Big Hole in the Ground in Philly.

[skypilot]

This probably happens in other cities as well but I've seen it happen so often in Philadelphia and it is really bugging me. There is a tendency here to tear down buildings or to evict tenants from them to make way for something new and shiny. Unfortunately, we all too often simply end up with a hole in the ground or a vacant trash-strewn lot where the building/s used to be or a building that used to be full of tenants will sit vacant for years while God knows what is going on. Recently, a row of old, quaint, but not particularly historically significant buildings were torn down to make way for a high-rise condo. That weird "condo boom" thing is going on here as it is in other cities. I'm afraid that the hole in the ground where those buildings used to be is going to remain for the foreseeable future now that the housing market seems to be cooling. Demolition started months ago and has not be completed. There are now no trucks or demolition equipment around. I'm afraid that we are going to be stuck with yet another eyesore for years to come. This happens far too often here. Do other DUers have this problem where they live? Is there a suddenly stalled condo boom in your city?

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Where in Philly?

I haven't been in town in a few months, but I do know that there's a lot of big-ticket construction planned; it's the kind of thing that should be relatively recession-proof, since the contracts were signed some time ago.

Work in Philly always drags. But overall, the city has improved greatly in the last two decades.

--p!

[skypilot]

6. This particular hole in the ground...

...is at 18th and Sansom Street, right off of Rittenhouse Square. It's hideous.

[Mandate My Ass]

2. I feel your pain

I pass a demolished church in West Philly just about every day on my way into University City. It's been like that for over a year, maybe two. They put a fence around the rubble and there it sits.

Meanwhile, I have to dodge three huge construction projects whenever I walk around the campus. The freaking noise and inconvenience is horrendous. Oh, and the construction workers are pigs. Luckily most of the egregious stuff is suffered by the poor co-eds. Last summer, I heard they got in trouble for lewd comments and another group got their tools/equipt. stolen because they were outside gawking so much the thieves just walked in and cleaned them out. :D

[skypilot]

8. I work at Univ. of Penn...

...at the Van Pelt library. It's possible we've seen each other.

[Mandate My Ass]

10. OMG, I was in there yesterday

I love Van Pelt Library! We must have bumped into each other before. I was the red head taking out the third Harry Potter book about 4:00 PM. :-)

[skypilot]

13. I would have been the dreads head...

...eyeing the clock as my 4:30 quitting time approached. I work on the 4th floor.

[Mandate My Ass]

14. I think I've seen you before

In fact I'm pretty sure of it. I'll stop in and introduce myself. Are you pretty much always on the 4th floor? :hi:

[skypilot]

16. Always on 4

Monday thru Friday.

[reichstag911]

17. Go Quakers!

Including one of my favorites -- other than myself, of course (even though he's a College alumnus, rather than Wharton):

[Dogmudgeon]

9. That may be the church that collapsed

A church collapsed, for no particular reason, over a year ago, IIRC, at around 37th and Spruce.

I used to live in University City; that church was a beautiful piece of architecture. But it just fell apart.

--p!
Ecclesiae sine moribus vanae

[Mandate My Ass]

11. That's the one. It was gorgeous, I know.

I think it got hit by lightning or something like that IIRC. It was incredibly old. They don't make them like that anymore.

[obreaslan]

12. It always makes me smile to see how many DUers are from the Philly area...

I work in Philly myself actually. I live in South Jersey, but come into the city every day. I work up in North Philly, so I know what you mean about the abandoned lots and half torn down messes. It's a shame. They should really work harder to clean this place up. :cry:

[reichstag911]

18. Can't be 37th and Spruce.

That's where the west entrance to the Quad is, I lived there for three years, and I don't remember any church there. Pic?

[Mandate My Ass]

19. You're correct, it's up in the 50's somewhere..

But there is a church at 37th and Chestnut that's still standing.

[reichstag911]

21. I couldn't have imagined them razing...

...a cash cow like Steinberg-Dietrich to put up a church, of all things! Do you teach there, attend, or what?

[Mandate My Ass]

22. I graduated in '99

I worked at the hospital from '92 to '99. Got my bachelor's and did some newspaper reporting for a couple of years. I came back in '03 to work for a bunch of physicists doing grant and editorial stuff for them, but now I'm employed by the University. I work in the Chem building across 34th street from Irvine Auditorium.

