Correct me if I'm wrong, this is Philly's tallest tower to have its groundbreaking since the credit crunch/recession?

Yes. You are correct.

An article from NakedPhilly about 665 N. Broad St that someone asked about a little while back. It is a new building for the Laborers District Council of the Metropolitan Area of Philadelphia and Vicinity and will be five stories high. Construction is expected be completed this year.

http://nakedphilly.com/wp-content/up...32-560x420.jpg
I guess it's a lot better than the two story buildings it is replacing.

http://nakedphilly.com/spring-garden...than-it-looks/

http://planphilly.com/drwc-acquires-...-wetlands-park

Good article about pier 70, the waterfront trail and a wetlands park.

"Nutter trying to lure a 1,000 bed Hotel to Philadelphia." :tup:

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/l...em/34447-hotel

I hope it's going to be a renovation of the vacant eyesore at the Northeast corner of Broad and Arch Sts.

No way 1000 rooms would fit in that building. Maybe it's for the Parkway garage site at Broad and Race or - wouldn't it be great: the Girard Square site.

It'll be easier if they break it up into two 500 room hotels. I've heard that the Le Meridien Hotel is begging for "company" in the area.

So is it safe to say there won't be any Union demonstrations out front of this one?

You know, in this town anything is possible when it comes to the building trades. Remember, this is the land of redundant soil pipes.

WG5, I still don't get how Le Meridien got interested in operating a luxury hotel at the city's nexus of social service delivery. My guess is that hotel changes flags before too long to something like a Garden Inn. It just seems like a very bad idea in its current incarnation.

You are dead on my friend. A colleague of mine does Market Research for the chain and they are less than thrilled with the activity in and around the area. Apparently they were under the assumption that another higher end hotel or two would be developed in the area. It's not happening and they're likely to evaluate their position in the market shortly. It's a shame because it's a very nice hotel and the service is outstanding.

I suppose if 1401 Arch were repositioned as a higher end building of some type, the situation could be better, but I know of no such plans.

It will be too bad to see Le Meridien go, but it'll probably be better if all those wealthy out-of-towners don't experience that aspect of the city. I'd rather they see the city from Rittenhouse Square or Logan Square. And things will only get worse with the opening of the new Family Court.

I'm guessing at some point, with the Barnes opening, there may be a need for a smaller high end hotel somewhere near all the museums on the Parkway. As it stands, there's no hotel option anywhere near the Art Museum.

the hotel gets pretty good reviews on Trip Advisor but a reoccurring theme is that the neighborhood is a bit sketchy. the new courthouse certainly won't help the situation.

I know this may not be a popular opinion here, but why take down a relatively new highly successful shopping complex? Lots of people shop and work there. Even though that home depot and walmart are probably among the worst in the region, it seems a little shortsighted just to destroy them. It was shortsighted to put them there in the first place, but they are there nonetheless.

The complex is not even 20 years old and the superfresh side is even younger. The massive empty space where foxwoods was supposed to go, which is part of the plan, is a fine place to develop all this stuff, but Pier 70, as suburbany and badly placed as it is, doesn't seem to be worth losing quite yet.

I don't see in the article where it says the existing retailers will be affected? It only concerns the undeveloped space surrounding the complex, no?

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/lo...ig_hurdle.html

More news about the Delaware Waterfront Trail

News. 2116 Chestnut.Girard Trust Block.Brandwine 1919
 

Three new Center City high rise plans, with IBEW, IBC millions


Per Joe Distefano Phila Inquirer
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/i...#ixzz1nz7seggI


Buck, who founded John A. Buck Co. in 1981 and holds a Wharton MBA, said it's his first development in Philadelphia, and he thanked political leaders for sweetening the deal. He added, "I love Philadelphia. It's good to be back here. Philadelphia has more of a residential and warm feeling to it than our great city" of Chicago

Look at the map in the article.

Video from Delware highway removal is up
 

Broken into parts here

http://americancity.org/buzz/entry/3391/

Walmart is just wrapping up a huge project to enlarge and renovate their building there so I don't think it's going away any time soon. BTW if you haven't been to the new store it is a great improvement over the previous building.