Temple's Ten-year plan

[cwd22]

it did catch fire a couple years ago but was restored. it's been home to AEPI for like a year now

I saw that they were doing some more work on it today, looked like they were painting (or getting ready to paint) the second/third story window frames. I didn't get a good look though.

[thoth]

Yeah except that the community organizations around temple are even more moronic than the city in general. I understand that Temple has a checkered history when it comes to development, but there is virtually no other force sustaining property values and attracting commerce to that area.

The absurdly named "TRAY" (The Resolute Alliance in Yorktown) fought the developers of the new Fresh Grocer at Oxford and Broad, successfully lopping off a 4-story apartment component which would have created an excellent mixed use development. Now it's just an open parking garage, hoo-ray. When these organizations start shadow boxing (pun intended) and favoring parking spaces over neighbors, then I start tuning out. Don't get me started on the community land trust on the other side of Broad that is stalling development on a piece of land because a peach tree started growing there. These neighborhoods need the new residents and jobs that will only be created through increased development.

[snick33]

It was Wanamaker's old house.

I have no idea if Wanamaker ever lived there. But it was the John Stafford house built in 1896 by architect Willis Hale. Pi Lam @ Temple moved in 1969, chapter dissolved in 2007, house sold in early June 2008, and fire occured in late June 2008 destroying the upper floors I believe.

[cwd22]

Don't get me started on the community land trust on the other side of Broad that is stalling development on a piece of land because a peach tree started growing there. These neighborhoods need the new residents and jobs that will only be created through increased development.

It's not like there's a dearth of open land for them to move the peach trees to, if they care about them that much move them to the other side of the block. But of course the whole thing is about more than a couple of peach trees.

[cewillm]

it did catch fire a couple years ago but was restored. it's been home to AEPI for like a year now

I see. I don't support fraternities so I don't pay much attention to the building.

[eldondre]

there's a beautiful old building just south of campus, near Freedom theater I think. It's temple owned and quite substantial. I always though tit would make a great boutique hotel though, ten years ago, I doubt anyone would have wanted to stay there. once the fresh grocer opens, I suspect it might actually make some sense. not my business though. temple's plan is anything but genius but really, genius isn't required. It's refreshingly logical and straightforward. I wonder why the DN is covering these stories all at once and if Temple and city planning are on the same page. North Broad is one of the keys to Philadelphia's resurgence and, IMO is far more important than the Navy Yard. It's the heart of a huge part of the region. I'd like to see Broad and Lehigh get KOZ designation.

[billy ross]

Temple president's plan for the decade | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/09/2009

Two thoughts. I can't believe Ann Weaver Hart's been here for 4 years, already. And, maybe we can get her to run for mayor, preferably as an R.

She's been here for three years. She'll have been here for four years a year from now. Do the math.

[Hospitalitygirl]

She's been here for three years. She'll have been here for four years a year from now. Do the math.

It was in the article. I questioned because I remember when she came.

Entering her fourth year as Temple University's president,

[hammersklavier]

I wish that someone was able to take over that frat house on the corner--it has such great bones.

AEPi has.

Also I'm in two minds about the library being west of Broad. It would seem like it's a good thing because west of Broad is almost all athletic facilities and fields; OTOH this will make the library really remote to the rest of the University and unless it can actually become a destination it would go underutilized (as compared to Van Pelt or Paley). Paley, being an oversized diode, does need to be replaced, though. Perhaps if a new Student Center goes there, too (complementing, not replacing the one that already exists)?

Another (minor) note: there's a small old industrial building (fabricator's?) between Park and Watts, Susquehanna and Dauphin, that is utterly abandoned and which I suggest could be refurbished into a north end student body/neighborhood computer lab/café--a mini-Tech.

Another note: put a new campus bookstore on the SE corner of Broad and Cecil B. Unlike the current dingy location make it light and airy, an Anblick war wünderbrar. Something like the Penn store over on 3(6?) and Walnut but without the fugly fake brickwork.

[cwd22]

AEPi has.

Also I'm in two minds about the library being west of Broad. It would seem like it's a good thing because west of Broad is almost all athletic facilities and fields; OTOH this will make the library really remote to the rest of the University and unless it can actually become a destination it would go underutilized (as compared to Van Pelt or Paley). Paley, being an oversized diode, does need to be replaced, though. Perhaps if a new Student Center goes there, too (complementing, not replacing the one that already exists)?

Another (minor) note: there's a small old industrial building (fabricator's?) between Park and Watts, Susquehanna and Dauphin, that is utterly abandoned and which I suggest could be refurbished into a north end student body/neighborhood computer lab/café--a mini-Tech.

If they replaced the lot at Broad and Berks with the new Library I think it would be central enough to get plenty of use. It'd be more convenient to White Hall and all the students who live west of Broad while still being plenty close to most other student housing. It'd be no further from the subway either.

Though it would make the library a lot harder to get to between classes.

[Nan Duskin]

i do find it remarkable that given temple's student body size, how compact the main campus is. as a current temple student, i like that i don't have to schlep all over the place to get to the different buildings my classes are in.

it would be wonderful if the student activities center housed a much nicer bookstore than the one currently in their basement. so far the nicest buildings i've been in on campus are the tuttleman learning center and the tech center--both very impressive.

