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It's been a long and contentious road, but the final decision has been made for Philadelphia's second casino. Whether you like gaming or not, if Philadelphia needs another one, the right location was chosen.
As opposed to Center City locations, Live! Hotel and Casino has always been a no brainer.
The location has always been a no brainer...for all of Philadelphia's casinos.
But because of state rules that prohibit pairing up competing casinos, each has to be a specific distance from another. In a way it makes sense. If casinos were allowed to compete for a location, Pennsylvania could end up with an Atlantic City without a beach. But the lack of competition also keeps each casino dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.
Nonetheless, the Stadium District is already a growing entertainment zone. Detached from residents and surrounded by freeways and parking lots, the area is free to offer bars, concert venues, and now a casino without annoying any neighbors.
Whether or not Live!'s hotel materializes, like the component that seems to have been abandoned by SugarHouse, the casino will benefit from adjacent activity. While SugarHouse neither complements nor caters to its neighborhood, in fact it does just the opposite, Live! will be a marketable asset to Philadelphia's burgeoning party strip.
If you count Camden, the immediate Philadelphia area is currently sitting on three proposed observation towers. Camden's Skyview Tower, Pier 53's Land Buoy, and now the Skyspire in South Philadelphia.
The nerd in me loves these proposals, particularly the former two. They're unique. But my disdain for copycat architecture has some reservations about the Skyspire.
If the Gaming Control Board approves Casino Revolution near Front and Packer, the LoSo Entertainment Center is coming with it. And with LoSo may come a 615 foot structure similar to Seattle's Space Needle, but ten feet taller.
Considering the boon a second entertainment center could bring to the Stadium District, potentially laying the groundwork for a vast entertainment district along Packer Avenue, the Board may consider LoSo Entertainment's connection to Casino Revolution in their decision.
And they'd be smart to do so.
Two other casinos proposals, the Provence at the old Inquirer Building and Market8 on the Disney Hole, are in Center City neighborhoods that don't want or need a casino.
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| Oriental Pearl Tower |
A casino along Packer Avenue has always been a no brainer. No one lives there. It's chock full of sports fans spilling into XFINITY Live!, the way gamblers could spill over into LoSo, stepping away from the slots to dine 600 feet above the city with epic skyline views.
As for the architecture - and the abundance of so many unique structures proposed in a such a short period of time - these three towers could be signaling a desire to uniquely define our skyline in a way that sidesteps Development Hell. They're cheaper than skyscrapers and more unique than rectangular buildings.
Too many cities in the United States arduously try to emulate Chicago and New York, while cities across the Middle East and Asia look like something out of Blade Runner or The Fifth Element.
Let's go for it.
But don't stop at reinventing the wheel. Look to Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower or the Fernsehturm Berlin for inspiration. Mark Philadelphia's skyline with something America has never seen before. Giving those passing through from D.C. to New York a reason to look at our city and wonder, "What's that? Oh, that's Philadelphia. I should check it out."
