Philadelphia YIMBY’s recent site visit has observed that construction has been effectively completed at The Carson Apartments, a 13-story, 382-unit mixed-use rental high-rise at 501 Spring Garden Street in Northern Liberties, Lower North Philadelphia. Designed by Bower Lewis Thrower Architects (aka BLT Architects) and developed by RREI LLC, the 153-foot-tall structure will offer 60,810 square feet of retail, providing a significant anchor for the long-desolate yet rapidly up-and-coming southern section of Northern Liberties. According to the official website, The Carson opens on May 1.
The Carson’s white-walled exterior is minimalist yet cheery, crafted in classical Modernist tradition with a touch of Postmodern flair in the form of a yellow band at the top level. Large windows make for a highly transparent exterior while providing ample sunlight and views for the residences, which will range from studios to two-bedrooms.
The Carson features amenities such as a basketball court, co-working lounge, sleek fitness center, and club room. The rooftop will offer fireside lounges, a sunbathing pool, city and river views, a dog park, and gathering space.
The development is one among several similarly-scaled, mixed-use high-rise buildings planned along, and to the south of, Spring Garden Street. Together, the buildings are transforming a no -mans-land of warehouses and parking lots into a vibrant community, as befits its storied urban history (still independent at the time, Northern Liberties ranked as the nation’s largest city in 1790) and central location at the vanguard of Lower North Philadelphia, sited between Center City to the south, Callowhill and Spring Garden to the west, the Delaware River waterfront to the east, and central Northern Liberties to the north.
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Very fast! Others to follow suit!
Status of the Supermarket, if anyone knows…..?
Is Philly going back to the gentlemen agreement to what height not to exceed the top of William Penn’s hat?
Everything seems to be a short amount of stories, like 7 or 8 stories, maybe 12 stories.
The only one that I can think of is 2301 JFK?
If there is that much of a rush to get residents home’s in Philadelphia, vertical construction needs to go higher.
There isn’t a rush or a need in a city where supply has already greatly surpassed demand in a city that has lost population over the last two years and stagnate the two prior.
That is your view.
There is no substantial evidence to suggest that supply has surpassed demand, and the rental vacancy rate in Greater Center City still sits below 5%.
Also, Philadelphia had small but consistent population gains until Covid (not the definition of stagnant). And the Covid fallout affected many US cities, and still too early to consider the recent population decline as a trend.
Zoning is pretty unfavorable for anything taller pretty much everywhere outside of Center City and UCity.
Arthaus and The Laurel are 500’+ towers. A few others in the works, but there needs to be more.
Ah, the negadelphians are back. Don’t pay attention to all the construction and all the NIMBY complaints about the impossibility of funding a free parking spot — somehow magically Philadelphia is losing population. The US Census Bureau typically underestimates Philadelphia’s population then when an actual 10-year census is done they are shocked that the population rose as much as it did. There were more new construction permits requested in Philadelphia a couple of years ago than in NYC.
Why does no one addresses the question about pending supermarket? The Carson is large and we need a supermarket (preferably with a great selection of bread and cheese 😀). Any updates?