PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[Parkway]

Originally Posted by Boku

Better than another wireless provider store, I guess.

Another Wawa for Center City?

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...nter-city.html

I for one am very excited about this development! It definitely has nothing to do with the fact that this is across the street from my office...

But seriously, I was kind of hoping someone would buy this building and the one housing Children's Place on the corner and do something highriseier.

[PhilliesPhan]

Originally Posted by Boku

Better than another wireless provider store, I guess.

Another Wawa for Center City?

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...nter-city.html

Ohhhh, so that's why I've been seeing work being done on that building!

As someone who works at Two Liberty, bring it on!

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by Parkway

I for one am very excited about this development! It definitely has nothing to do with the fact that this is across the street from my office...

But seriously, I was kind of hoping someone would buy this building and the one housing Children's Place on the corner and do something highriseier.

Me too. But I'm ok with this. I think the footprint of the ugly building with Children's Place is probably big enough to do a highrise on its own as well. Maybe add the building with the Giovannis for a little more space.

[Aaamazarite]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

Me too. But I'm ok with this. I think the footprint of the ugly building with Children's Place is probably big enough to do a highrise on its own as well. Maybe add the building with the Giovannis for a little more space.

That building is owned by a real estate company that owns and manages a ton of strip malls, dollar generals, and assorted crap in New Jersey and a few Philly suburbs. Their office is on the 2nd floor-- they will never sell despite it being a pile of gold. They're only the 2nd owner of the building as far as I know, Horn & Hardart being the first.

[wanderer34]

Originally Posted by Boku

Better than another wireless provider store, I guess.

Another Wawa for Center City?

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...nter-city.html

I was hoping the Wawa would be a closer to Rittenhouse Square as the last location on 20th and Locust, which is currently inhabited by 7-11. I don't now if the landlords would terminate 7-11's lease and bring back Wawa, which is a major planning fantasy of mine, but it's nice that Wawa is giving Rittenhouse Square another shot.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by Aaamazarite

That building is owned by a real estate company that owns and manages a ton of strip malls, dollar generals, and assorted crap in New Jersey and a few Philly suburbs. Their office is on the 2nd floor-- they will never sell despite it being a pile of gold. They're only the 2nd owner of the building as far as I know, Horn & Hardart being the first.

Bummer...

[DudeGuy]

Bit of a disappointment...Google is in the midst of a pretty sizable expansion and isn't starting an office in Philadelphia.

It makes sense on some level - any sales staff that served clients in the Philadelphia area could easily work out of NYC. You would think, however, that they would want to be involved in the life sciences research being conducted un University City in some capacity.

https://www.blog.google/inside-googl...-billion-2019/

[jsbrook]

Delete; wrong thread.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by DudeGuy

Bit of a disappointment...Google is in the midst of a pretty sizable expansion and isn't starting an office in Philadelphia.

It makes sense on some level - any sales staff that served clients in the Philadelphia area could easily work out of NYC. You would think, however, that they would want to be involved in the life sciences research being conducted un University City in some capacity.

https://www.blog.google/inside-googl...-billion-2019/

Is Penn pivoting strongly enough toward Tech? Other Ivy Leaguers like Cornell, Columbia and obviously Princeton and Harvard have really pivoted and focused on tech and the results have shown in jobs/incubators/VC investment around those schools and in those cities.

Feels like we're losing out in this high stakes game b/c our local multi-billion dollar prestige institution seems content to stay focused on its traditional breadwinners (business/finance) and not make a huge push into the 21st century. I mean, if Penn were top-10 on a list like below, it's hard to think that we wouldn't have a bit more Tech interest in the city, regardless of NYC's proximity:

https://www.bestvalueschools.com/top...on-investment/

[Capsule F]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Is Penn pivoting strongly enough toward Tech? Other Ivy Leaguers like Cornell, Columbia and obviously Princeton and Harvard have really pivoted and focused on tech and the results have shown in jobs/incubators/VC investment around those schools and in those cities.

Feels like we're losing out in this high stakes game b/c our local multi-billion dollar prestige institution seems content to stay focused on its traditional breadwinners (business/finance) and not make a huge push into the 21st century. I mean, if Penn were top-10 on a list like below, it's hard to think that we wouldn't have a bit more Tech interest in the city, regardless of NYC's proximity:

https://www.bestvalueschools.com/top...on-investment/

Medicine will always always have a place, just as strong as any engineering.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Capsule F

Medicine will always always have a place, just as strong as any engineering.

I mean, Harvard has a pretty good med-school too, right? So does Stanford. Like, you can do both.

Regardless, this convo is less about graduate school programs, and more on attracting top-level, STEM-focused HS students to a prestige undergrad program.

