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Abandoned rail road tunnels in the LES, pretty sure this project has the green light.
If it ends up like that picture, well...great. I've spent some time on Delancey near the Tenement Museum...used the M train so I know a bit about around there.
If the city and country( who the heck knows, considering) lasts long enough, maybe some millennials, or the somewhat nameless generation younger than them, may(and I greatly emphasize "may") see some of these things. I still doubt it.
And you leave out how this would be paid for or how disruptive the construction would be to rejuvenated and rejuvenating communities. You don't seem to show very much empathy for the people living there now and what a mess it will be for YEARS.
Think how long it took to rebuild the El in West Philly.
Do you know what BRT is?? This is bus rapid transit - it costs very very minimal, would require minimal construction, and would not be very disruptive at all. The only legit construction would be for the stations and stairs/elevators down, and then underground connections to the Broad Street Line, and a ramp up to Girard Ave from the lower City Branch. There may be to be some line repainting and traffic light re-signaling on Girard. The BRT's could just run on the already existing Trolley lanes for it's short time on Girard. The rest would literally just be paving the City Branch with asphalt or concrete. This would certainly be minimally disruptive, and would cost very little relatively speaking. SEPTA could easily get state and/or federal funding for this. This would be nowhere close to building an elevated heavy rail line through dense city neighborhoods. This would essentially just be using the infrastructure that is there already.
It would obviously be called the "Cultural Corridor Line." It would allow tourists to take direct transit to all of Philadelphia's largest art and cultural institutions along the Parkway and in Fairmount Park. It would also give people living in Fairmount, Brewerytown and the Parkside neighborhood in West Philly direct public transit access into Center City - where they currently have none.
Increase service on the Flash and the 38 and 48 buses. That would accomplish much of this. Lots of tourists use the Flash already.
Do you know what BRT is?? This is bus rapid transit - it costs very very minimal, would require minimal construction, and would not be very disruptive at all. The only legit construction would be for the stations and stairs/elevators down, and then underground connections to the Broad Street Line, and a ramp up to Girard Ave from the lower City Branch. There may be to be some line repainting and traffic light re-signaling on Girard. The BRT's could just run on the already existing Trolley lanes for it's short time on Girard. The rest would literally just be paving the City Branch with asphalt or concrete. This would certainly be minimally disruptive, and would cost very little relatively speaking. SEPTA could easily get state and/or federal funding for this. This would be nowhere close to building an elevated heavy rail line through dense city neighborhoods. This would essentially just be using the infrastructure that is there already.
Abandoned rail road tunnels in the LES, pretty sure this project has the green light.
Well, I see its backers have set up a demonstration lab to test their concept of funneling sunlight underground, so it's definitely far enough along that it could happen. I have this strange feeling, though, that it won't prove as congenial a space as its backers hope it will be once finished, assuming they get all the funding and approvals they need. According to the Lowline website, this was the year they should have finished negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city to obtain the authority to go ahead and build the park in the abandoned trolley terminal, but I've heard no news reports about this yet.
I do hope my assessment of the space's congeniality proves wrong, for this does offer great potential for adding green space in areas where doing so is difficult. The City Branch cut is not one of those areas, but the technology might make the tunnel a good park after all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RightonWalnut
I also think BRT is the best transit option for Roosevelt Blvd. A BRT line here could honestly run from the Neshaminy Mall to Lankenau Medical Center.
Well, there is the flexibility factor in its favor, but I still consider honest-to-God rapid transit the best transit option for the Boulevard corridor. I do, however, know that building a subway(-elevated, in its outer stretches) along the Boulevard would run about $6 billion, and even with Federal funding for part of that tab, the city and the Commonwealth simply don't have $2 to $3 billion just lying around. So I'll settle for the good here when the best is unattainable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpomp
Changing the topic back to Toll Brothers again... Major height increase, this could finally be a cutting edge Toll tower in Philadelphia, I have/remain in full support of this project.
Of course, you've been following the historic-preservation fight over the three Sansom Street buildings Toll plans to demolish to build the tower, right?
