Thank yew Swiney. East side of Broad is good news. Together with Symphony House on the west side, these highrisers greatly improve the south looking vista down Broad St. It will no longer end wth a miles long low-rise clonk! visually from above Lombard. Or something like that....never mind.

[theo van gogh]

Not to pee on anyone's fire here but I'm highly skeptical this project will ever see the light of day. What retailer would want to locate there? - so far from where most of the shoppers are? What hotel would want to be on the edge of CC? How would you attract visitors? I'm assuming any residential component will be very expensive to purchase? Potential buyers would want to buy closer to downtown.

NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN.

[vmx]

anyone knows this "locally based Rimas" Co.? are they serious / financially capable of pulling this project off?

[sciguy0504]

Even though it is somewhat generic, I like the design. The center atrium with the stairs going up to a park on top of the parking garage is really cool.

[sjs2017]

They are doing 1352 lofts i believe. I don't think it has sold very well. This is the same guy that did the sidewalk grab.


anyone knows this "locally based Rimas" Co.? are they serious / financially capable of pulling this project off?

[bryson662001]

Not to pee on anyone's fire here but I'm highly skeptical this project will ever see the light of day. What retailer would want to locate there? - so far from where most of the shoppers are? What hotel would want to be on the edge of CC? How would you attract visitors? I'm assuming any residential component will be very expensive to purchase? Potential buyers would want to buy closer to downtown.

NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN.

You hit the nail on the head. Location, location, location. it SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS. But it would be a nice project if the neighborhood could have supported it. Maybe someday but not in my lifetime.

[phillyscooter]

You hit the nail on the head. Location, location, location. it SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS. But it would be a nice project if the neighborhood could have supported it. Maybe someday but not in my lifetime.

I dunno...that area has seen activity...its not that far from Italian Mkt, and the shops at 11/Wash do well (viet huong pho is yummy)

Unless Target wants to move the store from the old Bradlees site on Snyder (horrible access and frontage except for the sign you wizz by on 95)....but agreed, the area has been slow to develop...the Bella Vista lofts have units with city views under $400M still for sale...

I dont care for the design...too reminiscent of world financial center in Battery Park for some reason...I would prefer offset heights...

But I will take it to have development at a key corner with some transit nearby!

Also
'public' gardens in the sky dont seem to fare well

[bryson662001]

I dunno...that area has seen activity...its not that far from Italian Mkt, and the shops at 11/Wash do well (viet huong pho is yummy)


I am not saying the area won't progress. Somthing like target or Home Depot or Wallmart or other middle class retail would be ideal and successful. But hi-rise residential in these times means high construction costs which means luxury housing which means rich people who won't be drawn to this area IMO. Low rise, economically built residential and retail would be a sure thing. The problem is that this isn't the most profitable for the developer. Dranoff recognised that with his low rise project for the area.

[CondoGuru]

something inventive, unique and perhaps "green" would be a great addition to that block. New construction LEED lofts with a walkable retail court a la "Liberties Walk" would be nice to see down there. But you're right, a luxury highrise buyer ain't goin down there to live. I think the M&G highrise loft planned for Callowhill would be great down there. With an REI, Starbucks, etc...bring some Indie/outdoor flavor down there...the Burberry/Coach crowd certainly won't be drawn there.

[Lecom]

I'd disagree that the location sucks. It's in a still gritty, yet an up-and-coming gentrifying neighborhood, and it's right on Broad Street, which means easy subway access. I'd personally rather live there than at Parkway 22 or even possibly the Murano.

[SJPhillyBoy]

I'd disagree that the location sucks. It's in a still gritty, yet an up-and-coming gentrifying neighborhood, and it's right on Broad Street, which means easy subway access. I'd personally rather live there than at Parkway 22 or even possibly the Murano.

