[hammersklavier]

Last piece of SugarHouse's skeleton in place
http://planphilly.com/last-piece-sug...eleton-place-0

After Mayor Michael Nutter, State Sen. Larry Farnese and City Councilman Darrell Clarke added their names to the other Sharpie signatures on the white steel beam, a crane hosted it up above the crowd, and two iron workers guided it into place, atop SugarHouse Casino.

The last piece of the steel structure had been placed.

About 500 construction workers have been toiling at the site in two, eight-hour shifts per day, said Pete Frazier, construction superintendent for Keating Building Corporation, the company building the casino. The plan is to open the doors at the end of summer, and the hoisted beam marked the end of a significant construction phase. Another milestone comes next Wednesday, when the Gaming Control Board will hold a public hearing at the Convention Center regarding whether to allow SugarHouse to have table games. The other casinos that have asked for that consideration have been approved, and SugarHouse expects to be, too. There’s already room for the games on what will in a few months be the gaming floor.

In fact, both Nutter and Farnese – who spoke during the ceremony – were once on the side of the neighborhood activists who oppose the casino. For some of the community activists, notably Casino-Free Philadelphia, any casino on any site is a bad idea. For others, it’s the site on the Delaware River waterfront or the design of the big building that’s objectionable.

Nutter used to be among the latter group. But Friday, he said he changed his position because SugarHouse officials were willing to change their design. “It’s because of the flexibility they displayed by adjusting the design to the concerns of the neighborhood and city government,” he said. “There is more access to the water, and the shops and restaurants are oriented to get a view of the river. It’s clear they want to be good neighbors, and part of the waterfront redevelopment.”

CEO Greg Carlin acknowledged the difficulties in getting the casino open. Any big project, any casino, is going to face opposition, so some of that was expected, he said. This project might have faced a few more roadblocks than anticipated, he said, but he never doubted the casino would move forward. “We always knew this was a great site,” he said of the Fishtown location.

Carlin said that in response to the concerns about the design, he personally saw that the windows facing the water were enlarged.
Frazier and Dan Keating, CEO of Keating Building Corporation took PlanPhilly on an impromptu tour of the inside. There aren’t many windows facing north, south or west. But most of the east wall will be glass. And the view is visible from everywhere in the building. It will remain that way, Carlin said.

The changes have pleased the mayor, but critics, including Northern Liberties Neighbors Association President Matt Ruben and PennPraxis Executive Director Harris Steinberg, believe it remains mostly a big, auto-centric box that is not appropriate for the waterfront.