WINSTON!!!!!!!!


And, not wrath (I think the building looks kind of ugly...or at least clunky----)...but I think it will be built, and it will be another real modern office building for Phila---what we DO need, even though most of our forum gang still seems to like having outdated infrastructure, and wax poetic about fairness and smart policy, whilst the new stuff gets built out in the burbs-------that's a sure way for our city to remain competitive!!!

( I always knew you guys who profess to like the city are really on the payroll of the Past-Exton chamber of commerce!!!!!!)

I really hope that someday you guys see it in your hearts of hearts to begin to LIKE the city, and want it to grow and enjoy the benefits of investment, and future life and joy and happiosity. As opposed to always opposing it's growth,a nd assuming that we can stop the world and just get off in Philadelphia of yore.

If they really do put all of the bells and whistles on it I think it'll be a great addition, and spur development up along 15th & 16th st. too.

In my crystal ball I see a Phillblog get together in the future-----hmmmmmmm----we're all out in front of this new building....hmmmmm, and Winston and El and Chrissayer, and.......yeah verily....all of my fellow bloggers will all look up (skyward) and shout:

"THANK GOODNESS FOR SMART PUBLIC SUBSIDIES, for they maketh the CITY a better and more efficinet and growing place, and they Reduceth the monies wasted in Jabba the Hut general funds of our ye olde Faire City of Brotherly Love......"

__________________
SPM

I have no problem with a tall building at that site . . . probably be a good addition if it is commercially viable. I can't see giving Viacom a whole bunch of subsidies to simply shift jobs from 6th and Market to 17th and Arch.

If companies want to promise to add jobs . . . and have the subsidies tied to job growth, then I'm okay.

My other question would be - what would happen to the 6th and Market site - SPM will probably favor another 70-story megolith to totally screw up Independence Park and Old City :razz: .

__________________
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

I love this city and want it to grow and evolve, but with such a huge glut of unoccupied office space in center city, it seems foolish to build more buildings when we can't fill the ones we've got, especially when development is fueled by primadonna companies who threaten to leave the city if they don't get a shiny new building and a cornucopia of tax breaks, zoning variances and other goodies.

__________________
"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred." — Woody Allen

(Avatar stolen from this nifty project.)

And in the case of Comcast, an ugly one.

__________________
"If these walls could talk, I'd listen to the floor."--Rev. Horton Heat

But didn't, in the end, Comcast not get any tax releif stuff? They got no KOIZ/KOZ, and they always promised to add new jobs. Their building isn't *that* ugly, i mean, it could be the federal building. *shudder* Red brick everywhere. No thank you. (EDIT: Oh you mean the new parkway building? Yeah, that building is pretty ugly, but thats what you get for having a suburban developer do it. They're probably happy to build anything in the city at all. I wish I could find a site for them, so I could complain :P)

Yeah there's an office space glut, but you can't just sit there and be like *poke*poke*poke* 'Come into our offices damnit'. This shows progress and things to the business world, I think anyway. Do you want to wait until there's a huge demand for office space to start the process of building buildings? Comcast took years to get started, businesses would lose interest! I don't know, just some thoughts.

It's more than ugly - it's hideous, anyone who walks or drives past the rendering posted at street level on 18th and JFK can surely see that it is a boxy phallus-looking monolith, at least when looked at from the NW perspective (i.e. Art Museum steps). What an eyesore that will be sandwiched between the modern and attractive Verizon and Mellon Bank Center buildings. I'm astonished they don't have a rendering or vantage point that looks more attractive than what they've put out on the street - it looks like whatever effort was put forth designing it was a boondoggle.

Winston ---I still await hearing you utter the words I predicted!!!

And Chrissayer---yes I DID cut back my 6th & Market desire to see an 80 story building, and scaled it back to 70 (did any of your see that new 75 story condo tower in Miami?---wouldn't something like that work well at the old David Pinkus bldg??!!!)

Sycamore---10 yard penalty for piling on!

__________________
SPM

What? No penalty for Mike G?

__________________
"If these walls could talk, I'd listen to the floor."--Rev. Horton Heat

http://www.globest.com/news/238_238/.../132013-1.html

David Binswanger, who represented Comcast, described the pressures,frustration and sometimes humorous turns that occurred during the 18 months of negotiations. Alterations of the building itself played a large role in the discussions, which took so long there was no time to create a model, reflecting those changes, by deadline:Christmas Eve. Liberty Property Trust VP John Gattuso closed the deal by telling Comcast, if they didn't like the model, they could walk away.

Sounds like a lot of time was put into the design of Comcast Center, unfortunately it sounds like Comcast wasn't playing ball unless they got their monolith.

I agree it's a travesty to put this -Brian Roberts monument- in between the Mellon Bank and Verizon towers. What a shame some of the earlier designs were classic, the final design belongs in Hong Kong or Houston, not in Philadelphia.

Seems to be right in-line with many of the posts here.

"Back in February, when I attempted a round-up of new residential high-rises, there were 15 projects in various states of dress. Now it's May, and my list - as of this minute - stands at 32 condo projects, with 36 separate towers.

These are skyscrapers in the full sense: proud, soaring things that will be true giants in the land of lilliputian Philadelphia rowhouses. Though not all will get off the ground, it's a fair bet Philadelphia will add 25 residential towers to its skyline over the next three years, most in the 20- to 40-story range."

Here's the link...

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...y/11690711.htm