Archive for the 'Urban Philadelphia' Category

Suburban Development An Economic Loser For All Cities

Published May 29, 2012 Urban Philadelphia Leave a Comment
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The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, now better known as The Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard in the United States and more recently has become one of the biggest adaptive re-use projects in the country.  After the U.S. Navy reduced its activities in the early 1990s and ended most by 1995, a large portion of the yard was left abandoned and created a large eyesore along Philly’s southern edge.  But due to the site’s size, city planners saw an opportunity and soon got to work creating a new master plan for the area with the goal of transforming the yard back into something economically viable.

Over the past few years, with the help of large tax incentives, the early pieces of the master plan have taken shape. Large companies like Urban Outfitters have moved their headquarters to the campus, transforming previously unused buildings into economically viable parcels.  What great stories the Navy Yard can now tell: a new waterfront community is developing, creative adaptive reuse has taken hold, and sustainable, green building and neighborhood techniques have become the norm.   While these are no doubt positive narratives for Philadelphia to tout, it isn’t hard to argue that the overall effect of this success has actually been a negative for the local economy of Philadelphia and specifically Center City.

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Density the Keystone to Philly’s Vitality

Published May 8, 2012 Urban Philadelphia Leave a Comment
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Spread Bagelry, the popular Montreal-style bagel eatery, is spreading its wings (pun intended) and opening a bakery across the street at 269 S. 20th Street in the former Brown Betty Peitite space.  In recent weeks, a ‘Coming Soon’ sign has appeared and the name of the new bakery has been revealed: Spread Bake Shop.  The new Spread will specialize in muffins, biscotti, scones, baked pies, and loose bagels for those who don’t want to stumble across the street for their fix.   While high-rise projects are exciting, developments such as these should not be taken lightly as they are a sign of a neighborhood’s enduring vitality – small shops such as Spread are entirely dependent on a healthy amount of foot traffic and neighborhood density to exist and they add to the quality of life for nearby residents.

While Spread’s opening is a good sign for Rittenhouse’s current health as a neighborhood, a number of existing regulations threaten its viability long term.  According to the most recent State of Center City report, Rittenhouse is one of the slowest-growth neighborhoods in Center City, adding 8.3% to its population between 2000 and 2010.  On top of this, the demographic trend of the neighborhood since 1990 shows growth slowing.  As Rittenhouse has become more and more in demand, empty lots have been built upon, rents have risen, and the wealthy have converted multi-family townhomes into single family residences.  On top of this, overly-restrictive regulations cap new development heights at 45 feet for a large majority of the neighborhood.  If these issues are left unfettered and regulations left in place, Rittenhouse will max out in population and eventually dedensify and lose the vibrancy it currently enjoy.  Shops like Spread and other will no longer be able to rely on constant foot traffic, close up shop, and the neighborhood will become as homogenous in use as it is in income level.

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Recent Waves of NIMBYism Threatens Progressivity, Dynamism in Center City

Published May 1, 2012 Urban Philadelphia Leave a Comment
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Lately it seems Center City residential development is picking up serious momentum as new projects and proposals are popping up everywhere.  This is great news for Center City as it looks to build off continued population gains, add new residents, and become the desirable true ‘24-hour’ urban center. Standing in the way of these ideals are the same small groups of existing residents that have defined the status quo and stymied new development across cities for decades: NIMBYs.  In Philly, an alarmingly high number of recent projects have either been thwarted or scaled down due to the incessant cries of a few residents.

Despite Market West’s latest embrace with high density residential development, much of Center City is still not too keen on the idea of taller buildings in their neighborhood.  Over in Washington Square, a developer’s desire to build a condominium tower behind the Dilworth House while repurposing the historic structure has been blocked by neighbors and preservationists desire to maintain the property as a single-family house.  In Old City, Brown-Hill Development’s plan to build a mixed-use project at 2nd and Race streets has been put on-hold because a few residents believe the new structure would be too tall and represent an “overbuildup.”

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Philly: Center City Parking Requirements: How Low Can (And Should) You Go?

Published April 23, 2012 Urban Philadelphia 2 Comments
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If the developers of a proposed residential/commercial mixed-use project have their way, the parking spaces in this Sansom Street lot will disappear forever. It's the wave of the future, according to a recent research report.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) recently released an interesting report“Transportation and the New Generation: Why Young People Are Driving Less and WhatIt Means for Transportation Policy” that studies what appears to be a shift in automobile consumer behavior by those traditionally most intent to drive – 16- to 34-year-olds.  From the report:

By 2011, the average American was driving 6 percent fewer miles per year than in 2004.

The trend away from driving has been led by young people.

From 2001 to 2009, the average annual number of vehicle-miles traveled by young people (16- to 34-year-olds) decreased from 10,300 miles to 7,900 miles per capita – a drop of 23 percent.

