PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I could be completely off base here but I always assumed that bays like these were installed so the developer didn’t have the cost of bricking the whole façade. They certainly don’t add any square footage or light because they don’t protrude more than a foot.

I would think that even with the cheaper materials of the bay, the extra work and material costs of a protrusion like that would end up being more expensive than bricking the whole facade.

[ScreamShatter]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I could be completely off base here but I always assumed that bays like these were installed so the developer didn’t have the cost of bricking the whole façade. They certainly don’t add any square footage or light because they don’t protrude more than a foot.

In small houses, every square foot matters...especially if the house is 9-12ft wide. I think it's more so just a trend of the moment.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I could be completely off base here but I always assumed that bays like these were installed so the developer didn’t have the cost of bricking the whole façade. They certainly don’t add any square footage or light because they don’t protrude more than a foot.

Some are more like 20Inches to 2 feet. And they are roughly the exact width of a king size bed. So most ppl use the nook for the bed - and gain the extra 20” of floor space - which, trust me, in some of these homes is a huge spacial advantage.

[PHL10]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I see your points but I was mostly referring to this specific design where unless it's an illusion, appears to protrude less than 1ft. I might still be wrong but it's seems functionally to have little purpose which then made me make the leap to cost.

[Busy Bee]

I'm not opposed to bays. It's the thoughtless execution of the example above that gets to me. The lack of care that would lead them to butcher the old cornice and then leave a piece of it just hanging there to add insult to injury really pisses me of. Many bays around town are dreadful affairs clad in cheap metal panels passed off as 'modern' or worse yet the stucco jobs which thankfully are inflicted on us less these days than years past.

I was just saying it's frustrating to see this kind of thing when it would have been so easy to show an ounce of thought and keep the cornice and treat the added bays to a complimentary treatment that would have set off the entire top quite nicely. The taliban approach to tossing original ornament in the dustbin and passing off the new as "improved" is what I find nauseating.

And for the love of god, will the city please pass a building code to address the electrical conduits and meters. It looks like a damn third world country.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by busy bee

and for the love of god, will the city please pass a building code to address the electrical conduits and meters. It looks like a damn third world country.

^^^^this, a thousand times this. I'm not sure where the City's authority lies with these abominations, as they seem to involve requirements of the PUC and the utilities, but this is certainly an aesthetic problem that must be addressed.

[Busy Bee]

^I don't know if you frequent nakedphilly but I frequently make comments about the meters. They look terrible. It is the textbook definition of avoidable visual pollution as the facades could easily have a chase or raceway running behind the brick from the weatherhead entry (short of undergrounding, this is an unavoidable) to the meter point which could be housed in an attractive black powder coated alcove box with door that is recessed into the façade or under the stairs, drawing attention to itsdelf as little as possible. This does not happen because apparently the developers, the city and the utilities do not give a single shit. That is depressing.

[eixample]

The gas shut offs being outside is a PUC thing I believe (so state wide and the city can't override it) and I would guess the electric meter is as well. The gas shut off being outside is for safety of gas company workers, not sure why the electric meters are needed outside. I definitely agree that some mandated structure to hide them is in order (either moving them into recessed areas near the front of the house or under the steps or in an alcove or covered by a door).

[Busy Bee]

Both gas and electrical meters should obviously be accessible from the outside of the building. This is a given. The question is can they be positioned and installed in a way that minimizes as much as possible their aesthetic drag on the cosmetics of the building. I can see the gas meter(s) easily able to be put in an alcove at the base of the façade or even in a water tight hatch horizontal to the building or in the sidewalk abutting the façade. The electrical service is slightly more complicated but I believe easily accomplishable. Historically utilities have been concerned (and codes built around) about the notion of users tapping into the service BEFORE the meter, thus stealing power. I don't know if this is the reason for that lack of concern for bettering the aesthetic situation or not. I am no expert but it does not seem like it would be remotely difficult to install thick walled rigid conduit behind the veneer brickwork (or whatever the finish façade material is) and running into the top of a recessed meter cubby box with either a solid or gridwork lock-free panel for access. Think a recessed mailbox or extinguisher cabinet, something along those lines. This requirement would, what, add 400 bucks to a project cost? There is little excuse not to and little explanation why is hasn't been done. Other than it lack of care, imagination, urgency, vision - the same missing ingredients that seem to explain why new builds aren't just receiving undergrounded electrical at the time of build. That also seems extremely logical to me. Short of a citywide electrical undergrounding initiative, I think a simple cosmetic solution like the one mentioned should be a bare minimum standard.

