Liz, you make an excellent point about Penn overpaying for the land. Penn apologist(s) claim that since Penn paid so much for it, they have no other choice but to seek a use that makes "economic sense", and Penn alone gets to say what "economic sense" is. As if someone was holding a gun to their heads and forcing them to pay $1.8 million. And as if they don't operate top flight law and business schools that TEACH students how to do due diligence and market analysis. Give me a bleeping break! Penn can eliminate all competition by paying what seems like ridiculous prices for a property, then claim they have no other choice but to build eleven story buildings to recover the cost. The fact is that Penn is the ultimate deep pocket, which explains why opportunists like the guy who got the 50-condo deal from Penn crawled out of the woodwork to support their project. And Penn has all of the legal and business expertise they will ever need at their fingertips. So if Penn or anyone else tries to equate Penn's position with the limitations faced by a private individual buyer, understand that your intellegence is being insulted.
From: [email protected]: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:34:50 +0000To: [email protected]: Re: [UC] Campus Inn Guy has provided some thoughtful writing on the 40th Street Hotel plans. Tony, I think the profits / volatility argument is more a consideration for the developers. We neighbors have every right to continue to defend our existing zoning, building codes and height limitations against rapacious developers. If the Hotel fails the neighborhood is stuck with a monolith and 100+ units that can be easily converted to use as a Homeless Shelter, Dormitory or Condo. An 11 story building is a dramatic and permanent anomaly within our Victorian Street Car Suburb. The neighborhood will bear the risks and annoyances of construction and the ultimate use. The precedent could than be used to attempt hi-rise construction on the se corner of 43rd & Baltimore, or any other lot, existing or to be razed, in our neighborhood. If a Restaurant, within a conforming structure fails, the adaptive uses might be less onerous. Glenn reminds us that Esau Sanchez spoke of plans that were rejected and hopes by Academic departments that were not funded. Like Glenn, I'd like to see the proposals. PENN can eliminate competition, by overpaying. But PENN should not be rewarded for eliminating competition or organic, growth. The Developers seek radical variances to codes which are designed to protect neighbors. Neighbors should not have to subsidize the "hardships" of poor, institutional choices. If PENN hadn't overpaid, another family, like the O'Donnells of 4100, might have settled in already. The current delays are because the Developers wants what they want. This does not include playing within the codes and regulations that were in place, when they bought. Pretending they were not aware of codes or their obligation of "Due Diligence" is little more than a flipping of the bird at us neighbors. Resistance is righteous. Encroachment is an unwanted and unwarranted act of aggression. Don't let's confuse who is profit seeking at the expense of whom. Merry Christmas and all the best in 2009 and beyond to all good neighbors! Liz -- Anthony West <[email protected]> wrote:You have many interesting ideas about 40th St. development, Guy, that deserve deeper thought than a snap response on an unmoderated listserve. I'm sure the people in the business are giving it thought, amicably or otherwise.One caution ordinary readers should note is that a long-term business plan based on a "high end restaurant" is even shakier than a plan based on an "extended stay hotel". The Campus Inn concept has been justly criticized for that very weakness: of hiding the longterm risk of downmarket users behind an initial promise of an upmarket user. If Campus Inn goes belly up, foes argue, it could be converted to rooms where students might sleep ... and there goes the neighborhood. We don't want no students sleeping in Spruce Hill, do we now? Ew.The entertainment industry, I must warn readers, is even more volatile than the travel industry. It's great for Penn, and flattering for West Philadelphia, that Distrito is pitching in such monstrous rents for (gasp!) 40th St. nightspot square footage. Maybe a new high-end entertainment district will coalesce around 40th St. someday soon. I'm up for that. But I wouldn't bet the mortgage on it today.Long-range planners for a sustainable 40th & Pine property are free to dazzle the public with visions of another Distrito ... but should gladly settle for another FuddRuckers, if that's what washes up on the beach. Still beats a stop & go. There will be no intrinsic protection, however, against that site's becoming a stop & go in the future.There's nothing wrong with either risk, in my opinion. None of the above worries me. I could live with walking past any of the above outcomes. For me, an upscale restaurant beats a dorm, but an extended-stay hotel beats a stop & go. The true challenge for the neighborhood, as it mulls over these options, is to figure out how to honestly compare apples with apples.-- Tony West> I dream that the 40th and Pine site is developed by Campus Apartments > and Tom Lussenhop as a high end restaurant with 25 car parking and > either classroom or community space on the second and third floor. >> Guy---- Elizabeth CampionPRUDENTIAL, FOX & ROACH REALTORS, LLC210 W. Rittenhouse Square, Suite 406Phila, PA 19103 215-790-5653 Desk & Voicemail215-880-2930 Cell & Emergency215-546-9781 Shared office faxcampio...@juno,com [email protected] for Rental questions Link to Photos of available Listings and public, 'social' photos:www.PicasaWeb.google.com/CampionEF To check out all PFR and Multiple Listed Properties and to review CONSUMER NOTICE, link towww.PruFoxRoach.com ____________________________________________________________Save $15 on Flowers and Gifts from FTD!Shop now at www.ftd.com/17007