[Mr Morley]

It was Wanamaker's old house.

No way in hell did John Wanamaker live that far north. Nobody who was anybody lived north of Market in the 19th century.

His mansion was/is on the south side of 20th and Walnut. It's now part of the Wanamaker House.

[Sharkfood]

No way in hell did John Wanamaker live that far north. Nobody who was anybody lived north of Market in the 19th century.

His mansion was/is on the south side of 20th and Walnut. It's now part of the Wanamaker House.

You're way off base. South of Market might have been fashionable with old money, but North Philadelphia (from roughly Master to Susquehanna, west of Broad) was filled with nouveau riche in the late 19th century. You wouldn't know by looking at it today, but Broad St. north of Girard was mansion after mansion. One of the grandest, of course, was the Widener mansion at Broad & Girard which burned down in 1979.

[thunda]

i do find it remarkable that given temple's student body size, how compact the main campus is. as a current temple student, i like that i don't have to schlep all over the place to get to the different buildings my classes are in.

Yeah, it's very dense, very urban campus, and I'm excited that they're planning to develop up rather than out. (By comparison, PSU's main campus is a mile-and-a-half long by about two-thirds of a mile wide.) I like that Barton is being demo'ed; it wasn't as bad as Curtis, but still a drag.

I have mixed feelings about the library moving across Broad. The current building is a tremendously fug piece of modernist concrete, but it's location is perfect, and it fits very well with Tuttleman next door. Do we know what would replace the library if/once it moves?

Oh, and please demolish Anderson and Gladfelter, too

[sometimesilie]

No way in hell did John Wanamaker live that far north. Nobody who was anybody lived north of Market in the 19th century.

His mansion was/is on the south side of 20th and Walnut. It's now part of the Wanamaker House.

You're very much wrong. I bought my grandfather one of those "Old Philadelphia in Photos" books. The section was full of Mansions with North Philly addresses- decidedly *NOT* the abodes of "Nobody's".

Where do you think many of the factories that earned the City the moniker "Workshop of the World" were located? In and around North Philadelphia. Where do you think many of the foreman, executives, and owners of these factories had homes?

C'mon, this is basic City history...

[sometimesilie]

The absurdly named "TRAY" (The Resolute Alliance in Yorktown) fought the developers of the new Fresh Grocer at Oxford and Broad, successfully lopping off a 4-story apartment component which would have created an excellent mixed use development. Now it's just an open parking garage, hoo-ray.

What's especially incomprehensible is that one of the main stated goals of this very same alliance is to restrict/manage the student housing/tenants interspersed throughout their ("their") neighborhood. So you would think a centrally located apartment complex located on top of a super market in a shopping plaza would be a workable solution for alleviating some of the off campus housing encroachment (as they see it) into Yorktown.

I guess the answer would seem to be that these people are interesting in bitching to bitch- compromise does not seem to be in their vocabulary although it would seem to be in their interests.

[cwd22]

The mansions on the 1500 block of N 16th St are some of the nicest in the city, some other blocks around there aren't too bad either.

[thoth]

What's especially incomprehensible is that one of the main stated goals of this very same alliance is to restrict/manage the student housing/tenants interspersed throughout their ("their") neighborhood. So you would think a centrally located apartment complex located on top of a super market in a shopping plaza would be a workable solution for alleviating some of the off campus housing encroachment (as they see it) into Yorktown.

I guess the answer would seem to be that these people are interesting in bitching to bitch- compromise does not seem to be in their vocabulary although it would seem to be in their interests.

Yeah, I guess there is a failure to understand simple supply and demand, or just economics in general. There is a student housing shortage on campus forcing students to look for new housing sources immediately off-campus. Nearby landlords cash in by converting single family homes (i.e. all of Yorktown) into informal student apartments. The reaction of the community group? Attempt to gun down nearby projects deliberately designed to increase the student housing supply, while at the same time trying to effectively make rental units illegal in Yorktown itself, effectively fixing nothing. I believe this is the definition of NIMBYism.

On another note: Having lived in White Hall, I will say that having to cross Broad Street can be a massive bitch, especially when you have to do it 10+ times a day. While I think it would be interesting for Temple to commit to building up the underutilized western half of campus by relocating the library there, I think it would only be sensible to construct a pedestrian bridge to deal with the increase in foot traffic. Berks and Broad would be perfect, since it's already pedestrian on both sides.

[sometimesilie]

thoth, I HATED crossing Broad when I was a student there. I witnessed 2 hit pedestrians in person, 2 separate incidences. I think that's the only time I've ever seen anyone hit by a car.

I think that the people in Yorktown have very valid concerns but I've yet to see them express support for any plan other than No Temple Students Allowed. That's not going to happen. That's nonsensical.

I also know a longtime homeowner in Yorktown who was thrilled to the gills about a recent and unsolicited offer someone made on his house. He's not selling now but with only a few years left until retirement, the money he now thinks he could get for his home has opened a lot of post-retirement options. I think fishing figures in there somewhere. And isn't that why we ostensibly spend our adult lives working, to have those options?

[RainboTeabagger]

Brings this back to one of my original points--someone like AWH would make a great mayor. Deals with all sorts of differing factions; has to appease them all in some way or other; and get things done! Draft her! Draft her now.

It would be great and after a few months you can complain how horrible she is.