You may know Parkway Corporation for its parking garages in Philadelphia, but its residential building in Chinatown is making news. Pearl, which broke ground in 2006, represented the first new construction in Chinatown in approximately four decades. The site had been vacant for about 40 years prior as well. After struggling to find business partners in the community who would take the risk to develop in Chinatown, Parkway Corporation joined forces with Pan Am Realty to bring to life this exciting, unique development. The building is almost all first generation Chinese residents. The units have been designed under “feng shui” principals specific for the Chinese community. Despite facing tough economic conditions, the complex has filled all of its 90 residential units. Congrats to the Joe Zuritsky for a continuing job well done.
Ok, I can hear all you sniggering out there about Feng Shui, but many Chinese take the concept very seriously. It has to do with design and harmony and how architectural, color, and other design elements can affect the well being of people in a structure. For instance, and I think I’m getting this right, if the front door and the back door of a home are opposite each other, then good spirits and good luck will come in and flow right out of the house. (No offense intended to practitioners by the simplicity of this description.)
I’m making this up, but I think I got most of it right…
About 20 years ago, an investment group from Hong Kong bought the LAX Hilton, sight unseen. Just before escrow closed, they dropped by for a look and were horrified. The Feng Shui was wrong. The south facing entrance led directly to a north/south facing escalator, or the escalators created an “X” in the lobby and the elevators dumped directly in front of the entry doors. Something had to be done or the deal was off. I think it took many millions of dollars, moving escalators, and the installation of a screen between Century Boulevard and the front door, to fix the problem and allow the deal to continue. Now when you walk out of the hotel, you walk onto the port cochere and are facing a concrete grill work that changes the flow. This is serious business.
My guess is that one of the reasons for the tremendous success of this development was Parkway’s sensitivity to their potential customer’s traditions. It’s a lesson that could be welled learned by us all.
JVH
