Philadelphia Construction: The Skinny

The folks at Philadelphiaskyline.com have been much more industrious when it comes to keeping up with the state of new construction projects in the city than I have. Take a look at their compendium of projects in The Skinny.

I covers most projects ranging from residential construction, cultural projects, transit projects etc. A good resource.

Philadelphia: an ephemeral city?

Interesting article positing a developing trend in major urban centers around the world:

The Rise of the Ephemeral City

About Philadelphia:

In places like Philadelphia, these central areas serve as "Potemkin cities" that persuade outsiders and suburbanites that the city is still habitable and worth visiting. But those who study the urban condition understand the limitations of this strategy. "Downtown has done great, but it does not represent the rest of Philadelphia," Gyourko says. "That's our story--a bright spot where fundamental decline is still in play."

This link came to me via Peter Merholz's blog.

Poked out of my hiatus

Well,

I have neglected this place for a while but have been prodded by a recent flood of comments to two entries about Philadelphia:

• Future Philadelphia Skyscrapers?
• Philadelphia Public Transit in Trouble

Not surprising given the recent news that Comcast will be proceeding with building its national HQ in Center City Philadelphia with, what will be, the tallest tower in the city and the news that SEPTA has been given some stop-gap funding to prevent huge fare increases and substantial reductions in service.

Alright, I have been shamed by the readers who are more willing to post here than I have been. I will re-energize this place.  Thanks.

Seattle

Just came back from a long weekend in Seattle with Laura. We visited the following neighborhoods:

• Downtown
• Pioneer Square District
• Belltown
• Capitol Hill
• Ballard
• Fremont
• Wallingford
• Lake Union area (Montlake/Eastlake)

The aesthetic appeal of the city involves the transitions between a dense, skyscraper-heavy hub and the lush, watery neighborhoods around it. High-rises and high-density housing blocks concentrate, for the most part, around the Downtown, Belltown and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Significant portions of the other neighborhoods have higher concentrations of low-elevation homes designed in a "mild" modernist style.

This offers residents a smooth shift between a highly urbanized visual experience and a less hectic and greener experience without having to travel "out" to the suburbanized areas. The greener areas of Seattle do not have the traditional suburban features (i.e., sprawled clusters of homes, roads leading to shopping hubs, reliance on traffic arteries). These neighborhoods are surrounded by northwestern greenery, but homes within them do not have large tracts of empty land isolating them from other homes. Modernist homes and bungalows lie close to each other but their privacy and individuality are conserved by the lushness around them.

Of course, this is an initial impression gathered from a four day visit and selective sampling of the neighborhoods. Other parts of Seattle will not fit this description (e.g., industrial South Seattle and certain spots in Ballard); but I think this description captures the essence of what was appealing about Seattle.

While I was there, Forbes Magazine released a list of the Most Overpriced Places of 2004 and Seattle came in as #1. In a nutshell, their reasoning boils down to the claim that "the cost of living and housing is not proportionate to the job and income growth in the area." A scan of real estate listings revealed that rentals are about 10-20% cheaper than in Philadelphia while the sales market was comparable (perhaps slightly higher). Given that I am mulling over a potential move and that Seattle is a prime candidate, I must admit that I did not sense it as overpriced -- though that may change if I know more about the typical salaries in the area and whether the homes in the removed islands and uber-wealthy regions are outrageously priced.

I shall post a Seattle photo album shortly.

Philadelphia Public Transit in Trouble

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has announced that it will be forced to:

• Eliminate all weekend service,
  
• Increase fares an average of 25 percent, and
  
• Fire 16 percent of its empoyees,

by January 1, 2005 if the state legislature does not increase its funding to cover a $62 million deficit.

See "SEPTA warns of deep cuts" in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.

Though I am not privy to the details of SEPTA's operations and budget, I believe they have a serious perception problem to address. SEPTA operates two urban subway lines, a citywide bus and trolley system, eight regional rail routes and one regional high-speed rail line.

The frequency of service does not compare to the frequency offered in other cities with a similar or smaller population number (think Boston or San Francisco). Stations and busses are often dirty, in disrepair and in dire need of renovations.

It is a mystery how a public transit system that is not as active in its service timetables and in its renovation initiatives as other cities can be is in such financial straits.

