Mormon On Up

With new proposals north, south, east, and west, Philadelphia is experience a new building boom. And given the economy of 2014, the exciting renderings being passed around the blogosphere seem far more realistic than they did a decade ago.

Move On Up

Today, Mayor Nutter announced two new projects for the 1600 block of Vine Street including a 32 story apartment tower designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and a Mormon Family History and Community Center. Next to the upcoming Mormon Temple at 17th and Vine, this stretch could easily find itself dubbed Mormon Row. Mormontown? Call it what you want, Property Reserve Inc.'s development stands (tall) to anchor a renewed grand boulevard on Vine Street which, despite the Vine Street Expressway, remains relatively underutilized.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has no shortage of funds and have proven to work extremely well with the city's notoriously difficult unions, so assuming the market for 258 luxury rental units with unparalleled views of the city's skyline remains in tact, this could easily happen. With Tower Place, a potential hotel or residential project at the Inquirer Building, Chinatown's Eastern Tower, and Callowhill's burgeoning Loft District, the urban space north of Vine is going to look dramatically different in the next ten years.