PHILADELPHIA | Chinatown Eastern Tower | 252 FT | 21 FLOORS

[summersm343]

Title: Chinatown Eastern Tower Community Center
Project: 144 Rental Units, 15,000 sqft of Office Space, 12,000 sqft of Retail Space, 46 car garage, community center, recreation center
Architect: KlingStubbins
Developer: PCDC/ Teras Holdings
Location: 1001 Vine St., Philadelphia, PA
Neighborhood: Chinatown North
District: Center City
Floors: 21
Height: 252 ft

The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation plans to build a 24-story, 282-foot-high residential and office tower, with a community center on the ground floor, on two parcels at the northwest corner of Vine and 10th streets. The communities strong desire for a community center prompted the project, but constructing a stand-alone center proved prohibitive, therefore the PCDC joined with private developer Teres Holdings to iron out a more solid economic plan.

Floors 1 and 2 will be the community center, floors 3-5 will be office space and floors 6-21 will be residential. There will also be a parking garage... possibly located underground?

[josef]

I super dig it. And I love that it'll help build up the north of Vine stock of tall buildings.

[summersm343]

I agree, a lot of good things are happening in Callowhill/ Chinatown North. I can't wait to see this area grow.

[caltrane74]

That's a nice looking design! - very modern.

[summersm343]

This tower is one step closer to being built.

http://planphilly.com/news/notebook/...-10th-and-vine

[summersm343]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20...tml?page=1&c=y

Article posted today about the tower. PCDC is getting funding together currently. Article says they would like to see construction start this year on the tower.

[christof]

Originally Posted by summersm343

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20...tml?page=1&c=y

Article posted today about the tower. PCDC is getting funding together currently. Article says they would like to see construction start this year on the tower.

I'll believe that they have funding when construction starts. Sadly, I don't think it will be happening anytime soon.

[summersm343]

Some news on this today.

It's approved by the planning commission.

PCDC's goal is to start construction next year.

The building will be 23 floors high, have 15,000 square feet of office space, 12,000 square feet of retail space, a Chinatown Community Center, 144 rental units and a small 46 car garage.

A recreation center within the community center will include a gym, a play area with a pool table, a basketball court and a volleyball court.

http://planphilly.com/chinatown-new-...inancing-stage

Hopefully this along with the redevelopment of the Reading Viaduct into a park will help spur more development in this area.

[Insoluble]

I agree that this is looking less and less likely as time goes by, but I'm not ready to give up on it completely. from the Hidden City article summersm linked to:

Toy indicated that PCDC is aiming to have funding for the Eastern Tower in place by fourth quarter 2013, with two years of construction to follow.

It's reasonable to believe that the main thing holding this up is funding. It seems to have gotten all sorts of approval. That being said, I have no idea how they're going to be able to fund this given the desire to make part of it affordable housing and dedicate a bunch of space to things like the community center which won't generate any profit. I hope it get's built, but if we don't have full funding and site prep by the end of Q4 I'm willing to call it dead.

[summersm343]

The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation says it will pull building permits and begin construction on the Eastern Tower, a 23-story mixed-use apartment complex and community center at 10th and Vine streets, in the next six to nine months. The group held a meeting Tuesday night at the Chinese Christian Church & Center one block west of the site of the proposed project to update Chinatown residents on the progress of the development.

The building will contain 143 residential units, 31 of which will be affordable for “moderate income” households earning up to 80 percent of Area Median Income, according to PCDC. The building is being designed by architectural firm KlingStubbins and Lisa Armstrong of A K Architecture.

Thomas Betz, pastor at Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church and president of PCDC, opened the meeting by saying that the Eastern Tower project--which is “really about to happen”--will help build a bridge for the Chinatown community across the Vine Street expressway. PCDC director John Chin said the project will be a new landmark for the growing Chinatown North community, and will help to “protect its boundaries, promote the neighborhood, and preserve its cultural identity.”

The developers are still rounding up funding for the project, which is estimated to cost $71 million to build. Of that, Citibank is committing $42 million in tax credit funding, according Ahsan Nasratullah of JNA Capital, a real estate financing firm that is working with PCDC on the Eastern Tower project. Another $10 million will come from a series of smaller grants from PCDC itself, the Commerce Department, and, developers hope, a $5 million RACP grant from the state.