In a nutshell, the poor quality of SEPTA's service and facilities paired with the fact that its fares rank consistently among the top 3 in the nation makes one wonder whether a serious amount of mismanagement is occurring.

Granted, perhaps it is the case that SEPTA does not receive an adequate amount of state and/or national support. I do not know -- I will research and post what I can find.

Update
From Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers:

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania funds transit in a vastly different way from other states: (1) There is no single adequate, reliable funding source for public transit, (2) Transit agencies must recover half of all costs from their fare box. This has meant years of service cuts and higher fares.

Without reasonable increases in operating support from the Commonwealth, transit in Southeastern Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, is being pushed into a descending spiral of service reductions, fare increases and loss of ridership. For six of the past nine years, the state has not increased subsidies for public transportation; as little as three-percent increase per year would have avoided the crisis public transportation is now facing.

Regardless of whether SEPTA is bailed out or not, the city, state and national agencies need to clamp down on SEPTA and consider a serious overhaul of its operations.

Or so goes the perception of a disgruntled rider.

| Save Transit Coalition |
| Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers |
| Phillyblog Discussion Forum |
| Pennsylvania Senate Bill #1162 (PDF) - for the establishment of dedicated funding to public transportation systems |

Philadelphia's Center City Demographics, continued

The Center City District and Central Philadelphia Development Corporation have made available another report that presents a wealth of demographic, economic and cultural information about Center City Philadelphia.

Here is a sample of some of the illustrations / charts in the reports to give you a sense of what to expect:

| State of Center City 2004 (PDF) |
| Philadelphia's Center City Demographics - Elliptic Blog posting; 1/1/2004 |

"Creating a Competitive Destination City"

The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau has released a report designed to target investment and development initiatives in Philadelphia within the next five years with the aim of enhancing "the visitor experience in Center City Philadelphia." The report was prepared by the Center City District with MGA Partners, Architects.

One of the most interesting aspects of the report involves the discussion of "Gaps in the Fabric of the City" and the recommendation of treating a "Y" shaped area of Center City as top priority when it comes to substantial capital investments. The "Y" pattern is formed by:

• The Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Market Street East / Center Square
• Broad Street (north and south of City Hall)

It also discusses longer term development in, what it calls, the "Centennial District" and "Independence Harbor" -- the latter including Camden, NJ.

| "Creating a Competitive Destination City" (PDF) |

Slots in Center City?

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a good article by architecture critic Inga Saffron on the impact of proposed casino/slot construction in the Market East area.

A few observations:

• One proposal would like to demolish the entire block between 11th and 12th / Market and Chestnut.


• The proposed building in the article’s illustration is a travesty. Do we really need another concrete box on Market East? Isn’t the Gallery enough damage?


• Can you imagine what adding slot machines to service up to 40,000 people a day will do to that already unappealing area?


• Will the $160 savings in wage taxes per $40,000 of income be worth this?

If we must accept the existence of slots in Center City, couldn't we think of better spots for it? One that comes to mind: Tie them in to the Convention Center area without disrupting Chinatown. Focus on the area between North Broad and 13th Street / Arch and Callowhill.

Even more disturbing:

But the city will have to pay dearly for this infusion of revenue. The slots bill, which was rushed through the legislature without the usual opportunities for public comment, strips Philadelphia of planning and zoning powers over its future casinos. Instead, a seven-member, state-run gambling control board will decide the big design issues, from the location of the casinos down to the location of their garage driveways.

Benjamin Franklin Parkway

The Philadelphia Daily News has posted a special section discussing possible ways to improve the Parkway. In addition to several articles championing different projects and maintaining current features (e.g., introducing a line of cafes along the Parkway, keeping the baseball park, etc.), they offer a couple of PDFs depicting how the western and eastern halves of the Parkway could be developed.

| Philadelphia Daily News: "Rethinking the Parkway" section |
| PDFs: Eastern half :: Western half |

Update: Tax breaks for Comcast Tower

Following up on the previous post about the future of Philadelphia's skyline:

| Philadelphia Inquirer - "Tax breaks for two projects advance" |

Future Philadelphia Skyscrapers?

