That contest, organized by the semiautonomous Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., is almost an exact replay of the one that won Dranoff the Symphony House site in 2002. Then, as now, he beat out P&A Associates, builders of the St. James and Murano towers. Dranoff again bid more money ($2.5 million for the 19,000-square-foot site) and partnered with a minority-owned firm (Kenny Gamble's Universal Cos.), a big selling point for the city.
The fact that P&A's proposal promised better-quality architecture - and less harm to the adjacent Rodman Street rowhouses - doesn't seem to have held much sway with PIDC, which is jointly run by the city and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
While Dranoff certainly deserves credit for helping to recast the Avenue of the Arts as a residential boulevard, the competition raises important philosophical questions about how Philadelphia auctions public land: Should victory go to the high bidder or the best design?
That seems like an easy one. Money is quickly frittered away. Bad buildings remain in our faces a long time.
You might have thought that PIDC, a nonprofit, had learned its lesson with Symphony House, the product of the last big competition it organized to jump-start development on Broad Street. While Dranoff outbid P&A for the site, $6 million to $3.5 million, the city is now stuck with a sickly pink Pepto-Bismol tower with mix-and-match window frames. It's worth noting that Dranoff's finished tower is far worse than the buff-colored design depicted on the contest renderings.