I concur, I think it is in a great location. The next wave of development will make that area really nice. Great access to the Broad Street Subway. On the Ave. of the Arts, close to Bella Vista and South Street. You can even walk to the Southwark projects. :banana:

Here is the rendering from the GlobeSt.com article.

http://www.globest.com/newspics/phi_sbroadandwashingtonavep.jpg

[bucks native]

I concur, I think it is in a great location. The next wave of development will make that area really nice. Great access to the Broad Street Subway. On the Ave. of the Arts, close to Bella Vista and South Street. You can even walk to the Southwark projects. :banana:

Here is the rendering from the GlobeSt.com article.

http://www.globest.com/newspics/phi_sbroadandwashingtonavep.jpg

Looks cool. And its center matches that cool, Greek-looking structure next door. What is it?

And aren't those projects gone?

[Lecom]

Will definitely add grandeur to Broad Street, just as intended.

Any pics/info on the demolished projects by the way?

[SJPhillyBoy]

Looks cool. And its center matches that cool, Greek-looking structure next door. What is it?

And aren't those projects gone?

I beleive that is the High School of the Performing Arts.

The Southwark projects still exist. Two of the three Southwark towers were taken down, but the one they kept was renovated and currently is public housing. The entire project area was cleared out and all new two story max buildings were built.

[christof]

Any updateon this project?

[volguus zildrohar]

I'm very surprised how many people don't know that Greek Revivial building is CAPA. They've been in the building for about a decade now.

I've heard nothing new on the project since before.

[sharkfood]

The location sucks in part due to the very lot on which the building is proposed to be built. It's a huge empty lot and doesn't give the intersection a cozy feeling. The construction of the building will improve things immeasurably, but whether it's enough to offset other disadvantages I don't know.

Personally, I am looking forward to 777 S. Broad St. filling in an important gap in the southern end of the Avenue of the Arts. It's a Dranoff project and Dranoff has a record of actually getting things done. Also, at 5 stories and all rentals, the project seems in tune with the realities of that area and is not overly-ambitious.

[highdensity32]

The developer is still active on this project but it is in the planning stages.

[techchallenge]

"They are doing 1352 lofts i believe. I don't think it has sold very well. This is the same guy that did the sidewalk grab."

Ugh. That makes me sick every time I walk by it. I can't believe you can get away with stealing a public sidewalk.

[Philly-Drew]

" Originally posted by techchallenge
They are doing 1352 lofts i believe. I don't think it has sold very well. This is the same guy that did the sidewalk grab."

Ugh. That makes me sick every time I walk by it. I can't believe you can get away with stealing a public sidewalk.

What are you talking about? Can you provide pictures or more details?

[RayZ]

The "sidewalk grab", was demolished a few months back.

The patio was reduced by a couple of feet and restore to the sidewalk, which is now adequate for ped traffic.

[techchallenge]

Do a google map 'street view' of the southern side of the 1300 block of south st. Two pedestrians can barely walk past each other on the sidewalk.

[apetrella802]

http://ksk1.com/portfolio/architecture/pdfs/Ridgeway.pdf

[NDPhilly]

Post more renderings

[theWatusi]

how about a 'pretty please'

[skellergroup]

I can't imagine this project happening.

Is SH2 going to happen also? Is there a rendering for that?

[NDPhilly]

Whats your problem thewatusi

[adrgtr8]

The problem is that this is a discussion forum and all you seem to do is tell other people what to do. If there were more renderings, don't you think they would have been posted? It takes a bit longer to create a rendering than writing a five word post about nothing.

[donybrx]

Another problem is the commentary about the comments, which by now is even more lengthy and frankly more annoying.

How about stopping it. All of it? Or we'll get Volguus back here to straighten you all out......then you'll be sorry.

[hammersklavier]

Here (http://www.rimasproperties.com/portfolio.html) is the current Rimas portfolio. Aside from 1352 (with the sidewalk grab), the only thing they've actually built is something on Weccacoe Avenue. Who occupies it?

Just so you know.

[highdensity32]

Here (http://www.rimasproperties.com/portfolio.html) is the current Rimas portfolio. Aside from 1352 (with the sidewalk grab), the only thing they've actually built is something on Weccacoe Avenue. Who occupies it?


Weccacoe Ave: http://www.southphillyreview.com/view_article.php?id=6347 Its occupied by a company that has a contract to make rail cars for SEPTA.

