The 13th place on Philly YIMBY’s December 2021 Development Countdown goes to Mural West, a 363-foot-tall mixed-use high-rise planned at 523 North Broad Street in Poplar, Lower North Philadelphia. Designed by Atkin Olshin Schade Architects and developed by Precision Realty Group, the project will provide office, retail, and commercial/medical space, as well as more than 200 residential units. The project will also include public plaza next to the eponymous mural, as well as amenities such as a roof deck with potential restaurant space. The tower will bring a dramatic skyline change to lower North Broad Street, where many large developments are underway and proposed.
Mural West. Credit: Atkin Olshin Scade Architects
Mural West site plan. Credit: Atkin Olshin Schade Architects
Mural West. Credit: Atkin Olshin Scade Architects
The tower will rise from a parking lot next to the original Mural Lofts building, a residential conversion of a school building constructed in the prewar era. Situated at the northeast corner of North Broad and Spring Garden streets, two of the most prominent thoroughfares in Lower North Philadelphia, across from the Spring Garden Station on the Broad Street line, the lot has a detrimental effect on what should rightfully be a busy pedestrian hub. Its only saving grace is the magnificent mural that is painted on the blank wall of the loft building.
523 North Broad Street. December 2021. Photo by Jamie Meller
523 North Broad Street. December 2021. Photo by Jamie Meller
Mural West site looking east. Photo by Thomas Koloski
The proposal at hand seeks to capitalize on both of the site’s assets. The designers wisely chose to preserve the artwork and keep it in public view by siting it next to a plaza. The high-rise accommodates the lot’s buildable square footage in a tall, narrow building with a relatively small footprint. The design is not perfect, as the plan and building massing could have been reorganized to allow for greater, more direct visibility of the mural while maintaining the tower scale and the size of the plaza by moving the tower to the site’s southern side and relocating the plaza to the north.
However, given the frequency with which murals large and small get blocked by new development (an understandable concession to the city’s growth), we are happy to see a proposal that goes vertical instead of sprawling horizontally, in order to both create open space and preserve an artistic masterpiece. We wish to see more developments to follow the same route, and urge the city to relax its restrictive height limits to make more such development possible.
Our recent site visit revealed no significant activity at the site, although the appearance of construction equipment and work trailers at the site is a promising sign (as seen on the left side of the photo below). We hope to see construction work kicking into high gear in the near future.
523 North Broad Street. December 2021. Photo by Jamie Meller
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Not terribly happy that it will obstruct my view, but c’est la vie. What I really want to know about is the status, though. YIMBY highlighted this building more than a year ago but it doesn’t look like any progress is being made. Are we sure it’s going forward?
There hasnt been any updates on this in a while, anything going on?
@arkitect,, he just mentioned there is construction equipment on the site , let’s hope they will start soon
I really hope this will be built i like it so much.
Unfortunately, that equipment has been parked there for many months, and it looks terrible. Would love to see the proposal acted on. It would be a boon!
Have permits been issued yet?
hate to be a Debbie Downer, but this building will be built the same day i’m elected Pope
namely Never.
Good looking rendering, but this building won’t be built any time soon. I budgeted the tower last year and nothing happened with it. I suspect the budget i did was so the previous developer could figure out how much to sell the project to Precision Realty.
One Fugly Mural, btw…