Nasratullah also said the team is seeking $22 million to $32 million through the federal “EB-5 Immigrant Investor” program. Under that program, foreign investors can be given a Green Card for permanent residence by investing at least $500,000 in a new commercial enterprise in the United States.

http://planphilly.com/articles/2013/...-by-year-s-end

[Flyers2001]

Great News. A nice size building north of Vine. Love the gradual expansion.

[Cro Burnham]

Hope it happens, but I am not holding my breath on this one. The proposed financing structure appears to have many moving parts, which increases the likelihood of delays or worse.

The design, interesting as it is, strikes me as a bit fussy and probably unnecessarily expensive for something that requires so many subsidies and incentives. Perhaps the developers could simplify the design and reduce costs to make the project more affordable and more feasible.

[summersm343]

New renderings


http://chinatown-pcdc.org/events/bridging-communities/

[Insoluble]

I love that new render, and I seriously hope this project does get built. That being said, the article doesn't mention much about financing. From the brief mention of incentives for foreign investors in the project, it sounds like they don't have all the financing they need to make this happen. But from an earlier article:

Toy indicated that PCDC is aiming to have funding for the Eastern Tower in place by fourth quarter 2013

link

Like I said, I would love for this project to happen. It would be great for the community and the design is terrific. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

[mrnyc]

loves it!

[dab]

Looks great! Hopefully it gets off the ground....

[Mappy]

Just a few thought I've had put into a rendering.....

The PCDC and future skyline with a elevated trail connecting the Viaduct to Franklin Square (potentially the Delaware River) running along, what I call, "The Great Wall of Chinatown"



https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1M...it?usp=sharing

[mmikeyphilly]

Originally Posted by Mappy

Just a few thought I've had put into a rendering.....

The PCDC and future skyline with a elevated trail connecting the Viaduct to Franklin Square (potentially the Delaware River) running along, what I call, "The Great Wall of Chinatown"



https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1M...it?usp=sharing

OOOH, For some reason I pictured this project to be on the other side(south side) of the expressway. Now when I look at the revised rendering, which looks good. and the Google mock up from Mappy. (nice job too!) Now that I see the address(1001). The low numbers (01) start in the beginning. I should have figured it out since I delivered Pizzas for 10 years, so I should have known better! Since this is a revised rendering, did it gain any height? Does anyone know what is the official height? The thread header says 282 ft. But it looks a little taller. I could be wrong (again!) I really hope this gets built . It will expand the skyline on the east side, and FMC's tower (which looks spectacular) on the west side.

[Insoluble]

Article on this posted by sayitaintso in the Philly Thread:

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...ng-source.html

Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. has helped form an immigrant investor regional center that will seek to raise $32.5 million to fund its Eastern Tower Community Center in Chinatown.

The 23-story mixed-use development at 10th and Vine streets will cost a total of $70 million and other funding has already been lined up.
...


...
The PCDC project has roughly $2 million more to raise in grants and other funding sources. It looks to break ground this summer on the development and complete it by 2016.

Hmm, If I'm reading this correctly, they actually have most of the funding in place for this. The numbers quoted in the article don't really make sense (they have 2 million left to raise but are seeking 32 mill?) But either way, it sounds as though they have decent amount of funding secured. I thought this had about a 5% chance of happening before, but now it seems a lot more likely. It's a cool proposal, so I hope they manage to pull through. I'll be thrilled if they actually do manage to break ground this summer.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Insoluble

Hmm, If I'm reading this correctly, they actually have most of the funding in place for this. The numbers quoted in the article don't really make sense (they have 2 million left to raise but are seeking 32 mill?) But either way, it sounds as though they have decent amount of funding secured. I thought this had about a 5% chance of happening before, but now it seems a lot more likely. It's a cool proposal, so I hope they manage to pull through. I'll be thrilled if they actually do manage to break ground this summer.

Nice! I'm really rooting for this one! We need more towers north of Vine, especially in the Loft District/Callowhill!