PHILADELPHIA | 3737 Chestnut l 278 FT l 25 FLOORS

[Swinefeld]

Developer gets green light for mixed-use tower and office building at site adjacent to the Episcopal Cathedral

UC Review • Wed, Jul 17, 2013
By Nicole Contosta
Staff Reporter

The Historical Commission issued a swift and final approval to the mixed-use project on the land parcel, owned the Episcopal Cathedral, at 37th-38th and Chestnut Streets, at its monthly meeting, Friday, July 12th.

http://ucreview.com/developer-gets-g...te-p4126-1.htm

[summersm343]

Nice that it will have an office component. This is definitely moving full steam ahead. Bozzuto has been hired as Property Management.

[summersm343]

Article about this

http://blog.philadelphiarealestate.c...h-and-rectory/

[Jelly Roll]

Also on Wednesday, the zoning board approved variances for the proposed construction of a 276-unit apartment complex at 38th and Chestnut street, on property owned by the Episcopal Cathedral. The project, which involves the demolition of a few brownstone buildings on the site, was previously approved by the Historical Commission. According to attorney Neil Sklaroff, the project should have been able to proceed by right under the old zoning code and pursuant to a bill introduced by 3rd-District Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, but an L&I plan examiner refused it based on the new code.

Sklaroff said that Blackwell had reintroduced the rezoning bill and that it was passed out of the Rules Committee before Council went on summer recess. But, he said, the developer cannot wait until Council reconvenes in the fall to get zoning and building permits, so they had to go to the zoning board.

The board approved the zoning application, with the proviso that the developers add 30 more bicycle parking spaces, to bring the total to 92.

http://planphilly.com/articles/2013/...h-and-montrose

[summersm343]

Interior demo has started on the rowhomes.

[summersm343]

Construction fencing up. Brownstones should be coming down shortly

[summersm343]

http://hiddencityphila.org/2013/10/h...artment-tower/

Article on this... looks like they may be calling it "38 Chestnut." The building will be completed by summer 2015

[summersm343]

Looks like construction on this will begin this year. Demolition of the two existing brownstones on site will happen this month

http://www.westphillylocal.com/2013/...molished-soon/

[summersm343]

More interior demo of rowhomes

[Insoluble]

Those brownstones were pretty decent looking. It's too bad they had to go, but I'll buy that it's worth demoing them to keep the church and get some nice density as an added bonus.

summersm343 posted a link to a Hidden City article with a new render, that I didn't see posted here:



From Hidden City: Historically Designated Brownstones To Be Demolished, Replaced By Apartment Tower

Not too sure about that earwax yellow color. I like this from a density and urban design standpoint, but I'm really not feeling the architecture. Maybe this will be one that turns out better than the renderings.

[bywoods]

Demolition has started on the historic townhouses.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by bywoods

Demolition has started on the historic townhouses.

Nice! And welcome to the forum!

[summersm343]

This will break ground Thursday. It is officially titled 38Chestnut

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...opment-at.html

[Flyers2001]

and the rise of cranes in UCity continues. This building is really going to standout where it is. I am glad to see something of this height as far west as it is. The high-rise area is really extending to the west and with a couple projects around Temple to the North. With proposals east of Broad and on the waterfront its a real positive sign of high-rise growth.

Now if we can get some real game changers and "out-of-the-box" designs.

[Pennsgrant]

Originally Posted by Insoluble

Not too sure about that earwax yellow color. I like this from a density and urban design standpoint, but I'm really not feeling the architecture. Maybe this will be one that turns out better than the renderings.

Perhaps the color is supposed to compliment the nearby washed out looking Harnwell Towers . Don't understand it. Why go to all this trouble and come up with somethng so milquetoast?

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Pennsgrant

Perhaps the color is supposed to compliment the nearby washed out looking Harnwell Towers . Don't understand it. Why go to all this trouble and come up with somethng so milquetoast?

That's highly doubtful. By the way, only one of those towers is called "Harnwell," or Harnwell College House. The other two towers are called, respectively, Rodin College House and Harrison College House. Each one is, since Penn started its college house system in the 1990s, one of Penn's 11 (and soon to be 12) college houses. And they're several blocks away from this new tower and have nothing to do with it, either institutionally or even in terms of location. The 3 college house towers are owned by Penn and part of its campus, while this new tower is a private development by the Episcopal Church and has nothing to do with Penn (other than both being in University City). Quite frankly, I can't imagine the 3 college house towers playing ANY role in the design or esthetic of the new tower at 38th and Chestnut.

