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PHILAPHILIA Empty Lot of the Week: PennDot PPA Realen Fail Lot
Though most empty lots piss me off, I can understand how they form. This one, however, pisses me off like no other.
PHILAPHILIA Empty Lot of the Week: PennDot PPA Realen Fail Lot
A weekly series of foul-mouthed investigations into empty lots, dead-ass proposals and other design phenomena in Philadelphia. Find more stories like this at Philaphilia.blogspot.com.
Though most empty lots piss me off, I can understand how they form. Sometimes it's a patch of old buildings too far gone to save that get knocked down. Sometimes there's actually a need for surface parking in the area. Sometimes an owner just doesn't have the resources to save it. This one, however, pisses me off like no other. This is a lot that was cleared for development that was a shitty idea from the rip. On top of that, I hate empty lots that take over what were previously a whole bunch of little streets, and this is one of those as well. Wanna know what else I hate? Parking garages that are right next to surface parking lots. This is one of those, too!!! Even worse, the garage has empty lots on both sides. How much worse can it get? Much worse.
This lot started its development life in the late 1830s. Originally, it consisted of no less than four interstitial streets and one primary street. The little streets were called Craydon Street, Path Street, McDonald Place, and Western Avenue. The larger street was called Palmetto. The small ones were each lined with tiny trinity rowhouses, some built of wood. McDonald Place and Western Avenue each had a private courtyard space. Most likely, these courtyards were where each street's water pump and gas lamp were located. Schuylkill 7th (now 16th), Schuylkill 8th (now 15th), and Palmetto Streets was lined with stately row-mansions. An even tinier set of alleys provided shortcuts to and fro.
By the late 1800s, much of the construction on the small streets started to disappear. The houses on the southern side of McDonald Place were all eliminated in favor of the Talmage & Weidley Brass Foundry, where ingots and castings were made. Once the 20th Century rolled around, even bigger changes happened. The Talmage & Weidley foundry expanded out, creating an annex building in the small block bounded by what was now called Hicks (formerly Path), Mole (formerly Craydon), Florist (previously unnamed), and Spring (previously Cowslip) streets. New houses were built along Hicks Street. On the 16th Street side of the lot, a few buildings were taken down in favor of a relay station for the Keystone Telephone Company.
By 1920, the block was unrecognizable. Western Avenue, along with most of the 15th Street side of the lot, was completely eliminated in favor of more small industrial buildings. McDonald Place still existed, but was only a small alley with the party walls of long buildings on either side. The Julian B. Slevin Company had taken over the old Brass Foundry properties and converted them to printing presses. The Keystone Telephone Company building started being used as the John Eckels College of Mortuary Science.After that, the glory days were over. The neighborhood surrounding this lot, which was already in decline, went to absolute shit. The previously stately homes that lined Summer (formerly Palmetto) and 16th Streets were either vacant or being used for commerce/industry. The fledgling Philadelphia Daily News took over the Slevin Company printing presses and used them to print their newspaper. The old Keystone Telephone Company/College of Mortuary Science building was boarded up.
Between 1969 and 1971, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation took control of every property within the boundaries of the current empty lot. The final leg of the Vine Street Expressway was being planned at this point and PennDOT needed the northern part of the space for on/off ramps. As with many Philadelphia projects, the expressway went into development hell and the area this lot's buildings went further and further into disuse and disrepair. In the early 1980s, now knowing that an interchange for the new expressway would be built directly to the north, the Philadelphia Parking Authority leased the properties from PennDOT with the intention of building a large mixed-use skyscraper complex.
After mowing down all the buildings and eliminating all of the remaining streets within, the PPA couldn't get their shit together enough to get any construction going. In 1988, they called in Realan Properties to help them get it done. Realen proposed a massive complex called the Philadelphia Gateway Center, since this area would be a new gateway to the city for suburbanites coming over on the new expressway, which still wasn't done. The Gateway Center would consist of 400-room hotel, a 42-story office building, and a 1200-car parking garage. Hahnemann and Shriner's Hospitals were pinned down to anchor the office tower, which would have underground access to the rest of the Hahnemann complex.
When the Vine Street Expressway finally opened on January 10th, 1991, there was still nothing in the space but an empty lot. Since part of the project was a government-mandated "interceptor" garage for all the cars coming in on the expressway, funding was secured to build a 900-car parking garage that would act as Phase One of the Gateway Complex. Completed in 1992, this garage was placed straight down in the middle of the lot to leave room for the new buildings.
By the time 1995 rolled around, still nothing was built. After seeing the success of Dave and Buster's on the Delaware waterfront, the Realen folks came up with the idea of turning the empty lot plus garage into an entertainment complex. A movie theater would be built on top of the garage and a knock-off style D & B's would be built on the site of the surrounding surface lots. Then-mayor Ed Rendell hailed the idea as "Can't Miss" and announced it would be complete by the Christmas '96 movie season, around the time Star Trek: First Contact would be released. Regal Cinemas signed on as the anchor.
It never happened. In 1999, with the recently completed Pennsylvania Convention Center nearby and the Republican National Convention about to come to town, Realen announced that a 14-story, 275-room hotel would be built on the property. Again, it never happened, and it keeps not happening. You may ask, "Hey GroJLart, you fucking bastard, why don't you call this a Dead-Ass Proposal instead of an Empty Lot?"
Well, the answer is: its NOT DEAD! After 25 years, the Realen Philadelphia Gateway Complex is still an active proposal. Their website carries recently-made renderings and everything. After all this time, the only thing Realen has built in this city is the parking garage on this empty lot and the brand new parking garage at Arch and Juniper Streets, built to support a hotel conversion they've proposed at 101 North Broad. After their history with the Philadelphia Gateway, why the fuck would ANYONE trust them EVER AGAIN to get a project done (that isn't a parking garage)? Expect 101 North Broad to stay vacant for the next 25 years.
This shit makes me fucking crazy!! Think of how many large-scale buildings have been constructed in Center City in the last 25 years. You're telling me that two-and-a-half decades isn't fucking long enough to get this done? I know the Franklin Plaza Central Business District, where this lot is located, didn't exactly work out as planned, but that's no fucking excuse. Get off your dookie-stinkin' asses and make this shit happen. Feh.
With their outstanding track record lets see if we can get Realen hired at the Redevelopment Authority to speed things up over there.— bigreddog
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