[christof]

Any updates on this project?

[rricci]

Rimas Properties Acquires Broad & Washington Development Site

RIMAS Properties
11 - 15 No. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
Contact: Sammy Benakmoume (215)351-9366
sammy@rimasproperties.com or http://www.rimasproperties.com/

Image courtesy of Rimas Properties.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j214/Lincolndrive/rimas.jpg

Rimas Properties Granted C-5 Zoning For 5.5 Acre Broad & Washington Development Parcel Mixed Use Twin Tower Complex Envisioned by Rimas Properties
Hailed As The Gateway to the Avenue of the Arts!


PHILADELPHIA, PA -- The Philadelphia based development firm Rimas Properties has been granted C-5 Zoning for its 5.5 acre Broad Street and Washington Avenue development site in South Philadelphia. This is the next major step toward the development of an iconic large scale mixed use twin tower complex envisioned by Rimas Properties.

The project is being hailed by city officials as the city's most significant development parcel and the new gateway to the Avenue of the Arts and Center City.

According to the Sammy Benakmoume, President of Rimas Properties, the project will include office space, apartments, condominiums, an expansive up-scale retail center, and parking. Plans also call for an innovative open green space that sits six stories high atop the retail mall area.

Rimas Properties has released dramatic new renderings of the Broad & Washington project offering a sense of the dynamic overall design theme of the development. (SEE ATTACHED jpg)

With approvals from the city and financing in place, Rimas Properties is working with community groups address concerns about the scale of the project and its impact on the surrounding residential and commercial neighbors.

Rimas Properties projects that construction will begin on the 5.5 acre site roughly a year from now. The developer has also confirmed that Cirque du Soleil will have one more series of shows on the site, and that early discussions with lead tenants are underway.
http://www.rimasproperties.com/photos.asp?id=images/port_bwb_lrg.jpg

[We Got Five]

Right next to 19th and Walnut (Castleway project), this is my favorite proposal. I'm curious to see some of the tenants. This was originally planned to center city's version of King of Prussia.

[Ninjawho]

Do we have an idea of the size of the towers? 20ish stories?

[Lincolndrive]

riccis, thanks for posting, you may want to copy this link into your intro so people can always come back to this. The image is from their website

http://www.rimasproperties.com/photos.asp?id=images/port_bwb_lrg.jpg

Also, i'm counting over 30 stories so this should probably be in the highrise proposal section.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j214/Lincolndrive/rimas.jpg

[winxs]

That is actually a "classy" looking rendering. Kinda mimics CAPA next door.

[sciguy0504]

Any chance of them using real limestone or something other than painted (or unpainted) concrete?

[Don098]

Any chance of them using real limestone or something other than painted (or unpainted) concrete?

Probably not in this economy with construction material costs still astronomically high. However, one can only hope.

[Londonee]

Has Philly produced a large-scale mixed-use tower in the last 10-15 years? We seem to have all of these proposals out there from 1601 Vine to ACC to 1440 Chestnut to this project, as well as some old dead ones like WTC and Bridgeman's View--that are all a large mixed use combination: hotel, condo, office, or retail.

Is it me, or have none of these come to fruition? I'm beginning to wonder if the complications involved with balancing the needs and wants of completely opposite entities (like a hotel and offices) just makes it impossible to put these things together in Philly. For example, the docking bay in a mixed use tower may be sufficient for a hotel's needs, but not so for an office tower's needs. Plus financing may be harder to organize, in that there are far more details and what'ifs to account for when your money is being spread out over 4 different paying entities. Plus getting all of your eggs in a row, ie all of the tenants signed and on board within the same time frame, for investors' sake, seems like that it would be really hard. I wonder how close many of these projects have come to groundbreaking, when an anchor tenant pulled out, collapsing the deal altogether.

In an office tower, you need 1 anchor tenant and financing can be secured.

In the case of ACC, you need 1 anchor office tenant, 1 anchor hotel tenant, and 1 anchor retail tenant. In a place like 1440 Chestnut, you need a certain % of presales on the condos AND a hotel tenant. It's just adding steps to an already complicated Philadelphia process.