My sister has a BBA from Wharton. I was a lowly English Major.

[reichstag911]

25. Yep, on the northeast corner...

...of 34th and Spruce; I remember Chem 11 well...the class, not the material. A BBA? Mine's a BSE(con); what's a BBA, business admin.? I thought everyone got BSEs...hm...

I'll be checking out your blog later.
ttyl

[Dogmudgeon]

29. Yep, I got the place wrong ...

... like I said, I haven't been down there in a while.

I was also a little low on the numbers -- I was thinking about 39th Street, maybe 40th. The block above the steak shop (currently named "Billybob").

--p!

[BOSSHOG]

3. I was born in the city of brotherly love

Lived up by Connie Mack Stadium in the early 60's. Went to St Columba on Lehigh (got cuffed around pretty good by the nuns.) I live near New Orleans. I know New Orleans. And I know New Orleans has some hog swallowing pot holes.

Philly is one of the most interesting cities in the world. I love it and the Phillies and the Eagles and the Flyers. "Philadelphia Morning" from the Rocky Soundtrack still brings a tear to my eye. Is the Ben Franklin penny head display still somewhere downtown (near Betsy Ross' house I think?)

[skypilot]

7. I've developed a new appreciation...

...for the city over the years and alot of development has been going on recently. Chestnut Street is finally on the mend after going downhill all through the 80s and 90s. But it seems that where some dingier areas have improved, some nicer areas--and buildings-- are being neglected. It kinda feels like one step forward-two steps back. I guess it goes with the territory but it's not easy to watch.

[Patiod]

24. People avoid coming here

I fly a lot, and both flight attendents and passengers avoid coming here when they can. Our beautiful airport and its infamous delays is referred to as "The Philadelphia Factor" as in "when putting together my itinerary, I forgot about The Philly Factor, and now I'm going to miss my connection".

One of my favorite things about the city is the food - great formal lunches and dinners, pizzas, hoagies & steaks, Asian, and all sorts of specialty places (Belgian! Indonesian! West African!) You buy a $4.50 lunch from a cart and it's actually GOOD.

[MadHound]

4. Housing market has definetly cooled in Mid Missouri

In fact the local Columbia paper had a front page article on it last Monday, something like $88 million worth of new housing unsold, building permits down by forty percent this year, etc. The housing bubble is bursting everywhere, not just on the coasts.

Frankly I'm glad that that it is cooling, it will slow the out of control development that Columbia is experiiencing. I live out in the country, moved there three years ago to get away from urban life, and was seriously starting to wonder if I would have to move again in a few years the way Columbia was expanding. Thankfully this housing meltdown will cool growth off for a few years.

[skypilot]

15. The development that is going on here...

...is very much needed but this whole condo thing is just surreal. I'm surrounded by empty and near-empty brand new condos. You can tell where they've taken to leaving lights on and the curtains open in some units to make the buildings seem more inhabited than they are. Those are the older buildings that have been converted to condo units. There are still plans to build brand new condos from the ground up and also smaller brownstown apartment buildings like the one I live in are also being converted. I honestly don't see the demand for all of this and neither does anyone else I talk to here.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Call your local Codes Enforcement Dept

They can tell you what is going on with the property. You have to pull permits to do demolition and/or building. The owners have to at least clean the property up and remove any hazards.

[SoCalDem]

26. One would think it wise to have a interim use plan

something easy... like level it, plant some grass and put up some soccer goals...at least use it for something other than trash..

[skypilot]

28. Yeah, one would THINK.

Especially with the number of time this has happened here. And the eyesores I'm talking about are in our downtown area right near the swanky Rittenhouse Square.

[Patiod]

20. Meanwhile, no more Lombardi's pizza

:cry:

And for a long time there was that hole across from the Gallery (that was going to be what - a Disney amusement park?) and now it's a gated parking lot.

[skypilot]

23. They ALWAYS seem to end up...

...as parking lots. Back in the 80s another row of buildings along Sansom Street was torn down.I don't remember what the plan was but I would imagine that it was not for the dirty lot that was there until just THIS year when someone finally got around to paving it over and making a parking lot. And then there's the lot where the Eric Twin Rittenhouse movie theater used to be. That's been there for well over ten years now. And now this new one at 18th and Sansom.

[Greyhound]

27. Was happening in Chicago when I left. n/t