Features

Two Cathedral Square in the Philadelphia skyline from the Museum of Art. Photo and model by Thomas Koloski

Top 10 Tallest High-Rises Proposed in Philadelphia as of 2022

8:00 am on January 23, 2022 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

Yesterday, Philadelphia YIMBY published a list of the ten tallest buildings currently under construction throughout the city. Today, our encore looks at the top ten tallest proposals that are on the drawing boards for the City of Brotherly Love. Of these, six are located in Center City, three in University City in West Philadelphia, and one more in Poplar in Lower North Philadelphia. The list includes buildings ranging from those where construction is all but assured to projects with a rather uncertain status. Excluded are buildings that are evidently in purely conceptual stages, such as the various supertalls tentatively planned in University City. But regardless of status and actual likelihood of proximate construction, we hope to see all the projects below to move into the construction phase some time this year.

Philadelphia skyline from the Walt Whitman Bridge. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Top 10 Tallest Buildings Under Construction in Philadelphia in 2022

8:00 am on January 22, 2022 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

Given the number of new permits issued last year, Philadelphia appears on track for a record volume of construction this year. The majority of such construction is of the low- and mid-rise variety. Of course, there are also marquee developments that will boost the city’s iconic skyline. Today Philly YIMBY looks at the ten tallest buildings under construction in the city as of 2022. Among these, seven are underway in Center City and three more are rising in University City in West Philadelphia. We look forward to seeing further progress on these developments throughout the course of the year.

2222 Market Street in the skyline from Spring Garden Street Bridge. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Philadelphia On Track for Record Construction Activity in 2022

8:00 am on January 7, 2022 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

This year, Philadelphia is about to say “Yes In My Back Yard” to new development on an unprecedented scale. Over the course of last year, the Department of Licenses and Inspections issued a slew of permit approvals that may result in the construction of approximately 10,000 new rental units, roughly triple the number of the average total per typical year. Moreover, during the same period, a total of 90 proposed developments went before the Civic Design Review (CDR) board, which makes non-binding suggestions for projects that meet certain criteria depending on size and location. The number roughly doubles the average yearly volume and has set a record for CDR submission history.

Arthaus and Center City towers from the I-95. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Toward the Blue Yonder: Comparing Views from the Tallest Skyscrapers on the Philadelphia Skyline

8:00 am on January 6, 2022 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

High-rise development offer numerous advantages, including efficient use of valuable urban real estate, environmental benefits through resource use economies of scale and conservation of land, and dense, transit-friendly and pedestrian-favorable environments that create thriving cities. Then, of course, there are the lofty views that are available to dwellers of sky-high aeries. Using the formula of D = 1.22459 x Sqrt (H + 5.58), where D equals distance and H stands for the height of the building’s highest floor and 5.58 represents 5′-7″, the height of the average US adult in feet, we can calculate the longest unobstructed view distances on a clear day from any building level. Today YIMBY offers a comparison of views and view distances from the highest floors of some of the tallest buildings on the Philadelphia skyline.

One Liberty Place. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Looking at the Philadelphia Skyline from the Observatory Atop One Liberty Place

7:30 am on January 5, 2022 By Thomas Koloski

Philadelphia is home to several tall skyscrapers in Center City, with One Liberty Place among the most iconic in the group. The steel-framed tower rises at 1650 Market Street to a height of 945 feet and 61 stories above the ground. The skyscraper was designed by Helmut Jahn, who has unfortunately passed in May of last year, as part of the Liberty Place project developed by Rouse and Associates. At the moment, only two observatories operate in the city, as one has closed last year. Today we look at views from theh currently closed One Liberty Observation Deck, located on the 57th floor in the skyscraper’s gabled crown.

Two Cathedral Square at 227 North 18th Street. Credit: Solomon Cordwell Buenz

Philly YIMBY Looks at Two Cathedral Square, 470-Foot-Tall Office and Residential Tower Planned at 227 North 18th Street in Logan Square, Center City

8:00 am on November 19, 2021 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

Updated plans have recently been released for Two Cathedral Square, a 470-foot-tall, 34-story mixed-use commercial and residential tower planned at 227 North 18th Street in Logan Square. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz and developed by EQT Exeter, with Studio Bryan Hanes handling landscape design, the 700,000-square-foot-plus building is the largest component of Cathedral Square, a redevelopment master plan for the block-sized archdiocesan campus centered on the iconic Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Today YIMBY takes a closer look at the most recent iteration of Center City’s latest trophy tower.

Center City towers from The Laurel Rittenhouse. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Philadelphia YIMBY Observes Views from the Top of The Laurel Rittenhouse in Rittenhouse Square, Center City

8:00 am on October 18, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

Nearly a month ago, The Laurel Rittenhouse at 1911 Walnut Street in Rittenhouse Square, Center City, celebrated its topping out with a commemorative event. Designed by Solomon Cornwell Buenz and developed by Southern Land Company, with the Harman Group as the structural engineer, the tower rises 48 stories tall and 599 feet, with additional two floors of mechanical space The parapet that will soon be constructed will reach 593 feet. The building will house 185 rental apartments and 60 luxury condominium units in the upper portion. Today, Philadelphia YIMBY shares skyline photos taken during our tour of the skyscraper as seen from the 48th and 49th floors, just under the final concrete slab.

Philadelphia 1905 and 2020 south elevation. Photo by Thomas Koloski

Looking Back At The Creation Of The Philadelphia Massing

7:30 am on September 26, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

For over a year, Philadelphia YIMBY has been providing extensive publications and visuals depicting new developments planned for the future as well as notable towers that have risen in the past. We have offered images from drawn schematics, custom-made renderings, and skyline massings to give the public a clear look at the structures featured. Any time new high-rise buildings have been revealed or design changes were made, YIMBY reports on the changes with three-dimensional skyline views from various directions. In this feature, we look back at the creation of the 3D skyline massings that we continue to provide to this day.

Northeast Northern Liberties. Credit: Post Brothers

Northeast Northern Liberties: an Emerging Waterfront Hub in Search of an Identity

8:00 am on September 18, 2021 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

The latest entry on Philadelphia YIMBY’s First Anniversary Countdown, which looks at the most frequently mentioned article categories over the course of the past year, found North Philadelphia‘s Northern Liberties neighborhood at the 18th place, out of the 1,800+ categories surveyed. Yesterday’s entry outlined at the neighborhood’s history and general composition. Today we look at Northeast Northern Liberties, a former industrial hotbed turned no-mans-land that is now rapidly transforming into a major urban hub, and some of the challenges that the emerging district still needs to address.

Unfinished Liberty Place design model. Photo from Helmut Jahn

Visualizing the Under-500-Foot-Tall Early Iterations of Liberty Place on the Skyline

8:00 am on September 16, 2021 By Thomas Koloski

The Liberty Place complex is emblematic of the Philadelphia skyline as they played a key role in Center City‘s skyscraper growth. The towers currently stand 61 and 58 stories tall, with angled sharp crowns pointing toward to the sky, one tower capped with a tall and another with a short spire. The project was commissioned by Willard G. Rouse III of Rouse and Associates, who had originally pictured a $150 million 38-story tower rising to a height that measured somewhere under 500 feet. Just days after New Year’s Day in 1984, the building was first discussed in a publication about how Rouse won the bid for the site how it may become the city’s premier office tower. The architect, Helmut Jahn, was selected in March, and had produced a rapid succession of concepts under 500 feet, which eventually evolving well above that height. Today we share exclusive massing concepts of how the skyline would have looked if the towers were built to their originally planned height.

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