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  #8061  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 6:28 PM
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Originally Posted by City Wide View Post
I'd agree with you about the negative things you list, but damn, that old train shed was something else---full of character. I got to Philly in the mid 70's after hanging out in Europe for a couple years and lived on Sansom St. in CC for awhile before heading to Powelton Village. I thought it was full of life. There were many more movie theaters, both old and new, and they were being used. Rittenhouse Sq. and Society Hill were abuzz. South St. was coming back to life. I loved Chinatown. Old City was getting started and was very much still the area for wholesale vendors. Sure it was different then from now, and maybe it is better now; there are more neighborhoods with people living in them now, both in CC and the surrounding areas, but CC was not a dead zone but any stretch. Every generation seems to think "it" discovered sex, and everyone before them was completely repressed and that babies were delivered by birds. Wrong! I remember meeting people in the 70's who talked about Philly in the 50's as being the glory years. But does it matter? All we got is now and maybe tomorrow.
Great post. CC was different back then but just as vibrant in different ways and in different places. I'd take Market East circa 1980 over today all day long.
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  #8062  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 8:24 PM
JurassicPhilly JurassicPhilly is offline
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Originally Posted by Prezrezc View Post
If that's University City on the right, I'd call this the best vantage point of the whole skyline I've seen. SY and 30thSS will look great there.
I have to laugh every time I see a pic of the city from Belmont. I used to run cross country races at Belmont in the late 80s. It was an absolutely brutal course to run. Far harder than any other course I ran in the entire country. That spot where the pic was taken was towards the end of the race. By the time you got there you were ready to drop dead from exhaustion and the only thing that kept you going was the knowledge it would be over soon. The skyline has changed since then, but I still get a queasy feeling whenever I see the city from that spot. Oh the humanity!
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  #8063  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2018, 11:01 PM
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Both are completely correct. I'm not telling my age but I started working in downtown in the 1980's; Philadelphia and downtown especially was in a transition period at the time; we were moving from being a city that was coming out of an industrial base to a professional, tech and service oriented city.

Before I would say 1980 you could feel the change and people were planning things but a recession in the early 80's slowed things down. Before 1980 downtown was real, well it was simpler. If you were into high culture you were along Board Street to hear the Orchestra at the Academy of Music; right after 1980 Eugene Ormandy passed a way so it was a period of transition there. If you were into shopping you went to East Market Street where the Gallery brought new life to the shopping strip; remember Lit Brothers and Gimbles had just closed a few years earlier. But once you got to I would say 12th Street all you had was steak shops and bowling alleys like around 17th Street. If you wanted to make money or be a professional back then it was pretty well assumed that you had to leave town and go to New York or LA; it was assumed that people here were to small minded and didn't want Philadelphia to be more than a small town; but you had leaders who wanted to really make the city better. Mayor Green, Mayor Goode, Mayor Rendell; Rendell was most fortunate because of his timing more than anything else I suppose.

The attempts to remake downtown Philadelphia really started I guess with the construction of the Aramark Building and New Market on 2nd near South Street; that was the first place where you had outdoor cafe's and things like that but it was really ahead of its time by about a decade.

Liberty One, oh wow; I remember that. When they talk about building Liberty One it was about 1983 or 1984 I guess and I was so excited; a lot of us young adults were; my parents were to; but you had these people who didn't want anything tall being built in the city; it was insane; oh it was so insane; I will never forget it which is why I am probably obsessed with height now; they were talking out ads in the Inquirer and everything trying to make the idea of Liberty One look bad like I remember one add they had where that had William Penn's statue surround by skyscrapers; then about add had his Quaker hat with Liberty One's spire poking a hole out of the top of his hat.

It was ridiculous; that's probably why I don't trust the media now; we wanted Philly to build a skyline; bring business; be a place for families since 1970 and some of my friends who love skyscrapers had been wanting it since the 1960's but those Nimby's; dude it was insane. We wanted anything to give us a skyline and bring life and business into the city and especially downtown so when they built Liberty One, me, my friends, even my father who helped worked on the saw how it was changing the city for the better because to hope that Mr. Rouse wouldn't just build Liberty Two but that he would make it 100 floors; there was the rumour it would be wider and be 100 floors.

Sadly after decades of frustration we got a good pair of buildings but we didn't get our wish; but Comcast Tech is the height of the Hancock Tower which is 100 floors; so at least we're close.
I recall my first visit to NYC, being amazed at miles of skyscrapers in all directions, realizing that Philadelphia had already lost.

