At number one on Philly YIMBY’s December 2020 Development Countdown is Cathedral Square Phase Two, a 685-foot-tall tower planned for 1700 Vine Street in Logan Square, Center City. The skyscraper is part of Cathedral Place, a proposed redevelopment of the block-sized archdiocesan campus centered on the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, a block east of Logan Square. The development will also include a new 23-story high-rise. The taller tower will be designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, though only a general massing is available at this point. The model shows a bulky building with a lower section to the west that steps up toward the tower. Our site visit has revealed no construction activity yet at the tower site, which is occupied by a low-rise structure and a parking lot. Both towers are being developed by Exeter Property Group.
The archdiocesan campus is located between North 17th, North 18th, Race, and Vine streets. In addition to the Basilica, the site also currently holds a 15-story office building, the Holy Family Center, and a three-story building, as well as two parking lots. One of these lots, on the southeast corner of the block, will be home to Cathedral Place Phase One, a 245-foot, 23-story high-rise that is about to start construction at 222 North 17th Street.
The site of the second tower consists a large parking lot that stretched from North 17th Street and North 18th Street, as well as the four-story Holy Family Center on the west side of the parking lot. The comparatively small building takes up roughly one-sixth of the entire site for Cathedral Place Phase Two, with the tower measuring an estimated 385 by 120 feet.
Cathedral Place Phase 2 site from North 17th Street. Photo by Thomas Koloski
Center City towers from Cathedral Place Phase 2 site. Photo by Thomas Koloski
Cathedral Place Phase 2 site from the corner of North 18th Street and Vine Street. Photo by Thomas Koloski
Cathedral Place massing from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Photo, model and edit by Thomas Koloski
Both of the new towers will stand out prominently in Logan Square. The phase two tower is set back from the park but will still dominate the area with its massive bulk. Both towers will be visible from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with phase two standing prominently and phase more hidden yet still noticeable with its modern glass façade.
No estimated completion date for Cathedral Place phase two has yet been announced.
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Once this project is built, the surrounding areas will hopefully attract future development for many more skyscrapers in the future!
Will these be office, residential, hotel, mixed use?
Probably office based on the massing
This tower will be residential with retail on the ground floor and includes a parking garage.
With the dramatic change in corporate office space use now happening I find it hard to imagine the need for all that business and living space in those two towers. And there seems to be very few planned garage spaces. Plus big tech competition from west side of Schuylkill gives these towers a poor chance for success unless the city can draw in some new HQ businesses..
Is Hunter Roberts Construction Group the general contractor for both towers?