[cjPhilly]

Has Philly produced a large-scale mixed-use tower in the last 10-15 years?

Philly hasn't really purpose-built a large-scale mixed-use tower ever, save for Liberty Place if you even want to count that.

Mixed use towers are obviously possible, so I doubt it's a matter of technical issues (loading space, etc.) and more reflective of Philly-area developers and market fundamentals. In order to build a multi-use tower, you need to have strong enough markets for each type of use in order to attract the tenants (as you mentioned). In the era of tall towers in Philly, none of the market-segment booms (commercial, retail, hospitality, residential) have really overlapped, making it more likely we'd only see single-use towers. I think we'll see one in Philly sooner rather than later.

[hammersklavier]

Preferably sooner rather than later.

At least Rimas has an entire represson's worth of time to work through attracting potential tenants and get rid of that bad rep that came from the sidewalk steal.

Danm good-looking rendering though.

Shouldn't this be in either the Midrise or High-rise proposal thread?

[aok]

Any word on when groundbreaking may happen?

[wanderer34]

I like the rendering, but the only problem I have with the Gateway Center is that it has a 200,000+ sq. ft. upscale mall right the South Philly/CC border. If anything, the mall should be right on the Walnut/Chestnut corridor in Rittenhouse Square than on the fringes of CC. I don't hate the design, but having a mall there is too far away for it's demographic target, so I don't really support the mall being there, but the towers can stay ;)!!!

[desolate]

I like the rendering, but the only problem I have with the Gateway Center is that it has a 200,000+ sq. ft. upscale mall right the South Philly/CC border. If anything, the mall should be right on the Walnut/Chestnut corridor in Rittenhouse Square than on the fringes of CC. I don't hate the design, but having a mall there is too far away for it's demographic target, so I don't really support the mall being there, but the towers can stay ;)!!!

Maybe it's demographic is the thousands in South Philly who have to go into Center City or down to the 26th street or Del Ave strips

[rricci]

Hi Lincolndrive,
I completely agree with your suggestion of moving this to the high rise section, and posting your picture in the initial post, but I don't know how to do either of those things. Will you please do it for me?

[Swinefeld]

Done. :)

[Plokoon11]

Looks like a great project. While it looks like its around 350 ft+.

[hammersklavier]

13 months have come and gone with no updates whatsoever.

[winxs]

We seem to have two seperate threads on this.

PHILADELPHIA | Gateway Center @ Avenue of the Arts
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=3783881&postcount=1

[hammersklavier]

They should be merged then. I was just following a random link in the Philly VIII OP. :P

[Cro Burnham]

13 months have come and gone with no updates whatsoever.

That's because it's dead.

[theWatusi]

We seem to have two seperate threads on this.

PHILADELPHIA | Gateway Center @ Avenue of the Arts
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=3783881&postcount=1

They are now merged :)

[phillyaggie]

yeah, this one's dead. Especially if PhillyLive goes ahead and develops further down in stadium area.

The high rises portion of the design was bitch-moaned by the locals, and the mall wasn't seen as anything great either-- I suppose they know the issues afflicting local urban malls a la Gallery, not to mention the increased traffic etc into "their neighborhood" and how the whole project is out of scale with its neighborhood.


Now this exact same design could perhaps fit well on 8th and Market... fill a hole there, add a little more variety to the retail in that part of town, and most importantly, add more residents there... it would likely have to be retail first and cater to Jeff students and others that aren't neceassarily well off and can afford the median condo prices of Center City. So that might change the complexion of the development if it were to move there and get built.


But that would be the best win=win situation for this Rimas... what a name... reminds me of Romulus vs Remus! lol As I recall, Remus didn't come out the winner in that one...

[volguus zildrohar]

I don't see why they didn't propose this for 8th & Market from the beginning.

[hammersklavier]

I don't think this project was ever serious enough to even qualify as being dead...

On the other hand, if it rises again, it's Jesus! (Or a zombie. Or Zombie Jesus.)