[RonnieStevens]

On my way to work, saw a crew removing crap from The Granary building out back. Does anyone know if there is finally development plans or just taking out the trash from squatters...?

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Londonee

I mean, Harvard has a pretty good med-school too, right? So does Stanford. Like, you can do both.

Regardless, this convo is less about graduate school programs, and more on attracting top-level, STEM-focused HS students to a prestige undergrad program.

Penn has been spending hundreds of millions--if not billions--of dollars on developing its engineering and STEM programs and profile over the past decade or two. The Singh Center for Nanotechnology, the Pennovation Center, the relatively new bioengineering building (Skirkanish Hall), the new neuroscience building (Levin), and the soon-to-be-built Science Research Building are just a few physical manifestations of that. Not to mention the academic programs that Penn has developed in that time, e.g., The Vagelos Institute of Energy Science and Technology, The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, etc. And then there are the newer entrepreneurial programs that are supported by both Wharton and the engineering school (including a soon-to-be-built building called the Venture Lab, which will house and support development and commercialization of student ideas for innovation). Also, word has it that among the four undergraduate schools at Penn, the engineering school now has one of the--if not the--lowest acceptance rates.

As an alum who regularly follows Penn news, I can assure you that Penn is constantly developing and promoting its burgeoning prowess in STEM and engineering.

[Aaamazarite]

Originally Posted by RonnieStevens

On my way to work, saw a crew removing crap from The Granary building out back. Does anyone know if there is finally development plans or just taking out the trash from squatters...?

Yeah the interior space is going to be fit out with 24 units and ground floor retail

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

Penn has been spending hundreds of millions--if not billions--of dollars on developing its engineering and STEM programs and profile over the past decade or two. The Singh Center for Nanotechnology, the Pennovation Center, the relatively new bioengineering building (Skirkanish Hall), the new neuroscience building (Levin), and the soon-to-be-built Science Research Building are just a few physical manifestations of that. Not to mention the academic programs that Penn has developed in that time, e.g., The Vagelos Institute of Energy Science and Technology, The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, etc. And then there are the newer entrepreneurial programs that are supported by both Wharton and the engineering school (including a soon-to-be-built building called the Venture Lab, which will house and support development and commercialization of student ideas for innovation). Also, word has it that among the four undergraduate schools at Penn, the engineering school now has one of the--if not the--lowest acceptance rates.

As an alum who regularly follows Penn news, I can assure you that Penn is constantly developing and promoting its burgeoning prowess in STEM and engineering.

Thanks, good to hear. Hopefully it keeps rolling.

It must be anecdotal, most of my family works in tech (Google, Apple, Linkedin) but it just does not seem to be a radar school despite a decent ranking here:

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate...s/eng-rankings

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Thanks, good to hear. Hopefully it keeps rolling.

It must be anecdotal, most of my family works in tech (Google, Apple, Linkedin) but it just does not seem to be a radar school despite a decent ranking here:

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate...s/eng-rankings

Yeah, and Penn Engineering has been moving up in that ranking. Top 20, in some pretty impressive company from among all the engineering programs in the country, is relatively new for Penn and definitely shows upward momentum. Plus, it's above Harvard! [Never really much of a powerhouse in engineering, but recently trying to remedy that.]

Penn Engineering grads actually do quite well in tech hiring, as this survey of the Class of 2017 shows (top 3 employers are Google, Microsoft, and Amazon):

https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerser..._FINAL_PDF.pdf

If you want to dig deeper, here's a compendium of Penn career surveys going back quite a few years:

https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/surveys.php

Penn's College of Arts and Sciences also does well with tech placement.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by RonnieStevens

On my way to work, saw a crew removing crap from The Granary building out back. Does anyone know if there is finally development plans or just taking out the trash from squatters...?

Originally Posted by Aaamazarite

Yeah the interior space is going to be fit out with 24 units and ground floor retail

I understand that Pearl flipped this late last year to Alterra. I see the latest zoning archive file includes a deed transfer dated November 30 to Granary Acquisition Partners, LP for $7.6 million, so I presume that's Alterra.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/lni-zoning-pdfs/27-366352.pdf

[Aaamazarite]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

I understand that Pearl flipped this late last year to Alterra. I see the latest zoning archive file includes a deed transfer dated November 30 to Granary Acquisition Partners, LP for $7.6 million, so I presume that's Alterra.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/lni-zoning-pdfs/27-366352.pdf

It is Alterra.

[blart]

From Saturday, 2/16. Ridge Ave., near Broad St.

[hammersklavier]

Unless I'm very much mistaken, that's part of the 1300 Fairmount site. But I would need to double-check the site plans to be sure.