But things started to change.
The Murano was under construction, then the St. James and so on.
I witnessed growth!

Cira Center gave me hope, the FMC made me proud and the Comcast Technology Center gave us our own World Trade Center.

During the roarin’ 80’s, boomboxes echoed NY rap throughout Chestnut Street, near the arcades, movie theaters, the smell of Kentucky Fried Chicken, the hotdog vendors lining up along 15th Street under the shadow from the giant clothes pin.

The city has experienced countless mayors, from Rizzo to Street and beyond.

I love Philadelphia!!
From our Eagles to our Phillies, we have really good sports teams!!

As for the “Gentleman’s Agreement” that no skyscraper be built taller than City Hall Tower, so glad that Ed Bacon’s illegal height limit was exposed for the fraud it was.

Now look at Philadelphia today.
We have Amazon and Apple fighting for an opportunity to join us!!

We have a winning city, where there is no limit to how tall we can build.
The taller, the better!!
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  #8064  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2018, 3:53 AM
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  #8065  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2018, 4:17 PM
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Philly was different back then; it was fun but in a different way; it was a different time. Then being before 1980 if going to the Orchestra or the movies in a huge movie palace; or hanging out in Chinatown which had everything good and bad you could have a ton of fun; but now Philly is more sophisticated; it is more of a World Class City I guess.

Now I enjoy downtown Philly without having to go to any particular destination because the energy is off the chart; I mean its amazing; it really reminds me of New York before 2001; or London or Paris in a way; the energy is crazy right now and in a good way.

I'm not sure but downtown Philly seems to have more people; more cars now; more restaurants and a huge variety of them and various price ranges. Out of the 195 countries that are in the world I think its safe to say that all but 12 nations don't have cities even close to what Philly is and among the 12 countries few have cities that are doing better than Philly is. If Philly were in any of the 183 countries that don't have cities like Philly this city would immediately garner mass international appeal.

Philly has a much larger skyline as well; a much higher skyline; it is incredible; its just amazing. Before 1980 the Philly skyline went from 12th street to 19th; it was only 7 blocks long with 2 building that were noticeable outside of that; the Society Hill Towers and the PECO Building and then the skyline pretty much leveled off at 450 feet.

Now in 2018 the Philly skyline is pretty continuous from the Society Hill Towers to 39th Street as seen from Belmont Plateau; and now its between 500 to 1120 feet; its really, vibrant and will only get better.

Comcast Tech I think is just the beginning; when its lit it will really be something to see and if we get 3 or 4 buildings like that this city won't be recognizable. To underscore my point I have a sister and brother n law who left Philly in 1985; they came back to visit in 2017 and they literally said this city is like New York City now; which was funny because they are from suburban New York; they were stunned; and it was pretty funny
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  #8066  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2018, 8:10 PM
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Originally Posted by JohnIII View Post
Comcast Tech I think is just the beginning; when its lit it will really be something to see and if we get 3 or 4 buildings like that this city won't be recognizable. To underscore my point I have a sister and brother n law who left Philly in 1985; they came back to visit in 2017 and they literally said this city is like New York City now; which was funny because they are from suburban New York; they were stunned; and it was pretty funny
It’s pretty obvious that Philly has attracted international talent to design these stunning new towers that shape our skyline.

The Cira Center, the FMC, Comcast Technology Center and countless future towers ARE the evidence we have to declare that Philadelphia has arrived.

The Eagles stunning victory is further proof that this amazing city is finally a destination, not just a brief stop between NY and Washington.
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  #8067  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2018, 8:21 PM
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The Eagles stunning victory is further proof that this amazing city is finally a destination, not just a brief stop between NY and Washington.
You lost me there - how does a championship football team mean that the city is a destination-?
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  #8068  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2018, 8:41 PM
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You lost me there - how does a championship football team mean that the city is a destination-?
It is for football players, but however misguided/wrong they may be to not care about/love the Eagles, I don't think an international audience cares much about an American football championship. And for a national audience, the highlight of the championship parade was a dude in a Mummer suit (which I'm sure confused basically anyone not from the area) screaming about how nobody likes us. Not exactly a glowing advertisement, nor should it have been. That was a moment for us.

Now if the North American joint bid for the World Cup comes through and we host some later matches, that's another story.

