PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-WILMINGTON-ATLANTIC CITY-READING | Metro Development Thread

[MyDadBuiltThat]

Re: Camden plan. I thought City Beautiful planning had gone out of fashion a long time ago. Each of these towers stands alone in an ocean of green. No connection to anything else. Amazon wants a campus. This type of design is only good on paper.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by MyDadBuiltThat

Re: Camden plan. I thought City Beautiful planning had gone out of fashion a long time ago. Each of these towers stands alone in an ocean of green. No connection to anything else. Amazon wants a campus. This type of design is only good on paper.

Green roofs. It took me a little while to grok it, green on green is a bit confusing. But that's what the renderings are showing.

[MyDadBuiltThat]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

Green roofs. It took me a little while to grok it, green on green is a bit confusing. But that's what the renderings are showing.

Well that's better then. Thanks. It looked the green roofs of enormous parking garages.

[domodeez]

When I took a few shots at the beginning of the week, I wasn't aware the opening would be on Wednesday!

The Buccini/Pollin Group Wednesday opened its new apartment building MKT Place, located two blocks west of Market Street in another step to revitalize downtown Wilmington.

Residents will step into a fully remodeled building featuring 33 single-bedroom apartments, each including their own washer and dryer, breakfast bar, bathroom, living room, and brand new kitchen appliances.

“This is a great place to live,” said Mayor Purzycki. “Young people really want to be in cities, and in a place where they can walk to a restaurant, bar, entertainment and/or work. So these kinds of places are great for that purpose.”

Work out or entertain friends in one of the many included shared amenities, like a brand new gym, a club room, a place to park, and a corner art gallery which will feature work from local artists.

“You know that every new place that we are rebuilding over here [is] where people want to live,” said Purzycki. “[The addition] is a very affirmational gesture for our city.”

The Nomad Bar, Ernest & Scott Taproom, Brew HaHa!, and Benjamin’s on 10th are only some of the many restaurants and bars all within walking distance. In addition to the entertainment and food in the area, the YMCA of Delaware and Walgreens are both only two blocks away.

Gotta take a minute to highlight this. Nomad is the best bar in Wilmington (great jazz and other live music), and it's a block away. Stitch House Brewery, which opens soon and should be great, is just 2 blocks away.

http://www.wdel.com/features/video-m...ign=user-share

[jslice]

Does anyone know anything about the Astrazeneca campus in Fairfax? The DE Amazon bid listed that as a potential site? I thought they had sold the building but were leasing it for a good chunk of time? Does this indicate they're on their way out?

[skiesthelimit]

Originally Posted by jslice

Does anyone know anything about the Astrazeneca campus in Fairfax? The DE Amazon bid listed that as a potential site? I thought they had sold the building but were leasing it for a good chunk of time? Does this indicate they're on their way out?

iirc Delle Donne had bought the majority of the site (84 acres?) and are in the midst of planning a mixed used development or retail over there. I don’t think AZ is officially vacating the property quite yet.

[summersm343]

5 Wits debuts at Plymouth Meeting Mall to offer adventure amid shopping

Read more here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...-20171020.html

[Urbanthusiat]

UD breaks ground on $156 million biopharmaceuticals building

The University of Delaware broke ground Monday on an ambitious STAR Campus project that officials hope will propel UD and the state of Delaware to the forefront of biopharmaceutical research.

The $156 million project involves a six-story, 200,000-square-foot building that will be home to the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, a UD-led coalition of 150 companies, educational institutions, nonprofits and state governments.

The building, which will also house amphitheaters for teaching and other UD programs, is slated to open in January 2020.

"It will be a hub of innovation and discovery to advance both the science and the manufacturing of these biopharmaceuticals of the future and make them available to people,” UD President Dennis Assanis said

More: http://www.newarkpostonline.com/news...312240f3c.html

[summersm343]

^^Boom! Love it! Newark is on fire. Love the STAR Campus.

[summersm343]

Forget Amazon. Will the other big development projects Christie backed be good for Camden?

Gov. Christie has been good to Camden.

Good, as in $1.5 billion worth of state tax credits for more than a dozen major redevelopment projects; $133 million to build a new Camden High School, and sustained support for reconstituting the police department.

So good has this Republican governor’s administration been to this most Democratic of Democratic cities that even after endorsing Newark’s Amazon HQ2 bid rather than Camden’s, Christie got a heartfelt welcome last week from Mayor Dana L. Redd and many others at a downtown groundbreaking ceremony.

“No question he’s been a good friend to Camden,” Assemblywoman Patricia Egan Jones, a staunch Democrat whose district includes the city, told me.

The recent surge not only in groundbreakings, but ribbon-cuttings — the Holtec International manufacturing plant ($260 million in tax breaks) and 76ers headquarters and training facility ($82 million) — is impressive in its breadth.

And while two new corporate headquarters (American Water, $164 million in tax breaks; Subaru of America, $118 million) are isolated from the surrounding city, I’m glad they’re coming to town.