Skyscraper proposals have been swirling around this city lately. Some of them are residential in nature while others are designed to convince high-profile companies (e.g., Comcast) to stay put. The viability of these proposals depends, in part, on whether developers and tenants receive significant incentives and tax-breaks to make their commitment worth their while.

One particular area of debate with commercial developments is the creation of "Keystone Opportunity Zones" (KOZ) that would give tenants significant tax-breaks for occupying these new developments. The typical KOZ break includes a 10 or 15 year tax-free period. This has caused significant debate that can be sketched out quickly in this way:

KOZ tax-breaks will bring high-occupancy tenants and construction projects to the city leading to an increased number of Center City workers and development that will have a long-term economic impact on the area. Additional employees would pay the city wage tax and spend some of their funds in the city. vs.

The loss of tax-revenue allowed by the KOZ breaks will outweigh the economic impact of tenants and workers that would rather escape the city and spend their time and dollars in their suburban neighborhoods. In particular, the loss of revenue would be most damaging to the school district.

Many Philadelphians are worried that long tax breaks will cut off an important source of revenue for the city and replace it with the less predictable economic impact associated with office workers dwelling in the city. With this in mind, Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. has introduced an alternative incentive package for some of these proposed developments.

The city is about to undertake significant budget and city service cuts as a result of a shortfall in revenue. It is no longer clear that wage tax breaks that were going to be implemented in the coming years will, in fact, be implemented. Will the creation of KOZ tax breaks help or hinder the city's revenue?

Here are renditions of some of the new proposed developments in the works. Some hinge on the tax break situation, some do not while others are still in the earliest stages of their development.

• One Pennsylvania Plaza
  (commercial, 17th and JFK Blvd, Comcast Tower)
• Cira Centre
  (commercial, next to 30th St. Station)
  web site
• Philadelphia World Trade Square
  
  (commercial)
  web site
• CityCenter Tower
  (residential, off City Hall)
• 1441 Chestnut
  (residential)
  web site
• Symphony House
  (residential, Broad and Pine, near Kimmel Center)
  article
• 17th and Vine
  (unknown)

For those of you interested in the nitty-gritty details, here are some dueling reports to consider:

• The developers of the 17th and JFK Comcast Tower have posted a commissioned analysis of the economic benefits of their project (PDF),
• while the Center City Owners Association has posted a commissioned analysis outlining the potential demerits of the 17 & JFK and Cira Centre projects (PDF).

Rittenhouse Square and Development

Inga Saffron, the architecture critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer, has written a nice piece on the possible impact of development projects on Rittenhouse Square. Those developments include three new apartment towers, a 10-screen movie complex facing the park on the 1900 block of Walnut and a parking garage to hold 500 cars.

You can track some of the history of the movie complex and garage project by visiting this old post in EllipticBlog. Here's what Saffron has to say about the proposed garage and theater:

So, instead of privately funded housing, a $35.4 million publicly funded garage will be built on the square. It will pay no property taxes. The garage will bring 500 more cars to the overburdened square. Yet, owners of private garages just two blocks north, on Market Street, complain they can't fill their spaces in the evenings and on weekends...

...Individual residents continue to fight the Parking Authority's plan in court. On May 25, the Common Pleas court is expected to decide whether the agency can tear down three historic buildings on the site. Meanwhile, other residents have been waiting for more than a year to learn whether the state Supreme Court will consider their appeal of the city's zoning variances.

One thing we already know is that a garage and theater are not what zoning experts call "highest and best use." The frenzy of apartment construction around Rittenhouse Square is proof that this site has a better use.

| "Changing Skyline | Throngs from a garage and theater pose a threat to Rittenhouse Square" by Inga Saffron |

| Rittenhouse Square - from EllipticBlog's Photo Album |

Say It Ain't So!

Joe K. at OrangeCone.com, has put up a post about where the next "cool place" will emerge. Examples of previous cool places are: "Picasso's Paris, Weimar Berlin, Beatnick San Francisco, Swinging London, Post-Wall Berlin and dotcom San Francisco."

