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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Will Sugar House's new look satisfy Philadelphia planners?
Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 5:27 pm - by Alan Tu. Filed under: Casinos.
Sugar House has made some design changes it hopes will satisfy Philadelphia planners
The Philadelphia Planning Commission will review the revised plan (pdf) for the Sugar House casino planned along the Delaware riverfront. The meeting will be held Wednesday, June 24 @ 1:00 p.m. at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Sugar House is one of two casinos that are planned for Philadelphia under a State gambling plan.
Take a look at the revised plan. The devil is in the details here because from the drawings it’s hard to understand if the new plan is any better. The two pretty much look the same in terms of sheer size. They both look like they have a large casino buildings and the multistory parking garage looks tall in both.
The goal of the revised plan is to make Sugar House a better fit with the Central Delaware Waterfront Plan. So, I’ll leave it up to you guys to sift through this new plan to tell me what’s different.
I did take the time to dig up some pictures from Sugar House’s original plan back in 2006, some illustrations from the new revised plan, and a picture from the Waterfront Action Plan.
How the Sugar House casino would look from Delaware Avenue under the new revised plan
Birds eye of the Sugar House casino under the new revised plan
The casino will be built first
The parking garage gets built next
Finally some tall buildings will be thrown in for balance
The Sugar House casino as it was proposed in 2006
Vision for Philadelphia's waterfront along the Delaware River
View of skyline under the waterfront plan
June 12th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
What is really being proposed, and if they ever get their funding from lenders, and they want to build is a big box surrounded by parking lots. These not-so-pretty pix are final build-out which will never happen and more importantly should never happen as they, like the first phase represent an auto-oriented, big box, environmental and economic disaster that is based on a predatory business model that will destory the economy while destroying any hope for a vibrant, sustainable, green riverfront for families and all citizens of Philadelphia. The devil is in all the details and in the big picture too.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Jethro, people don’t like truth-tellers. It makes ‘em angry for some reason. But i think you’re 100% correct.
June 13th, 2009 at 12:22 am
I don’t think the media should show these final build-out photos. I think it misrepresents the situation.
SugarHouse has committed only to Phase I, explaining that anything more than Phase I is “contingent on marketplace conditions as well as approvals/permits from Federal and State agencies.” (See page 2 of the big down-loadable PDF). So that basically means they are probably showing a fictional rendering of Phase II and Phase III — and why not?
In general, this property has one of the highest potentials in the City. And, the proposed project — even from a design point of view — is one of the worst possible concepts. Add in the fact that it is a predatory gambling facility and you have a tragedy.
By the way, page 2 of the PDF states that the project would include an off-track betting parlor. Conveniently, the architects don’t show that on the color drawings.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:34 am
Ugh, this looks awful. I’m lucky that I live in a city (Vancouver BC) whose planners would never approve something so disgusting. What a waste of waterfront! If I live in Philly I’d be up in arms about this. A multistory parking garage right on the water?! That’s just criminal. Make something pleasant and sustainable, instead.
June 13th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Bedford Falls, meet Pottersville.
June 13th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I’m ambivalent about gambling in Philly, but those concept shots are hideous.
June 14th, 2009 at 2:51 am
Wow, that is indescribably awful.
June 15th, 2009 at 10:11 am
seriously, did an enormous cat that poops concrete just use the waterfront as its litter box?
that is one ugly complex of buildings. the vacant warehouses are actually more attractive than THAT.
June 15th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
God forbid that the city follow the Boston plan and place beautiful parks and cultural institutions along the waterfront, right?!
June 16th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Reminds me of the name of a band I used to be in: StripMall Architex. Of course *we* were being ironic.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
As you wrote, the old and revised plans “pretty much look the same.” The goal of Sugarhouse is not to create “a better fit” with the waterfront. It is to pretend to address community concerns in order to get the ugly thing built.