PHILADELPHIA | 709 Chestnut Street | 327 FT | 27 FLOORS - Page 3

iheartphilly · #41 Posted **Jul 16, 2015, 3:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechTalkGuy

Well, it's no St. James, but time will tell.

Agreed. The St. James high-rise in Washington Square is really underrated in design and style. And, to know that it only cost $80 million to build this 498 ft. building in 2001 is really mind blowing...considering the cost of some of our recently constructed building of similar heights. What's even more shocking is the price tag for Comcast Center and CITC. Take $ 1 billion and divided by 80 millions, and we could of built 10-12 500 footers 14 years ago

lsksl · #42 Posted **Jul 16, 2015, 3:18 AM**

huh? St James as in the building on Walnut? This will actually look pretty much like that in real life.
This is just a low quality rendering. I bet a higher quality one would show that it has a similar concept/design to the St James except for the curves.
I really like this project and hope it breaks ground soon. Very decent height and design for the location.

boxbot · #43 Posted **Jul 16, 2015, 3:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by summersm343

Rendering from the North side:

http://www.intechconstruction.com/cu...p?mode=0&id=3#

Why does there appear to be exposed beams on the ground floors in the rear?

TechTalkGuy · #44 Posted **Jul 16, 2015, 4:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxbot

Why does there appear to be exposed beams on the ground floors in the rear?

Well, considering it's a computerized render, I wouldn't jump to conclusions.
My hope is that this low-rise tower looks nice when it's facade begins to take shape.

I recall many low-rise towers in Manhattan that make my head turn.
I am hoping this would do the same!

McBane · #45 Posted **Jul 16, 2015, 1:46 PM**

Put me down in the I LIKE THE ST. JAMES category. Sure enough, it's nothing sexy but the builders avoided Philadelphia cliches (red brick base or a traditional design) and didn't go the all-glass route either. It's a simple but somewhat unique design (for Philly) executed with quality materials.

The renderings for 700 Chestnut are crude but I detect cheap paneling.

boxbot · #46 Posted **Jul 16, 2015, 2:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechTalkGuy

Well, considering it's a computerized render, I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

You're suggesting they got down to the fourth floor of the render and said, "good enough. It's Miller Time!"

TechTalkGuy · #47 Posted **Jul 16, 2015, 11:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxbot

You're suggesting they got down to the fourth floor of the render and said, "good enough. It's Miller Time!"

I was on break at work when I read this comment earlier today and truth be told -- I actually laughed out loud!!

I was laughing so hard, I was coughing into a paper towel!!

summersm343 · #48 Posted **Oct 27, 2015, 11:23 PM**

Spoke with Roseland reps today. This is moving forward. Should see final designs soon. Also could be under construction by summer of next year.

jjv007 · #49 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 7:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by summersm343

Spoke with Roseland reps today. This is moving forward. Should see final designs soon. Also could be under construction by summer of next year.

Great news, too much complaining on these threads lol. Save that for 1919 Market.

1487 · #50 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 7:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjv007

Great news, too much complaining on these threads lol. Save that for 1919 Market.

But you have to admit, this building would be much better if it was another 300ft! A shame an opportunity is being lost for a nice 600 footer.

jjv007 · #51 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 7:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1487

But you have to admit, this building would be much better if it was another 300ft! A shame an opportunity is being lost for a nice 600 footer.

True, but Philly needs more buildings in the 400-500 ft. range. When compared to other major cities, they have much less. 600 ft. would be nice for sure but 32 floors doesn't seem too bad to me. Not really an expert on these things, but I'm guessing that should come up to close to 400 ft?

br323206 · #52 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 7:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjv007

True, but Philly needs more buildings in the 400-500 ft. range. When compared to other major cities, they have much less. 600 ft. would be nice for sure but 32 floors doesn't seem too bad to me. Not really an expert on these things, but I'm guessing that should come up to close to 400 ft?

We have less compared to what cities? NYC and Chicago? Sure.

When you look at just the other cities with over one million in population:

Boston has 13 in the 400-500 ft range.
Houston has 21.
LA has 12.
Phoenix has 2.
San Fran has 32.
San Antonio has 3.
San Diego has 13.
Dallas has 9.

The mean is 13. The median is 13. We have 19. So we actually have more buildings in that range than other major cities. We are only surpassed by Chicago, NYC, Houston, and San Francisco--and Houston's are spread out over a huge area with tons of surface parking in between.

Knight Hospitaller · #53 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 7:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by br323206

-and Houston's are spread out over a huge area with tons of surface parking in between.

...and San Francisco is a special case. In any event, 1487 was clearly joking.

MikeNigh · #54 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 8:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

...and San Francisco is a special case. In any event, 1487 was clearly joking.

Why is San Fran a special case?

Knight Hospitaller · #55 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 9:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

Why is San Fran a special case?

Geology/Terrain.

McBane · #56 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 9:19 PM**

Obviously 1487 was joking. But 7th and Chestnut and 19th and Market are very different animals. Here, 32 floors (roughly 350-375 feet) is very respectable. At 19th and Market, it's our business district and one of the very few areas that developers could go as high as they want without much blowback from NIMBYs. 19th and Market was a fairly large lot and so I think it's perfectly acceptable for people to be mildly disappointed in what we got.

As for building heights in Philly, we have a ton of 300-500 footers. Part of it is the legacy of the Gentleman's Agreement. Where Philadelphia "lacks" are buildings in the 500-700 range. SLS and the W are 590 and 582 feet respectively, which is good to see. Anything over 300 feet east of Broad, to me at least, is positive (from a height/skyline perspective). I may not love the current renderings, but the height is definitely fine with me.

*Disclaimer: yes, we want new buildings to make an impact on our skyline but I think we still recognize that's secondary to replacing parking lots and bringing energy, jobs, people, and retail to the street.

br323206 · #57 Posted **Oct 28, 2015, 10:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Geology/Terrain.

Exactly... and Geography. A great urban fabric of high-rises thanks to the constrained area.

1487 · #58 Posted **Oct 29, 2015, 12:12 PM**

The good news is there will finally be some significant change in the look of the skyline east of broad after virtually no activity since the St. James. Its been dead on the east side in terms of new buildings, even after we had the condo boom of the mid 2000s. At the minimum you have this building, 1213 walnut, East market and 500 Walnut. Now we need some activity around 7th and market. I also hope the 2nd tower at East Market is more than 17 added floors- it would be nice to get something as tall as PSFS.

Scottydont · #59 Posted **Oct 29, 2015, 12:55 PM**

Long time lurker, no architectural background, just an enthusiast.

With that said, am I the only one bummed out that this parking lot is gonna be gone?

Anytime I'm going to the nicer restaurants down in the area, I tend to park here.

Arch+Eng · #60 Posted **Oct 29, 2015, 1:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by br323206

When you look at just the other cities with over one million in population:

Boston has 13 in the 400-500 ft range.
...

Boston population is ~650k. I am so tired of hearing Boston's name in any city talk comparing to Philly. It simply can not compete.

Boston and Baltimore maybe...