A recent submission to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission’s Civic Design Review committee has revealed new details and imagery for a seven-story, 84-unit multi-family building proposed at 914 South Broad Street in Graduate Hospital, South Philadelphia. The structure will rise on a Broad Street-facing lot that spans from Carpenter Street to the south to Montrose Street to the north. Developed by Dranoff Properties and designed by JKRP Architects, the development will offer 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, apartments spanning from one to three bedrooms, a fitness center, a club room, a roof deck, and parking for 20 cars and 28 bicycles
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Site location. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
The proposed development at 914 South Broad Street will rise two short blocks to the north of the Ellsworth-Federal Station on the Broad Street subway line and three short blocks to the south of the South Street Station on the same line, and around 20 minutes south, when measured by walking distance, of City Hall. A McDonald’s restaurant, designed in an iconic double-arched style, has occupied a part of the site until relatively recently.
Carl Dranoff, the property’s developer, is no stranger to the neighborhood, having delivered skyline-defining residential high-rise projects such as Symphony House and Arthaus over the course of the past two decades just up South Broad Street, in its Avenue of the Arts section. As such, we cannot help but wish that the prime, subway-proximate site at 914 South Broad Street would have seen a taller, denser development that would have brought more much-needed residential units to the in-demand neighborhood. However, even in its present form, the proposal offers a promising addition to the area that will energize the street with ground-level retail and will hearken to Philadelphia’s traditional architectural vernacular via an extensive use of red brick, large loft-style windows, and a continuous streetwall. A subtle yet eye-catching rounded corner facing the intersection of Broad and Carpenter streets makes for a compositional centerpiece.
914 South Broad Street. Site conditions prior to redevelopment. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building section. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building floor plan. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building floor plan. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building floor plan. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building roof plan. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Landscape plan. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Material schedule. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Material schedule. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building rendering. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building elevation. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building elevation. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building elevation. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building elevation. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building elevation. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Building elevation. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Sustainable design checklist. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
914 South Broad Street. Sustainable design checklist. Credit: JKRP Architects via the Civic Design Review
From what we have seen so far, 914 South Broad Street is poised to become a highly positive addition to the neighborhood, even though the site could have arguably supported a higher-density development than the one currently under consideration. We look forward to further progress on the development.
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That site definitely calls for more density. Sad!
It should be at least twice as tall along that stretch of Broad.