Honestly, I think the Pope visit and the World Heritage City designation were bigger destination builders than the Birds win (however sweet it may have been to us locals). I'm nervous to bring it up, but winning Amazon would be another huge "hello" to the world.
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  #8069  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2018, 9:14 PM
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Now if the North American joint bid for the World Cup comes through and we host some later matches, that's another story.
That will happen. It just sucks that we have to have Canada and Mexico riding our coat tails. That joint bid is so unnecessary - all it does is make athletes and fans have to travel farther than if it were just here. I get that they want to open it up to Canada and Mexico, neither of which could host the modern WC without building / renovating stadiums (Mexico hosted once before but before contemporary stadium standards existed.)
It also dilutes our chances of getting a late match, but we'll almost certainly get *something*. at least some knock out round matches.
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  #8070  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2018, 11:04 PM
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We have strayed far off topic for the sake of a good conversation.

After the Comcast Technology Center is complete, I hope it won’t be long before Comcast 3 is revealed.
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  #8071  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2018, 1:59 PM
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You are exactly right; I wish they would announce it today; I would be thrilled. Comcast 3 or 3001 JFK will work for me.
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  #8072  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2018, 2:27 PM
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You are exactly right; I wish they would announce it today; I would be thrilled. Comcast 3 or 3001 JFK will work for me.
The adjacent land has been purchased several years ago in anticipation of growth.

When your campus requires multiple skyscrapers, keeping them together is vital. This is no different than Rockefeller Plaza (only with taller buildings).
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  #8073  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2018, 7:59 PM
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Originally Posted by skyscraper View Post
That will happen. It just sucks that we have to have Canada and Mexico riding our coat tails. That joint bid is so unnecessary - all it does is make athletes and fans have to travel farther than if it were just here. I get that they want to open it up to Canada and Mexico, neither of which could host the modern WC without building / renovating stadiums (Mexico hosted once before but before contemporary stadium standards existed.)
It also dilutes our chances of getting a late match, but we'll almost certainly get *something*. at least some knock out round matches.
The joint bid was so necessary or we "USA" would have no chance at hosting. In fact an article was just released the US will be taking more of a backseat in the bidding process and letting Canada and Mexico lead the way. It said it had something to do with our Commander in chief and the world view of him.

Granted the World Cup would happen when he would be out of office. But, image is everything.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-worl...raid-of-losing

Last edited by Flyers2001; Mar 14, 2018 at 8:02 PM. Reason: added link
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  #8074  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2018, 8:15 PM
Milksteak Milksteak is offline
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Originally Posted by Flyers2001 View Post
The joint bid was so necessary or we "USA" would have no chance at hosting. In fact an article was just released the US will be taking more of a backseat in the bidding process and letting Canada and Mexico lead the way. It said it had something to do with our Commander in chief and the world view of him.

Granted the World Cup would happen when he would be out of office. But, image is everything.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-worl...raid-of-losing
There is nothing in that article about the USA's current political climate.
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  #8075  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2018, 8:28 PM
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The joint bid was so necessary or we "USA" would have no chance at hosting. In fact an article was just released the US will be taking more of a backseat in the bidding process and letting Canada and Mexico lead the way. It said it had something to do with our Commander in chief and the world view of him.

Granted the World Cup would happen when he would be out of office. But, image is everything.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-worl...raid-of-losing
You definitely need to reread this, without your political agenda glasses on (those tend to make people read things "between the lines" that aren't there). It doesn't even say we'd be taking a back seat, it said that we'd all be equals.
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  #8076  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2018, 8:41 PM
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Please back on topic!!

THIS THREAD: The Comcast Technology Center is the subject!!
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  #8077  
Old Posted Mar 15, 2018, 3:17 AM
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The Comcast Technology Center is the topic, and I went into the city for the first time since the cladding on the spire was completed. I didn't get very close to it, but I did snap these from Penn's Landing.



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  #8078  
Old Posted Mar 15, 2018, 12:28 PM
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The spine of the building seems to be 6-7 floors away from being done. They might finish the outside of this building today!
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  #8079  
Old Posted Mar 15, 2018, 2:32 PM
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Amazed at how fast the spine is bring complete; it will be nice to see the spine complete and the entire building lit at night because its already looking impressive right now.

I drove into Philly about 1AM this morning and the lantern was only partially lit; even then it was noticeable to a good degree; it minds me a bit of the Empire State Building in a way; though its about 100 shorter the impression seems much the same and of course far more modern looking.
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  #8080  
Old Posted Mar 15, 2018, 3:14 PM
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Interesting note:

Comcast Tech as a square footage that is almost identical to the population of Philadelphia. If every Philadelphian were able to fit within a square foot the entire city would fit in the building.
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