And I think you guys should stop thinking of University City as having or developing a "skyline," except perhaps for the eastern fringe as it relates to Center City. With (1) a 300-acre leafy Ivy League campus smack in the middle of it, (2) Drexel's ongoing efforts to give its campus and neighborhood more of the feel of a residential university as it foresakes its historical reputation as a commuter school, and (3) the focus of University City development being educational, research, and some high-tech incubator activity, you need to think more in terms of a Cambridge (as in Harvard and MIT) kind of vibe, and not a Center City canyon of towers. At least that's the way I've always understood the development plans of Penn, University City, and now Drexel as I've followed them for decades.

Remember that the largest driving force in University City--Penn--sees itself as competing with the likes of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Brown as fellow urban Ivy League schools. And while Penn seeks to better connect its campus and University City with Center City (hence the Evo and FMC towers being constructed on land owned and controlled by Penn), it does NOT want to turn its neighborhood and campus into merely an extension of Center City either visually or in atmosphere.

[summersm343]

More renderings:



http://www.phillymag.com/property/20...-headlines-25/

[Pennsgrant]

Originally Posted by Philly Fan

Penn does NOT want to turn its neighborhood and campus into merely an extension of Center City either visually or in atmosphere.

Some valid points but keep in mind there is going to be 450' and 650' towers going up at Penn's front door. Obviously they aren't trying to copy the bucolic campus mode of Princeton or Cornell. If Penn didn't want those towers there they wouldn't have gotten the green light. They seem perfectly happy with an urban campus. The way things are shifting back to urban cities that may bode well for Penn + Drexel.

All I was trying to say was they are building 4 or 5 200'-300' towers as we speak in University City . As a city Why not make your mark and have a well coordinated plan picking up the skyline from Center City into University City. Not with midrise 200' towers but 400' skyscrapers. For instance say Comcast built 2 500' towers housing 2000 new employees on the Firestone site. Makes University City,Drexel,Penn, and Philadlephia all the more dynamic.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by Pennsgrant

Some valid points but keep in mind there is going to be 450' and 650' towers going up at Penn's front door. Obviously they aren't trying to copy the bucolic campus mode of Princeton or Cornell. If Penn didn't want those towers there they wouldn't have gotten the green light. They seem perfectly happy with an urban campus. The way things are shifting back to urban cities that may bode well for Penn + Drexel.

All I was trying to say was they are building 4 or 5 200'-300' towers as we speak in University City . As a city Why not make your mark and have a well coordinated plan picking up the skyline from Center City into University City. Not with midrise 200' towers but 400' skyscrapers. For instance say Comcast built 2 500' towers housing 2000 new employees on the Firestone site. Makes University City,Drexel,Penn, and Philadlephia all the more dynamic.

Well, there are urban campuses, and then there are URBAN CAMPUSES. For example, there's the difference between the NYU "campus" and the Columbia campus in NYC, or between the Boston U "campus" and the Harvard campus in Boston/Cambridge. Penn DEFINITELY wants to be--and is--more akin to the latter, which are more traditional campuses set in the midst of larger urban areas. As are Yale and Brown (albeit in smaller cities). So while I agree that Penn wants--and is getting--skyscrapers at its front door to Center City, it does NOT want the density of skyscraper development of Center City to extend further into University City or closer to the Penn campus. I've personally heard (at various alumni and donor functions) Amy Gutmann positively gush over the beauty of Penn's campus--both presently and as planned for the future--even while it connects more directly to Center City and its surrounding neighborhood. It's a hallmark of her administration (just take a look at her "Penn Compact"), and what Penn views as something it can pull off even better than its urban Ivy League rivals (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Brown). So my point is: don't look for University City to become an extension of Center City BEYOND the area near 30th Street Station.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by Pennsgrant

Some valid points but keep in mind there is going to be 450' and 650' towers going up at Penn's front door. Obviously they aren't trying to copy the bucolic campus mode of Princeton or Cornell. If Penn didn't want those towers there they wouldn't have gotten the green light. They seem perfectly happy with an urban campus. The way things are shifting back to urban cities that may bode well for Penn + Drexel.

All I was trying to say was they are building 4 or 5 200'-300' towers as we speak in University City . As a city Why not make your mark and have a well coordinated plan picking up the skyline from Center City into University City. Not with midrise 200' towers but 400' skyscrapers. For instance say Comcast built 2 500' towers housing 2000 new employees on the Firestone site. Makes University City,Drexel,Penn, and Philadlephia all the more dynamic.

Buildings are built out of demand. The developer is going to build as high as they thing the market demands. Why would Comcast build two 500 footers in UCity? Wouldn't you rather them build one Supertall in Center City next to the Comcast Center? You contradict yourself.