Another new mid-rise starting in UC

[rojnish]

The developer of 2.0 University Place has landed a tenant big enough to kick off a $30 million office building at 30 N. 41st St. in Philadelphia.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp....html?page=all

[hammersklavier]

I got 404'd...

[gren]

2.0 University Place has landed a tenant big enough to kick off an office building - Philadelphia Business Journal (subscription for full article)

Which lot is it exactly? The one just North of the Rite Aid?

[billy ross]

The developer of 2.0 University Place has landed a tenant big enough to kick off a $30 million office building at 30 N. 41st St. in Philadelphia.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp....html?page=all

Who is the anchor tenant? This is a nice-sized building, at 97,000 square feet. A full-blown center city skyscraper would be about 10 x's the size, but I find it to be interesting that West Philly has taken on a life of its own nowadays. I wonder how many people work in UC? It's a very large number, and it seems to be growing very nicely. That's good for our public transit infrastructure, and for the neighborhoods which radiate out along that public transit infrastructure. The Cira Center has been a runaway success. Now a bunch of smaller office and hotel buildings / midrises are going up, buildings which in the past I wouldn't have associated with University City. I get the feeling that West Philly is entering a new paradigm and that in order to really understand it I've got to get to know Cambridge, Massachussetts better. Cambridge of course has a huge head start, but UC has one thing Cambridge doesn't have, which is available land, and with Penn and Drexel gathering strength the ancillary, not directly associated with the college, stuff seems to be building and building.

[fuzzycraig]

According to UCD there are 70,000 people working in University City. They just released their state of UC report. University City District | News | THE STATE OF UNIVERSITY CITY 2011 GIVES VOICE TO A VISION OF PROSPERITY AND POSSIBILITY IN UNIVERSITY CITY for a summary.

Full report at http://www.universitycity.org/_files...of-UC-2011.pdf

[walnuthill]

IIRC the developer didn't put any first-floor retail into this design. I hope that has changed but from the photos, it doesn't look that way. I ride by there every single morning and would love to stop somewhere for a decent (read: not Dunkin Donuts at 43rd and Powelton) breakfast and a coffee. I think the neighborhood would support a venture like that, and with a whole building full of workers, there would be a built-in customer base, but I guess the developer didn't think so. So now there's just the used computer store and a Rite-Aid, and for anything else they'll need to go down to 40th st.

Well hey, I guess it's still better than a long-vacant lot.

[3rd&Brown]

1988 called.

It wants it's building back.

[Dave]

It's the lot between the Rite Aid and the Pep Boys. Last I saw, it had a rather large billboard with an artist's sketch of the building and a number to call.

According to the representative from the city planning commission who showed up at the West Powelton neighbors' meeting about the project, the design started out as a building "on stilts" with a big parking lot underneath, and the planning commission talked them into putting the parking underground, so the design could've been much worse.

Having said that, I remember something about a gym going into the building, although I doubt there would be access to it for anyone other than employees. I think there was also talk about putting some kind of retail there, which many of the neighbors didn't like because they thought it would attract beggars. Somebody at the meeting mentioned that a Wawa would be nice, which the developer seemed to like, but it brought some horrified gasps from most of the neighbors at the meeting. There were also a lot of complaints about the entrance/exit from the underground parking but, in the end, the neighbors supported it, for whatever reason.

Anyway, I guess the moral of the story is, if you want nice things in UC, move to UC and show up at neighborhood meetings about new development. Goes for any neighborhood.

[hammersklavier]

You could always retrofit as demand merits. I would suggest that a ground floor that isn't flexible enough to be at least partially subdividable into at least a couple of retail spaces would be a very poorly-developed ground floor indeed.

[gren]

Google Maps -- Streetview showing the sign which has been up for a while, apparently. It's on the same block as Pep Boys--the Northeast corner of it which is currently grass.

I tend to think it's good to have retail on Corridors. I think it would be much better to have no retail on the ground floor by all of the row homes but instead to have more development on Market St. But, I don't suppose Pep Boys or Rite Aid will rebuild to the street and allow for other businesses on their lots any time soon.

[Milan Marvelous]

I agree with Gren on this. I think this building is only on the Powelton Ave half of the empty lot. There is the possibility of a second building which would compliment this first one and be placed on Market and that's where I'd want to see the retail component.

Other than esthetic critiques, isn't this building very highly LEED rated?

[billy ross]

I checked out the site today because I was surprised how deep into the hood it is... and I found myself to be surprised at how deep in the hood this site is. While the University City Science Center is going bonkers, it's three blocks away. Meanwhile this site is in the shadow of the projects, which are at most two blocks away. I find myself to be blown away that such high-intensity development is going into this location. I guess the KOEZ helps, but still. Bully for them if they can get this done. I noticed the hammerhead crane on the other side of Market, BTW. I hadn't realized that job had proceeded so quickly.

[Dave]

I agree with Gren on this. I think this building is only on the Powelton Ave half of the empty lot. There is the possibility of a second building which would compliment this first one and be placed on Market and that's where I'd want to see the retail component.

Other than esthetic critiques, isn't this building very highly LEED rated?

I can see not wanting retail on the Powelton Ave side, but I wouldn't have had a problem with retail on the 41st St side. The UCD trash lot across the street could also become some kind of office/retail building at some point.

[lewblum]

good news. it would be amazing if the tenant was an actual business, but i'm not getting my hopes up. i'm guessing some non-profit or gov't office.

looking to the future, i'm hoping this development bodes well for market street between 40th and 43rd. there are a lot of parking lots and soft sites screaming for new development.

my hunch however is that we'll have to wait for further gentrification in west powelton before seeing any action on these bigger lots on market.

[Zigster]

I checked out the site today because I was surprised how deep into the hood it is... and I found myself to be surprised at how deep in the hood this site is. While the University City Science Center is going bonkers, it's three blocks away. Meanwhile this site is in the shadow of the projects, which are at most two blocks away. I find myself to be blown away that such high-intensity development is going into this location. I guess the KOEZ helps, but still. Bully for them if they can get this done. I noticed the hammerhead crane on the other side of Market, BTW. I hadn't realized that job had proceeded so quickly.

This is the largest empty lot in UC. It is one block from Market St.
I would be surprised if there was a larger lot within within 3 blocks of an El stop.

[Zigster]

I agree with Gren on this. I think this building is only on the Powelton Ave half of the empty lot. There is the possibility of a second building which would compliment this first one and be placed on Market and that's where I'd want to see the retail component.

not unless Pep Boys was to leave

[Milan Marvelous]

My understanding is that the parking lot next to Pep Boys at 41st and Market could be a future "sister" building to the one that is going up.

[gren]

My understanding is that the parking lot next to Pep Boys at 41st and Market could be a future "sister" building to the one that is going up.

They may have a deal with Pep Boys? From OPA this development is Associates LLC University Place and the Pepe Boys lot is the whole Market St. facing and is owned by Pep Market Corp. So, it might be that Pep Boys can move and find another location and they could make enough on the lot to make it worthwhile but Associates LLC don't have the lot in their control.

[BarryG]

good news. it would be amazing if the tenant was an actual business, but i'm not getting my hopes up. i'm guessing some non-profit or gov't office.

Yup the anchor is Citizenship and Immigration Services.

[lewblum]

Yup the anchor is Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Weren't they supposed to be one of the anchor tenants at Enterprise Heights???
So much for that project.