So what happens next? I'm betting that the movement moves back out to the suburbs. New Urbanism, which has been simmering for 20 years, seems to be gathering steam and, frankly, it's not because people are suddenly realizing how much more sense it makes; I think developers are realizing that there's a growing market for a new suburban Bohemia, a brand new, prefab, simulated, yet comfortable environment that symbolically links the values of the urban creative class to the manufacturing technology of the burbs.

Oh God. No. Please say it ain't so, Joe!

| Orange Cone: Manufactured Bohemia |

Philadelphia's Center City District Demographics

The Center City District and Central Philadelphia Development Corporation have made available several reports that present a wealth of demographic, economic and cultural information about Center City Philadelphia.

Here is a sample of some of the illustrations / charts in the reports to give you a sense of what to expect:

| Center City District of Philadelphia Publications |

Chomsky on Suburbanization

Chomsky usually is careful not to appeal to conspiracies since his detractors tend to describe many of his views as conspiracy theories and, thus, try to discredit the views. He usually replies that what he is describing is the cultural and institutional inertia of capitalist and governmental institutions. It is the ingrained culture and framework of presuppositions that lead to problematic behavior and not necessarily an agreed conspiracy among the powerful.

That said, it was with a bit of a disappointment that I read his views on suburbanization. He appeals to a conspiracy explicitly.

...take the fact that so many people live in the suburbs and everybody has to drive their own car everywhere. Was that the result of a "free market"? No, it was because the U.S. government carried out a massive social-engineering project in the 1950s to destroy the public transportation system in favor of expanding a highly inefficient system based on cars and airplanes -- because that's what benefits big industry. It started with corporate conspiracies to buy up and eliminate streetcar systems, and then continued with huge public subsidies to build the highway systems and encourage an extremely inefficient and environmentally destructive alternative. That's what led to the suburbanization of the country -- so you get huge shopping malls in the suburbs, and devastation in the inner cities.

Noam Chomsky; Understanding Power; p.256

Keep in mind that this is a transcript of an off-the-cuff talk he gave in the early 1990's and, as such, his simplification could, perhaps, be excused. The passage does have a footnote dedicated to justifying the accusation of "conspiracy".

I'm close to finishing the book, so I'll post a critical analysis sometime in the near future.

Bag Jones

I recently saw a beautifully designed briefcase from Nava Design at Fosters Urban Homeware down the street. I did a double-take, thought about getting it, and then simply moved on without it. Sure enough, it disappeared later that day and I cannot find a place on the Internet that has the exact model. Argh!

I can find the canvas versions, but not the brown "ecoleather" version that struck my fancy. Here are the blah midnight blue versions of the Cube Box and the Cube Brief -- not sure which one to get yet.

Here are some links to slake your thirst:

City Comforts Blog - A blog about "cities, architecture, the 'new urbanism,' real estate, historic preservation, urban design, land use law, landscape, transport etc etc from a mildly libertarian stance."

Zach Korb's "an affair with urban policy" - Excellent blog about urban affairs. Don't ignore the Photography section.

Walnut Street (between Front and 2nd St.) - A couple of developments are in the works in this block: the Bookbinders renovation and a residential condominium building at 101 Walnut.

On the Radar Screen

Given my interest in urban planning, it is shameful that I have yet to read this book hailed by many interested in the development of cities as an essential tome; as a seminal text of the New Urbanism movement. According to critics and pundits, the observations and predictions within The Death and Life of Great American Cities were prophetic. I'll have to check it out. Anyone out there who has read this?

The Design of Cities is a discussion of city planning principles dating from ancient Athens to modern Brasilia and is also considered an essential text. I must admit that my principal interest in it would be his discussion of Philadelphia. Edmund Bacon was the principal city planner who converted and developed Philadelphia throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s -- with mixed results.

Always wanted to get this DVD but always found some odd excuse not to get it at the moment. I could go on and on about the riddle of how Tarkovsky can manage to communicate philosophical and mystical themes without too much dialogue, but that would be a bit much and contrary to the spirit of his films. Watching Nostalghia provides the same phenomenological qualities as spending a long time watching rain and fog do their thing on a craggy, mossy landscape. Doesn't that sound like fun?