The report also provides remarks on the future of federal transportation policy:

Policy-makers and the public need to be aware that America’s current transportation policy – dominated by road building – is fundamentally out-of-step with the transportation patterns and expressed preferences of growing numbers of Americans.

This trend is relevant to Center City, considering the area holds twice the national average of residents ages 25-34 and 38% of residents already walk to work.  READ MORE HERE….

Philly: For Market West, the Density is in the Details

Published April 17, 2012 Urban Philadelphia , Urban Policy Leave a Comment
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With the addition of nearly 1,000 high-rise residential units coming online over the next 18 months, the urban landscape of Market Street West is expected to dramatically shift.  Construction on the 2116 Chestnut building is well underway, a 34-story residential tower that will bring over 300 units.  The former AAA building conversion at 21st and Market Street is also progressing nicely and will soon add 275 apartments to the area.  Finally, a 236 unit, 14-story tower is expected to be built at 19th and Arch Streets.  These projects, coupled with the recent success of the nearby 43-story Murano condominium tower prove this part of town is quickly becoming one of the most sought after for residential living in urban Philly.  For urban enthusiasts and developers alike, these projects are very exciting for the future of Center City.

These developments signify positive progress for Market West for a number of reasons.  Certainly this part of town is in desperate need of more diverse land uses to inject vitality and energy during evening hours and weekends.  But also, high-rise residential living is in short supply compared to its rowhouse counterpart and world class cities like Philly ought to provide a larger variety of living options to attract diverse residents.

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UrbanOut Resurrection

Published April 11, 2012 Urban Philadelphia 3 Comments
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Since moving to Philadelphia, this blog has taken a back seat to seemingly more paramount things related to discovering this City, finding my way at the new job, the trials and tribulations of relationships, making new friends, and 2nd and 3rd jobs.  Fortunately for this blog, I was recently hired by a Philadelphia Real Estate blog to write about urban development and related issues in and around Center City.  My task is to produce 4 pieces a week related to anything and everything urban.  In doing so I figured I would reinvigorate this site and cross-post here with the hope of connecting old readers to what’s happening in Philly while picking up new readers here as well. Expect new material from here on out – regularly.

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Out With the Ugly Infill

Published July 18, 2011 Urban Philadelphia 5 Comments
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Snobbery isn’t a trait I find very attractive in many people, especially when it’s directed at superficial things like cars, house’s, school districts, and clothes.  And yet, I can’t help but take full ownership of my own snobbery regarding urban forms and how easy I believe it is to implement them properly.  It may be the snob in me, but I honestly believe developing and maintaining good urban forms is really a simple concept:

  • Step One – Open your eyes
  • Step Two – Take note of the streets, neighborhoods, and cities that attract investment, have strong sense of place characteristics, and are aesthetically pleasing
  • Step Three – Emulate them
  • Step Four – Done!

And yet, my recent move to the Northern Liberties neighborhood in Philadelphia has brought me back to reality and made me realize that maybe this isn’t such a simple concept and maybe my snobbery has clouded better judgment.  Essentially, my first impression is that the neighborhood has been inundated with urban infill that diminishes the great forms that already exist and therefore threaten the very reason the area has attracted so much investment to begin with.

To understand why this is happening in a place like Northern Liberties takes a bit of storytelling.  A long time ago, in the 1990’s, Philadelphia’s Center City started becoming extensively gentrified, modernized and no longer affordable to the masses.  As real estate prices increased, this effect began spilling out into surrounding neighborhoods, eventually landing in Northern Liberties just north of Old City.  Since the 1950’s, the neighborhood has seen its fair share of demolitions and neglect, leaving large swaths of land ripe for large-scale redevelopment.  This fact coupled with gentrification pressures moving into the neighborhood bore the fruit of large-scale urban infill development throughout Northern Liberties.

This is where the spotty infill comes into the story, a phenomenon that seemed to happen for three reasons:

  1. There wasn’t enough regulation or strong enough a Neighborhood Plan to enforce better infill standards from the onset
  2. The developer’s are likely not attuned to what types of forms make a great neighborhood
  3. The individual developer is more concerned with their bottom line than creating a cohesive neighborhood and thus uses ‘edgy’ materials and irregular building placements as a marketing tool to stand out in the crowd rather than fit in.

