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First Look New Skyscraper for Philly

city guy

By city guy
in Philadelphia

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urbanophile Whistle-Stop

urbanophile

Posted
Posted

45 condos on 43 floors. Madness. Whose gonna buy these? Isn't all the wealth moving out?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hardly. The lower middle class and the middle middle class is leaving but the upper middle class and the upper class is moving into Philadelphia. Its the same story of yuppies and empty nesters moving into the city that has been repeated in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and now Philadelphia.

Also, when you talk about Center City Philadelphia (which is where all this development is occurring) you're really looking at a relatively large gain in middle and upper class residents. There are supposed to be over 80,000 people (and growing) living in Center City Philadelphia and its surrounding neighborhoods. That's 1/4 the population of PA's second largest city, Pittsburgh, all within just a 3 to 4 square mile area.

Plus, Mandeville is only a hop skip and jump from New York City thanks to the nearby train station so I expect they'll be marketing to people who work in Manhattan as well as to the locals.

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

Posted
Posted

Pittsburgh won't be getting any 43 story condos anytime soon, jobs and population growth or a top 10 metro population like Philly has is needed first, then the 50 floor condos go up.

;)

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

Posted
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I think one of the biggest things Rendel pushed thru was the 10 year tax abatement for apt & condo conversions.  And now it has been extended to new construction.  That along with low

interest rates are what is fueling the residential boom in CC.

Does Pittsburgh have something like that?

Honestly don't know enough about it to tell you what the tax credit situation is on that, I know the URA does a lot of that refurbishing etc. Just don't see the need for anything over 20 floors in condos and then only in the downtown/southshore core of the metro.

One thing to keep in mind with Philly is that it is the heart of a metro that is about 3x (or more) larger then Pittsburgh, even without the tax advantages you have 3x more demand for downtown condos close to the urban center of the metro.

How tall is the Trimont building?

Trimont is 25 floors high (looks much higher sitting atop Mt. Washington). It was completed in the early 1980s and for various reasons was the first and will be the last skyscraper on Mt. Washington. Ah for the 40 floor condos. One day Pittsburgh could have rows of them like Miami or Honolulu.

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pointbreeze Unincorporated Area

pointbreeze

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There are several residential projects in an around downtown Pittsburgh that are open or under construction. From a recent article:

Heinz Lofts is just one example of the blossoming market for residential housing Downtown or near Downtown.

Among the projects, a 151-unit luxury apartment building is under construction in the Cultural District; an 84-unit, 18-story condominium is under development on Fort Pitt Boulevard near Stanwix Street; and 59 to 60 condo units are planned for the Union National Bank building at Fourth and Wood. In the Strip District, there are plans to convert the old Armstrong Cork Factory into a 297-unit apartment complex.

FYI, picture of the condo mentioned above:

condos

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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Hey Pointbreeze welcome to the board!

Great link, I have read about some of these new condo/hotel developments downtown along the rivers and the new convention center, but that link is a great addition!

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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Urban, generally I tend to agree with all those observations, though two points I think should also be considered:

1) There are LOTS of families (I'd guess 35-45% at least of all condo/apt. "families" are families with kids) in the Gateway Condos, 625 Stanwix Condos, The Roosevelt on Penn, the developments in the Hill (adjacent to Mellon Arena), and on the northshore etc.

2) There is a NIMBY condition (especially on Mt. Washington, but you can't really blame them there is some drainage issues there (mudslides, and "sadle areas" that retain water almost like a Johnstown dam till it bursts down the hill, also transportation is an issue . . . no high capacity highways can get up there) in Pittsburgh--similar to San Francisco--in that citizens have fought against Large Corporate signs on structures (re: the "Heinz" Sign facing the rivers on Heinz field looks Tiiiiiiny because of this) and super high structures or "high rises" in traditionally retail or residential areas. There is a height restriction within 2 blocks of all the rivers (I believe that's the line) and height restrictions throughout many of the neighborhoods.

San Francisco has similar "height restrictions" and the result is pretty good . . . many don't realize that if you take the elevator up to the top of the TransAmerica Tower (SF's tallest) you are actually BELOW the top floor of Pittsburgh's tallest the US Steel tower! That says something about the NIMBYs influence on American city hall's. For the longest time I thought SF had much higher buildings then Pittsburgh ever could muster. I was wrong on that one. ;)

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