By the way, I decided to provide a public service for all of you who have a difficult time figuring out what gifts to give me -- a link to my Amazon Wish List. This is part of my quest to increase epistemic clarity for all.

| Project for Public Spaces | Eric's Amazon Wish List |

Disconnected Urbanism

"But the cell phone has changed our sense of place more than faxes and computers and e-mail because of its ability to intrude into every moment in every possible place. When you walk along the street and talk on a cell phone, you are not on the street sharing the communal experience of urban life. You are in some other place--someplace at the other end of your phone conversation. You are there, but you are not there."

Disconnected Urbanism; Paul Goldberger

Conflicts of Interest

So, it seems that the City of Philadelphia's Historic Commission has given the Philadelphia Parking Authority permission to demolish three historic buildings on the 1900 block of Sansom Street.

This demolition is part of a project to build an eight screen Ritz film complex, a restaurant, some retail spaces on Sansom St. and over- and underground parking for, at least, 500 cars. The current buildings on Sansom St. would be replaced with: a freight elevator tower, a loading dock, a garbage storage area and the access ramp to the parking spots. However, the commission did give permission with the condition that the facade of the Rittenhouse Cafe be integrated into the design.

Regardless of your views on the merits of this project and regardless of your general views on the tension between preservation and development, one aspect of this deal has to be disseminated widely and discussed:

1. The City Historic Commission gave the Philadelphia Parking Authority the go-ahead to demolish.
2. The Chairman of the City Historic Commission is Michael Sklaroff.
3. Micheal Sklaroff is also the lead attorney representing the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Sklaroff did recuse himself from the Historic Commission's decision-making process.

That's nice -- but the fundamental problem remains: the city has allowed the chairman of the commission designed to weigh and authorize development initiatives to be the same person who is hired by the Parking Authority and private developers to represent their construction initiatives.

This situation is such a prototypical example of a confilct of interest that I scratch my head and wonder if I am missing some subtlety.

Design Advocacy Group forum

Just came back from a forum organized by the Philadelphia Design Advocacy Group. The group invited the incumbent mayor, John Street (D), and Sam Katz (R), his opponent. Due to a "pressing engagement," Mayor Street could not attend but he was represented (to an extent) by Michael Sklaroff, Chairman of the City Historic Commission and an attorney for Ballard Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll.

The forum allowed them to present their vision for and analysis of Philadelphia's urban development initiatives while fielding questions from a panel of architects and the audience. I must admit I came in with negative judgments about the Street administration's initiatives; thinking that it had relied on the aura of the Rendell renaissance.

Though the issues discussed are too numerous and complex to outline here, I will offer what I took to be a fundamental difference between them. The Street representative repeatedly stressed that the current administration is concerned with proper, conscientious urban planning, but that it had to be equally as senstive to the "real world, real time" pressures. Major, high-visiblity initiatives such as redeveloping Penn's Landing, bolstering the public transportation network and championing major construction projects has to be tempered by the "realities of the market." Though we would love to have a vibrant Penn's Landing, an efficient and well-utilized public transportation network and architecturally significant buildings, the market to fund and lease these initiatives is simply not there yet. Thus, pragmatism tends to place most of these initiatives on holding patterns.

Sam Katz did attend and the vision he presented for urban development was more ambitious, giving plenty of lip-service to the aesthetic sensibilities of the overwhelmingly urbane and affluent audience. He's in favor of covering up I-95 at Penn's Landing (at an incremental pace dependent on evolving funding) and making the area a predominantly residential enclave rather than another hub for office buildings. He also envisions a more aggressive role undertaken by the city in order to modernize and manage public transportation (Sklaroff basically deferred such initiatives to SEPTA - our regional transit administration).

In a nutshell, Katz presented a more ambitious, aggressive vision and some plans to spark the market forces required to implement it. Sklaroff was more pragmatic and cautious while pointing out that while the Street administration's initiatives do not have the same visibility and "sexiness" factor, they have resulted in tangible quality of life improvements within neighborhoods and within inner city communities.

I, for one, lean toward the Katz vision -- we need to continue the aggressive initiatives begun by Edmund Bacon in the '50 and '60 and by Ed Rendell in the 90's. However, Sklaroff's plea to recognize and to not forget the less sexy initiatives is essential.

Glad I attended.

In The Metro

I am in the process of reading "In the Metro" by Marc Auge. It is a small book where he muses about his experiences in the Paris Metro and engages in "ethnography" of its population.