I think the preservationists have a point about the fabric of the 700 block of Sansom Street. My suggestion to resolve the tension would be a facadectomy along the lines of what Pennsylvania Hospital did with the former houses in the 700 block of Spruce Street. One promient preservationist who I count among my friends said he could live with that ("some preservation is better than none"), but I hear Toll's not even willing to consider that.
The funny thing is, Toll Brothers City Living gets knocked hereabouts for its overly conservative projects; to date, they've been reluctant to even consider mixed-use along streets or in districts where it would clearly make sense, at least in this city, and the projects have all had a fairly low-profile quality, with Naval Square having the feel of a suburban gated townhouse community even (which is what it is aside from the old Naval Hospital itself). Meanwhile, the same division puts up really cool residential towers in Manhattan. Which brings us to the irony: As I said to someone else about this project, "At last Toll Brothers is doing what everyone interested in Philadelphia's redevelopment has wanted them to do! Trouble is, they want to destroy part of a historic block to do it."
I suspect the project will come to fruition. Most of the building owners and merchants on Jewelers Row itself are in favor of it, and the lot's zoning allows it by right IIRC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kyb01
If the city and country( who the heck knows, considering) lasts long enough, maybe some millennials, or the somewhat nameless generation younger than them, may(and I greatly emphasize "may") see some of these things. I still doubt it.
And you leave out how this would be paid for or how disruptive the construction would be to rejuvenated and rejuvenating communities. You don't seem to show very much empathy for the people living there now and what a mess it will be for YEARS.
Think how long it took to rebuild the El in West Philly.
Would you prefer we'd kept that rusting relic in place? Sometimes, some disruption is necessary in order to deliver a greater long-term benefit. A good chunk of Downtown Washington was torn up for the Metro, and some businesses failed during the construction. The end product has proved worth the disruption, even if they haven't taken proper care of it. I believe SEPTA had both business-promotion and compensation programs in place for the affected businesses, and the real disruption was limited to the weekends in order to have El service available on weekdays. Had they just shut the line down and rebuilt it, the disruption would not have lasted as long, but it would have been more severe.
Of course, you've been following the historic-preservation fight over the three Sansom Street buildings Toll plans to demolish to build the tower, right?
I think the preservationists have a point about the fabric of the 700 block of Sansom Street. My suggestion to resolve the tension would be a facadectomy along the lines of what Pennsylvania Hospital did with the former houses in the 700 block of Spruce Street. One promient preservationist who I count among my friends said he could live with that ("some preservation is better than none"), but I hear Toll's not even willing to consider that.
The funny thing is, Toll Brothers City Living gets knocked hereabouts for its overly conservative projects; to date, they've been reluctant to even consider mixed-use along streets or in districts where it would clearly make sense, at least in this city, and the projects have all had a fairly low-profile quality, with Naval Square having the feel of a suburban gated townhouse community even (which is what it is aside from the old Naval Hospital itself). Meanwhile, the same division puts up really cool residential towers in Manhattan. Which brings us to the irony: As I said to someone else about this project, "At last Toll Brothers is doing what everyone interested in Philadelphia's redevelopment has wanted them to do! Trouble is, they want to destroy part of a historic block to do it."
I suspect the project will come to fruition. Most of the building owners and merchants on Jewelers Row itself are in favor of it, and the lot's zoning allows it by right IIRC.
.
Yes, I've been following it as closely as I can from up here. The simple point of my argument.. none of those buildings are that architecturally significant, they are not historically certified, Toll owns the lots, they are proposing (hopefully) a game changing building for that dead block, and an infusion of a few hundred wealthy residents who will shop, dine, etc.
Of course Jewelers Row will lose some of its charm, and maintaining the original facades would be great, but I think some of the protestors are nuts. They want to kill a huge project that will reap so many positive impacts because why?? They want to keep Jewelers Row in tact (a street none of them frequent or cared about until they found out that Toll Brothers wants to tear part of it down). Its silly and provincial and a bandwagon argument. Lets progress into 2017.
