Two-Towered Development Planned at 200 Spring Garden Street and 412 North 2nd Street in Northern Liberties

In the last few days, details have been slowly coming to light about a large potential development planned for 200 Spring Garden Street and 412 North 2nd Street in the zone situated between Northern Liberties and Old City. National Real Estate, the developers of the massive East Market complex in Center City, is behind the project. One of the two planned high-rises is a 14-story tower situated at 2nd and Spring Garden that will hold 355 residential units. The tower will stand 149 feet tall and will also include 105 parking spaces. The other building will be located at 412 North 2nd Street and will stand 244 feet and 23 floors high. Here, 397 residential units will be situated along with 106 parking spaces.

Rendering of 412 North 2nd Street. Credit: Handel Architects.

Each tower will feature an attractive exterior with different designs that will allow for contrast between the buildings. The 2nd and Spring Garden tower will feature a stately brick exterior highlighted by a rounded corner that creates a unique shape. Large floor-to-ceiling windows will be located on the ground floor of the tower, with smaller (but still large) uniformed size windows situated in the rest of the exterior. Some black cladding will be mixed into the design with a cornice located at the top of the tower. The building resembles a design of an era past and once completed will be highly visible from the northern angle of the Philadelphia skyline.

Meanwhile, the 2nd Street tower will feature an exterior very similar to National’s 12th and Market tower, which boasts an industrial-chic design. The tower’s podium will consist partially of a two-story, red-brick structure, while the rest will be covered of a set of large murals arranged around the footprint of the building. The tower rises above the brick portion of the tower with a black and gray cladding design mixed with industrial-styled windows rising to the towers pinnacle.

Site of 200 Spring Garden Street. Credit: Google.

The Spring Garden tower will be replacing the City Fitness gym which currently occupies a low slung building. While the building’s shape and lack of windows result in a bland structure, the gym is encased by a large, colorful mural that allows the building to stand out at its prominent location. While the loss of the mural will be unfortunate, the new building will utilize the property in a far greater way and will help revitalize the current dead zone south of Spring Garden Street and north of the Vine Street Expressway.

View of 412 North 2nd Street Site. Credit: Google.

The 2nd Street tower will replace another low-rise building, this one with an industrial occupancy. A chain link fence encases the dull site that is currently occupied by a one-story white and green structure. A large concrete promenade is also located in the property where it was used as a drop-off/pick-up facility. By adding a new large tower, the area around the property will greatly improve.

National’s main plan is to improve an urban property that is in a prominent location but is drastically underutilized. These properties certainly meet that definition. By constructing new multi-family developments with hundreds of residential units, National Real Estate revitalizes such properties and turns them into thriving communities.

The towers will be going to a Zoning Committee Meeting today at 6:30 PM.

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