The enormous public investment of the Christie years would have to yield many thousands of new jobs to make a dent in Camden’s crippling rates of structural unemployment and generational poverty, let alone boost its chronically depressed housing market and ever-struggling small business community.

Perhaps I’m being too quick to judge: The new Subaru and existing Campbell Soup headquarters will someday be part of a corporate campus called Knight’s Crossing, which would have a stop on the long-planned Camden-Glassboro rail line as well as better connections with downtown and the neighborhoods.

The health sciences center, the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and the recently opened Rutgers Nursing and Science building, three essential components of a proposed downtown “eds and meds” corridor, seem designed to be part of the city. The nursing building even offers a bit of retail space along Federal Street, once a major shopping thoroughfare.

So while it’s fair to say Christie has been good to Camden, the fairest answer to the question of whether Christie has been good for Camden is: I hope so.

Read more here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/columni...-20171023.html

[jonesrmj]

Very recently, colonial parking took the 1001-1011 Jefferson Street lot off their "Available Properties" page. Just to give a refresh, it was this lot with this sign:




And here is the wiki link about the site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1001-1...fferson_Street

The sign showed a 510 foot (155 meter) [35 floor] tower! Now even if it was just a parcel to attract developers, the fact that it is no longer up for grasp on colonial parking's website means that someone might have leased/bought the property and will build something here!

[summersm343]

West Chester - Market St & S. Franklin St.

Anybody here about this development? Is this potentially new? Looks like a new 6-story mixed use building.

http://www.bernardon.com/project/co-...x=buildingtype

[summersm343]

Equus buys Lansdale station site for 181-unit apartment complex

Equus Capital Partners Ltd. has acquired a 6.7-acre site beside Lansdale’s SEPTA Regional Rail Line station, with plans for a complex of seven three- and five-story buildings with 181 apartments and 15,500 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Equus plans to begin building the project, called Madison Lansdale Station, in mid-November. The first apartment units and retail spaces will be available for occupancy in fall 2018, the company said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...-20171025.html

[summersm343]

Main Line Health eyes King of Prussia expansion

Main Line Health is in the early stages of planning to expand its suburban presence with the construction of a major new building at the Village at Valley Forge.

Main Line Health is seeking to have what has been described as a 96,000-square-foot office building constructed on property that sits across from the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel and next to land on which Korman Communities is developing its AVE multifamily complex, according to people familiar with the plans. The timing of the project is unknown at this point.

“Main Line Health is exploring the potential of an outpatient health center in the Village at Valley Forge,” said Bridget Therriault, a spokeswoman for Main Line Health. “We anticipate continuing discussions with the township and property owners, Realen Valley Forge Green Associates, over the next several months. King of Prussia continues to grow as a premier destination in our region. In particular, the Village at Valley Forge will offer residential housing, retail shopping, entertainment, and dining. This location offers Main Line Health an opportunity to serve our patients’ health and wellness needs, with convenience and quality, right where they live, work and enjoy life.”

Also at the Village at Valley Forge, Children’s Hospital is reportedly in the early stages of expanding.

CHOP already has a 120,000-square-foot specialty care center fronting North Gulph Road on an 8.84-acre site it bought in 2013. There is room and existing approvals for CHOP to expand on that site and it has reportedly acquired or in the process of buying another nearby parcel for additional future expansion, according to people familiar with the plans. Through a spokeswoman, CHOP said it didn’t have “any details” about any expansion plans at this point in time.

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...expansion.html

[domodeez]

Not directly development related, but folks in here will be glad to hear Parkmobile is now available in downtown Wilmington, which will help the city's ongoing revitalization:

Drivers can pay Wilmington parking meters from their phones

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/...ers/798098001/

[jonesrmj]

Uploaded a new video on the tallest buildings in Wilmington if anyone is interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs2Zzg8n6Lo

[summersm343]

Lidl to develop 36K SF store in Montgomery County

Lidl, a German grocery chain, will move forward with developing a new 36,000-square-foot store at the corner of Ridge Pike and Trooper Road in Lower Providence, Pa.

The grocer will combine four parcels, one of which is the former Norristown Ford dealership that closed in 2007 after 47 years in business, and raze all of the structures on the property including a Sunoco gas station, to make way for the new store. The project has been in the works for the last year and the township has signed off on all approvals for it.

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ce-montco.html

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by jonesrmj

Uploaded a new video on the tallest buildings in Wilmington if anyone is interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs2Zzg8n6Lo

Nice compilation!

[wcphil]

Re: the w.c. proposal: A developer bought it late last year I think and Rubinstein's moved out for this project. However, there is a sign that says available on the site now. Not sure if that means the project is dead. Would be a great building for that location if they go ahead with it.

[jonesrmj]

Originally Posted by wcphil

Re: the w.c. proposal: A developer bought it late last year I think and Rubinstein's moved out for this project. However, there is a sign that says available on the site now. Not sure if that means the project is dead. Would be a great building for that location if they go ahead with it.

Are you talking about the Jefferson Street lot? :