[eixample]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Both gas and electrical meters should obviously be accessible from the outside of the building. This is a given.

Obviously? A given? Not to me. My gas and electric meters are on the inside now and my service is working and bills are still coming. I don't trust that PUC really took into consideration the practicalities of their decisions on rowhome neighborhoods when they made their determinations on how the hook ups should be positioned. Also, and someone with actual knowledge on this can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the gas meters stay inside under PUCs rules, just the shut off gets moved outside.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

I'll have to take a pic later, but there's a row of newer homes that have them hidden in an outside "closet" with a door next to the front doors and it hides them really well.

[PhilliesPhan]

Remember the proposed build-out of the shopping center at 23rd and Oregon? Looks like this is a sign that things will indeed be moving forward!

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by eixample

Obviously? A given? Not to me. My gas and electric meters are on the inside now and my service is working and bills are still coming. I don't trust that PUC really took into consideration the practicalities of their decisions on rowhome neighborhoods when they made their determinations on how the hook ups should be positioned. Also, and someone with actual knowledge on this can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the gas meters stay inside under PUCs rules, just the shut off gets moved outside.

Agreed. Older houses in Philly don't have them outside and its not an issue.

Pure laziness. Adds to the Lagos Nigeria aesthetic we already have with our overhead wires.

[3rd&Brown]

According to this link, 25/60 homes at this development are sold. (New construction townhomes on the Schuykill in Manayunk).

Further, 8 of the sold homes are the million dollar floorplan, which must be a record for Manayunk.

https://www.thelocksphilly.com/floor-plans/

[Urbanthusiat]

Just further testament to our strength in pharmaceuticals and life-sciences.

Boston-area biopharm firm has big plans in Philadelphia

Alnylam Pharmaceutical, a Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company that specializes in RNA interference therapeutics, is expanding its operations into Philadelphia.

“We have a small team there now,” said John Maraganore, the CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Alnylam. “There’s a lot of competition for talent up here and there is lot of [life sciences industry] talent in the tri-state area there around Philadelphia. We felt we could find a way to harness some of that talent by setting up a site there.”

Maraganore said the company has four employees at an office in University City, and he expects that number to grow to 12 to 15 by the end of the year.

“Over time, we think we will see Philadelphia becoming another core center for Alnylam,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to project how many people we could have there, but as the company grows it certainly, over time, could be a triple-digit number of employees we have in Philadelphia.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel..._news_headline

[Capsule F]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

Just further testament to our strength in pharmaceuticals and life-sciences.



https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel..._news_headline

Alnylam was a big sponsor of BIO 2019 convention in Philly, they sponsored Jamie Dimon's talk. I think people are starting to realize that we could be the gene therapy center of the US (we kind of are already.) This will bring additional related industries.

[iheartphilly]

^^^
Also, didn't Sweeney from Brandywine recently announced that they are working with a Boston developer or REIT to bring another company down here in the future. To me, that's promising because it shows they are looking outside to support their SY plans here.

[giantSwan]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

^^^^this, a thousand times this. I'm not sure where the City's authority lies with these abominations, as they seem to involve requirements of the PUC and the utilities, but this is certainly an aesthetic problem that must be addressed.

agree 100%

why are meters even required in 2019 - isn't there a better solution by now?

they should ban them and force all homes to comply

[cardeza]

There is finally visible exterior progress on the warehouse at 9th and Poplar being converted by Post Brothers. For months there were no signs work was even going on, but this week they started popping out the plywood "windows" on the facade and you can see temp lighting etc inside.

[Nova08]

Originally Posted by Capsule F

Alnylam was a big sponsor of BIO 2019 convention in Philly, they sponsored Jamie Dimon's talk. I think people are starting to realize that we could be the gene therapy center of the US (we kind of are already.) This will bring additional related industries.

I think you are spot on and Philly is gaining a ton of momentum as a result. It's like the Philly players in gene therapy were left in the corner for a while, people knew what they were doing, interested, but not ready to believe that Philly was the place to be for it...now it feels like everyone is like, man we need to be in Philly yesterday.