Good. That area has great potential and already has some great public spaces, yet is quite dull to work around, mostly due to the abundant empty spaces and parking lots, such as the one this building is about to replace. It will also extend the skyline to the north quite nicely.

This building looks great in that location. How likely do you think this is?

Any recent news on this project?

Dont hold your breath bigdan.

Seemed like just a month ago this project had some motion and things looked good, and since then it's been dead.

why would you say that....

this was one of the projects I think most people around here thought WOULD get built...especially with the planned tenets..

Apartments, hotel rooms and retail tenants ready to take their spaces; it's a mystery why this project is not underway.

Has 1601 Vine received its zoning and other city approvals?

Or perhaps they were waiting for the reign of Auspitz to end?

:cheers:

Just a hunch and because its already 1 1/2 years behind schedule and the developer made a claim 2 or 3 years ago that he would bring 2 different House of Blues to Center City. Stilll waiting :rolleyes:

touche...

haha

Intercontinental
 

The Inquirer this morning says the project's hotel component is an "unnamed" brand. Did Intercontinental fall through?

Posted in the Development Thread last week (I guess nobody read it):

I finally got to read last month's Philadelphia mag (w/ Andy Reid) and one feature focused on the area's most influential people to "look out for". Among them was David Grasso. The blurb said 1601 Vine would "break ground soon" but that could very well be Grasso's hope/spin on it. More interestingly however it mentioned as retail tenants Whole Foods (of course) and Best Buy. While there was much speculation, was Best Buy ever actually named? In deals such as these, the names of tenants are never disclosed until it's official, right? Then if that's the case, we might be getting an InterContinental hotel afterall. According to the blurb, that will be the hotel. Again, would Grasso disclose the hotel operator if it wasn't official?

Hate to keep beating a dead horse but this company has no track record to pull off a $350 M dollar project. As mentioned earlier he announced he would be bringing not 1 but 2 different House of Blues to the city. That was over 2 years ago. Nothing yet.

If a major project announced isnt by companies with pedigree e.g.,Brandywine,Liberty,Dranoff,Thomas Properties,Spencer,take it with a grain of salt. The zoning board ledger is full of dreamers.I hope Grasso proves me a fool but I have the right to be skeptical on this one.

parking lot
 

[IMG]http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...6/P1000716.jpg[/IMG]
I shot this today

BOOM BIP

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...207081511a.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...207081512a.jpg

How long?
 

How long do you guys think before the site prep gets under full swing and this becomes a hole instead of a parking lot?

It also appears from the photo that Keating has the contract for demo...does this mean they have the building contract as well?

for what its worth
 

if you go to http://www.bbg-bbgm.com/ and select:

project, architecture, mixed use, 1601 vine st and then,

project information, you will see a status of "under construction", this was not there last week

Ok, the best thing about this project is Whole Foods. I have walked out many times because the line was so long (I have also waited 20+ minutes before). The current store is WAAAYYY too small and has a limited selection. This will also make Whole Foods a more reasonable walking distance to Comcast Center, Logan Square 1+2, Glaxo and a number of other well-populated office buildings during the lunch hour.

My e-mail message
Is there an InterContinental Hotel opening in Philadelphia?

Reply
There is an InterContinental coming to the Philadelphia area. Please check our website at www.ichotelsgroup.com for updates on when the hotel will be accepting reservations. Thank you!

Karla Smith
Global Marketing/Development Team

-----Original Message-----
From: +GLOBAL Development
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 12:19 PM
To: +AMER Americas Development
Subject: IHG Development Lead


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As of yet nothing on the site about Philadelphia but they did open an IC Hotel in Kazahkstan! "NICE!"

no activity yet
 

the parking lot as of today..no activity yet...http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...6/P1000844.jpg