Speaking of compromised views, I heard a rumor the parking lot at 23rd + Arch has been sold and a residential project will be going up soon. I believe it will be called Schuylkill Westown. Anyone with any specific details?

Some exclusive photos of the Board of Education Building from local photographer Rob Bender:

http://www.robbender.com/gallery/board_of_education

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Cheers,
Jayfar
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“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.

Oh... I was told that they rented/owned office space from that brick building that's across the street from 2200 Arch and in front of the other condos there... It looks fine on the street level, but the roof could use some work... I think the JCC is on that block too...

My bad - I incorrectly assumed you meant the former main BOE building on the Parkway, which itself is slated for a conversion to condos last I heard.

__________________
Cheers,
Jayfar
--
“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.

Kevin is, I believe, referring to the 3-story building at the SE corner of 22nd & Arch. That is a School District building and is supposed to house the new science & technology high school that the SD is doing in partnership with the Franklin Institute. At least, that's my understanding.

Incidentally, Orens is making progress with former Big Ugly. I imagine most of that progress is now on the interior, which is why not so much change is visible, but in the last few months they've constructed the parking garage, finished installing all the windows, and now they've put in a commercial entrance at street level on the 22nd St. side. So things are moving forward.

I stopped in the Open house yesterday. Jon Orens was greeting people, and he said 20 people were living in there now. He didnt pick a commercial tenant yet, but 5 businesses have been chasing the space. Dry cleaners and nail salons were turned down.

Seems like a bare bones conversion. The views from all sides were great. A few SEPTA trains went by, and you could barely hear them. The W and E sides had a pretty cool view of the tracks. Very cool project IMO.

What is the size of the commercial space in the the building? Is it large enough for a grocery store? Something to complement the TJ and Whole Foods would be ideal!

I dont remember the size. He said that SuperFresh approached him a few times., he felt the idea was silly with a WF and TJs blocks away. Dunno, but I agree with Orens on this one.

dunno, I think orens is silly. TJ's isn't even a real grocery store. the area woudl certainly benefit from a super fresh. not everyone shops at whole foods all the time. I think a super fresh woudl do quite well there.

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I stopped in there too, to look at a few units. The Orens rep told me that they were courting WF for the retail space, since they were planning to move out of their Pennsylvania Ave location. However, WF settled on another site.

The units I saw were pretty much bare bones conversions, leaving it to the buyer to customize. Buyers are required to buy a spot in the parking garage for $35k, even if you don't own a car. It would be over $450k for a 2 bedroom loft (1 bedrooms are closer to $400k, with a few models in the high $300s). That's still too rich for my blood.