There is an interesting bit about the tendency to give stations the name of some historic figure (e.g., "Charles de Gaulle - Etoile") or of some famous feature of the area (e.g., "Bastille"). Perhaps those in charge of naming such stations believed that the names would foment an appreciation of the history of the city or an appreciation of the unique places of the city. Being confronted with those names on a daily basis as one moves from one point to another might cause further reflection about Charles de Gaulle's contribution to France, for instance.

Auge, however, notes that the effort to increase civic knowledge and pride by naming subway stations in this manner actually may have the opposite effect. Think of the times you have coursed through a public transportation system and looked at maps and signs to orient yourself. Perhaps, during your first encounter with these names, you may have had some sustained thoughts about their referents. As time passes and familiarity with the transportation system increases, however, the names lose that historical/regional reference and they simply become scribbles and/or noises referring to that stop where the dentist's office is.

Sure. This is a generalization -- but there is some truth to it. Yet, Auge does not condemn people for losing hold of the original referents of those terms. Oddly enough, losing touch of the historic or regional referents of those names and creating your own idiosyncratic associations with those names is part of the process of becoming a full-fledged member of the urban community you are in.

Auge asks you to think of times when you are commuting in your subway system and you witness a tourist near you. The tourist glances out of the window at the station you are in, smiles and says with a sigh "Ah, the Bastille." It is at those moments when you set aside your primary associations (e.g., the place where my dentist is, good bookstore a block away, crappy coffee) and recall the grander intent of the subway planners.

It is a nice discussion and there are several other incisive observations about our relationship to our subway systems ranging from the complicity we feel travelling to mass events (e.g., sports events, political rallies) to the highly personal, almost Proustian memories that specific subway stations trigger in us.

| In the Metro by Marc Auge | The Subway Page: Links to Subway Maps from around the world |

The Flâneur

Let's start with a discussion of what it means to be a flâneur. A simple definition would be "one who strolls aimlessly through urban spaces." Often, being a flâneur is associated with idleness and with the decadent luxury of having enough time to take those meandering strolls.

Though the original use of the term might have applied to folks that were decadent dilettantes with plenty of idle time, several writers, theorists and philosophers have appropriated the term and have used it to refer to a more complex activity. Walter Benjamin, in particular, has done the most to bolster the meaning of the term. Instead of assuming that those who have the time to wander aimlessly through urban landscapes are only engaged in a cursory and leisurely survey of their environment, Benjamin brought attention to the cognitive value and pleasures associated with urban strolling.

A flâneur, under this interpretation, becomes an active sociologist or reader of the environment around him or her. As urban landscapes become more dense and the architecture more complex, opportunities to observe and interpret events and objects have increased in number and complexity. Unfortunately, this has occurred in tandem with accelerated industrialization and the entrechment of the capitalist work-ethic. More often than not, we spend time in our cities commuting to and from our work places; too preoccupied or tired to take note of the visual complexities around us. We rarely have time to pause and admire small details in the architecture or to pursue a reverie caused by some stranger's facial expression. Our workplaces have also become barren environments where, more often than not, visual complexity has been replaced by monotony -- all in the name of economic efficiency (i.e., cubicles).

This lack of engagement is worrisome since we are not exercising our cognitive skills to read our environment. Whether it is the result of the pressures of commuting, of our inane habit of completing errands at break-neck speeds or of simple laziness, our visual intelligence is becoming rusty. Whether it should be deemed an aesthetic and/or political movement, it is time to rekindle our abilities to engage actively with our immediate environment and resist the tendency to let it pass unnoticed as the rythmic swaying of our bus or train lulls us into a stupor.

“The street becomes a dwelling for the flâneur; he is as much at home among the facades of houses as a citizen in his four walls. To him the shiny, enamelled signs of business are at least as good a wall ornament as an oil painting is to a bourgeois in his salon. The walls are the desk against which he presses his notebooks; newsstands are his libraries and the terraces of cafés are the balconies from which he looks down on his household after his work is done.” ––– Walter Benjamin, “The Flâneur”

| Flâneur, Fall 2002 | The Arcades Project, Walter Benjamin | v-2.org |