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PHILAPHILIA Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week: 205 Race Street
Though fully-approved, this kickass-looking condo set for the 200 block of Race Street was just too damn good in too bad of a time. Now, it could have another shot at glory.
PHILAPHILIA Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week: 205 Race Street
A weekly series of foul-mouthed investigations into empty lots, dead-ass proposals and other design phenomena around Philadelphia. Find more stories like this at Philaphilia.blogspot.com.
This one right here is just a victim of bad timing. Though fully-approved, this kickass-looking condo set for the 200 block of Race Street was just too damn good in too bad of a time. Too bad this sucker couldn't get out of the ground.
For most of its existence, this plot of land consisted of the same type of ancient residential and commercial structures you see all over Old City. Clerks, umbrella makers, brush makers, china merchants, furniture stores, among others, all inhabited the site at one point or another. These buildings lasted all the way into the 1960s.
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The site from 2nd and Florist Streets showing the old Beck Brothers Testing/Measuring Apparatus Building and old B&M Vent Company building in their final years. Image from Phillyhistory.org, a project of the Department of Records. |
Eventually, all of them were mowed down in order to build the Lithographic Service Company's butt-fugly industrial building that would ugly up the block for the next four decades.
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The old Litho building, used for Philly Fringe events and some other fun stuff in its final years. Special thanks to Philadelphia Speaks user supersupper for the picture. |
In 2005, bouncing off the success of the Old City 108 condo and the Ayer Building condo conversion, Brown-Hill Development proposed a mega high-end condominium that would inject a pretty boring part of Old City with a sleek new design. The location? 205 Race Street, the site of that old Litho building. They had purchased the property in 2001 for $1.288 million and demolished the building in 2004.
This brand new $40 million project would consist of a 10-story, 130,000 square foot super-condo built for the most elite residents. Fifty-three units were proposed, ranging in price from $400,000 for a 550-square-foot studio to $2 million for a 2,400-square-foot megapartment. The building would be designed by NYC's trendy-ass firm, SHoP architects. It would be called Old City 205.
The design for this thing was so good that minimal NIMBY backlash ensued. It was fully approved and set for a September 2005 groundbreaking. When that time rolled around, no construction happened even though 25 percent of the building was already reserved. At the time, way too many condos were being built at once, fucking up the market before the bursting of the housing bubble was even a thought.
Brown-Hill tried to find ways to make the awesome building's units be sellable at a lower price and also considered building the project as apartments instead ... both ideas fizzled out with the housing crash. An empty lot created by the destruction of the old lithograph building remains a partially fenced-in dirtpile to this day. A faded-ass rendering of the proposal stands at the corner of 2nd and Race. Too bad this couldn't happen.
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Empty lot with faded sign. |
But wait ... THERE'S MORE!! Old City 205 isn't exactly dead -- a new proposal by Brown-Hill was presented to the Planning Commission for the lot this last October. Its not clear if it will have the same name, but it definitely has the same address -- 205 Race Street. This version of the proposal was designed by Thomas Gluck and features 122 rental apartments and a gigantic retail space with more square feet than the entirety of the Old City 205 SHoP design.
The structure meets Race Street with a traditional-looking rowhouse-like section 55 feet tall. The rest of the building would be 178 feet tall, quite a bit taller than the original design. With Race Street Pier nearby (which wasn't there when Old City 205 was proposed), this little spot could be even more profitable than it was in 2005.
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Rendering from their presentation to the Planning Commission in October. Looking north on 2nd Street. |
A supermarket-sized retail space? 122 housing units in a dreary part of Old City? Views of the Ben Franklin Bridge and Center City skyline? What could go wrong?!?!?! NIMBYs, that's what. When this version of the plan was first proposed, people at the meeting started complaining about the design's height, proximity to the bridge, and called it "not compatible with the historic district."
Wait a minute... not compatible with the historic district? So the surface parking lot across the street is? Or maybe they were talking about the mid-20th Century single-story retail boxes one block to the south? What is there to be compatible with at this location? Mr. Bar Stool? The shitload of highway and train causeways one block to the east? How about the gigantic tri-corner billboard tower right next to the fucking thing? What the hell do they want? A fake-looking recreation of 19th Century commercial buildings? Corny
Nonetheless, the developer appears to be undeterred and this thing isn't dead yet. Another presentation of this project is set for today, August 28th, at the Old City Civic Association. They're looking to get zoning variances. The new design is 18 feet taller than the proposal from October. Good luck, Brown-Hill, Good luck.
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