Do you know what BRT is?? This is bus rapid transit - it costs very very minimal, would require minimal construction, and would not be very disruptive at all. The only legit construction would be for the stations and stairs/elevators down, and then underground connections to the Broad Street Line, and a ramp up to Girard Ave from the lower City Branch. There may be to be some line repainting and traffic light re-signaling on Girard. The BRT's could just run on the already existing Trolley lanes for it's short time on Girard. The rest would literally just be paving the City Branch with asphalt or concrete. This would certainly be minimally disruptive, and would cost very little relatively speaking. SEPTA could easily get state and/or federal funding for this. This would be nowhere close to building an elevated heavy rail line through dense city neighborhoods. This would essentially just be using the infrastructure that is there already.
To be fair the initial cost estimates to use the submerged rail tunnel for transit was pretty steep
I read their assessment and forget the number but was substantial a lot was ADA related
will see if I can find
but yes is much less then HR
I do believe some incarnation of the City branch with BRT and some row onto the Blvd could be interesting
maybe the BRT can use the rail ROW to get back to the blvd somehow
I do think it should also a connection to the other side of the river and through the 30th street rail yard and could be below ground on 31st street and link with other PT options
the tunnel in front of the art museum could be used then off SG as one idea
the BRT could also then extend into U City new Penn developments and down 25th street to the NY and loop
even the DE ave section could be incorporated
I think with something like this and a link to the BSL no BSL extension would be required
Plus if run south from 30th a connection could made to the BRT and access the NY
I have some loose sketches will post when I have time
Would you prefer we'd kept that rusting relic in place? Sometimes, some disruption is necessary in order to deliver a greater long-term benefit. A good chunk of Downtown Washington was torn up for the Metro, and some businesses failed during the construction. The end product has proved worth the disruption, even if they haven't taken proper care of it. I believe SEPTA had both business-promotion and compensation programs in place for the affected businesses, and the real disruption was limited to the weekends in order to have El service available on weekdays. Had they just shut the line down and rebuilt it, the disruption would not have lasted as long, but it would have been more severe.
As I said I'm in favor of the rail park utilizing the tunnel. Of course I don't want it to remain a rusting relic. However the idea of converting it for transit use, while a sound plan on paper, is probably not going to happen without a roadmap for funding. I doubt that would be forthcoming from feds anytime soon or ever given who will be running the show for a while.
I laughed with the, "Septa had both business-promotion and conpensation programs in place for affected businesses" remark.
Market St, 46th to 63rd St(including the commercial strips on 52nd and 60th Sts.)had been largely dying, in fits and starts, for a long time before the El project began. The delays and construction phases, even with the weekend only work, accelerated the dying. People and vehicles avoided it all. Once the El was finished it took at least a year more to repave Market St. Another reason to avoid it.
Dranoff Properties Inc. continues to reshape Philadelphia’s impressive skyline
Developer Carl Dranoff’s latest stunning project, SLS Lux Philadelphia Hotel & Residences, at South Broad and Spruce Streets, is a 47-story glass tower that will feature 152 high-end hotel rooms and condos.
The $362 million project, which will employ 2,724 construction workers, also will include 4,600 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Dranoff is partnering with Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment, a hotelier known for creating iconic properties in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, and Miami Beach.
The SLS Lux will partially fill our city’s crying need for high-end hotel rooms, which remains the single biggest obstacle to securing bigger and better conventions, a mainstay of our local economy. Dranoff Properties is awaiting a state grant to secure full and final funding for this game-changing project.
I and others lobbied the state for more than 10 years to build the Convention Center. I hope we don’t have to wait that long for the SLS Lux. The Philadelphia Buildingand Construction Trades Council is ready to turn Dranoff’s grand vision into a towering reality.
Dranoff got $1M of the $10M in state grants it requested from this year's budget a few months back. As stated in the above letter, the projected construction costs are $362M. I'm sure that Dranoff will milk impressive profiit from sales of these lux condos paied with rent from the retail space directly across the street from the Kimmel. Then add all that to the money the hotel will generate for its parent, SLS.
If the funding for a project of this magnitude is really that shaky, then I think we'll be staring at that hole in the heart of the "Avenue of the Arts" for years to come.
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