While I am sure individual developers have had immense profits from their developments throughout Northern Liberties, the collective neighborhood has been left with a number of issues, outlined in the series of images below:

Garage doors abound on ground floor residential streets, with no entrance articulation

Buildings are positioned at odd angles and do not provide cohesive urban building walls

Buildings ignore street corners

Cheap materials

Buildings don’t address public parks (this sits across the street from Northern Liberties premiere park)

Creates monotonous walls that don’t activate the ROW

Poor parking design

All of these examples, while individually annoying, collectively make for a bigger problem and create an urban realm that seems more like an odd patchwork collection of buildings than a unified district.  I am not calling for building or material monotony; I am simply stating the need for a more cohesive product that achieves a sustainable neighborhood worth caring about long-term.  My fear is that because a unified district is not being recreated in many Northern Liberties streets, overall sense of place will suffer and in 30 years the area will once again fall into neglect and disrepair.

All is not lost though as the neighborhood still has many opportunities to fill in the fabric gaps that still exist.  But post-recession, investment seems to be picking up steam again and new infill projects are constantly rising from the ground.  Therefore, the neighborhood needs to develop even better standards for urban infill projects; ones that compliment the very reason infill is happening to begin with: the existing historic fabric already in place.  My hope is that this can happen and Northern Liberties can maintain and build upon its current upswing for many years to come.

Goodbye Indianapolis – I’ll Miss You / Don’t Call Me, I’ll Call You

Published July 12, 2011 Urban Indianapolis , Urban Philadelphia 7 Comments
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If you have ever read this blog and followed the ‘Walking the Walk’ series about being car-free in Indy, you know that my walking habits rarely veered away from a few key streets in Downtown.  For two years this was the life I lived, with no real desire to wander off course.  But since June of this year, all that changed when my life took a significant detour off my normal walking routes and landed me in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I now live.  Earlier this year, I pursued a career opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.  After a long interview process, a lot of waiting around, and traveling to and from Philadelphia I eventually landed the job I sought out.  I now work for a national planning and urban design firm in Center City, Philadelphia and am still trying to adjust to my new life and figure out the best walking routes to work (well…more like the best subway routes).  With this detour away from Indiana and the Midwest came the realization that I must say goodbye to what was my home for the past two years.  But as of now, I’m not sure how to say goodbye to Indianapolis.

I guess I have one of those ‘love-hate’ relationships with the City; so much so that I find myself torn between wanting to say “goodbye I will miss you – stay in touch” and “it’s not you, it’s me; don’t call me, I’ll call you.”  For me to sort through this ambivalence I think a thorough list of the pros and cons of Indianapolis is required.

First the pros.  I love Indianapolis because ultimately, the City will always be my city of firsts: my first big job out of school, my first apartment all to my self, my first car-free lifestyle experience, my first blog about urbanism, etc.  These coming-of-age ‘firsts’ allowed me to become a stronger individual and develop a truer personal identity.  So thank you Indianapolis for being the platform for these important ‘firsts’ in my young adult life, I truly appreciate it.

As these amorous feelings begin to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, I am quickly reminded of the dichotomous relationship I have with the Circle City and begin to think that maybe it’s a better idea to coldly text “goodbye” from my East Coast digs and never look back – simple and swift.

Now the cons.  As an urban planner and designer and a self-proclaimed progressive in the field, I found Indianapolis frustrating, sometimes excruciatingly so.  Among my like-minded peers, these sentiments are typical in mid-sized, newer Midwest cities like Columbus, Kansas City, and Des Moines where there is an urban legacy shortage on amenities such as a strong public transit system, high quality urban designs, and high residential densities.  Therefore, there seems to be little dialogue on improving such amenities because, without a point of past reference, things are all-too-often seen as ‘fine as is’.  And when there actually is a fair amount of dialogue, it is often met with strong resistance and bickering, eventually resulting in a product or improvement that is heavily watered down.  Yes, it is fair to say I am thus far enjoying living in Philadelphia where these amenities are the rule not the exception.

So ok, I know I just seriously ragged on Indianapolis for the better part of the last paragraph.  But upon further reflection regarding this issue of frustration and malaise with regard to urban planning progressivity in the City, I can’t help but also think that this downside, with all its implied shortcomings, is also what makes Indianapolis very intriguing.  Given the size of Indianapolis, what better place to stand up, actually be heard, and make a difference on progressive urban issues?  Whereas it seems rather easy to get lost in the shuffle in bigger cities like Philadelphia or New York, the progressive urbanist community in Indianapolis is smaller, providing an excellent arena to sharpen your point-of-view and make a difference on these issues moving forward.  On top of this, the City provides a relative ‘blank canvas’ to work with, allowing progress to happen more quickly as opposed to other cities like Cincinnati and Cleveland where legacy costs and larger bureaucracies are more of an issue.

Ok, reflection time is over, for now anyway.  In the end, I suppose the aforementioned cons of Indianapolis have, by the end of my reflection, turned into yet another pro for the City and why I see so much potential there.  So it looks like my relationship with Indy won’t end via any awkward texts; no short emails; no uncomfortable phone calls.  Instead, I’ll simply say “I’ll see you later.”  I hope the City feels the same.

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