Site Prep Continues at 2301 John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City West

Philadelphia YIMBY’s recent site visit has observed that site prep work continues at a 307-foot-tall, 23-story mixed-use high-rise underway at 2301 John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City West. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz and developed by the PMC Property Group (which also serves as the contractor), the curvy edifice will rise on a slender-wedge shaped lot by the Schuylkill River waterfront and will contain 334,201 square feet of interior space. The project will offer 287 residential units as well as office space and parking for 44 cars and 96 bicycles. Permits specify a construction cost of $105 million.

2301 John F Kennedy Boulevard. Photo by Jamie Meller. April 2023

The development’s salient feature is its dramatic design. The tower slab will orient its narrow, curved side toward the river, gracing the waterfront with the elegance of an ocean liner. Equally impressive will be its presence from John F. Kennedy Boulevard, not only at the skyline level, but also along the sidewalk, where it will fill a foreboding street gap with an attractive, transparent, pedestrian-friendly retail podium. The building’s standalone, prominent location and floor-to-ceiling windows will ensure ample sunlight and dramatic views for tenants on all floors.

2301 John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Credit: Solomon Cordwell Buenz

The development will rise from an awkward, complicated lot. The site’s primary access point sits at its east side at North 23rd Street, which also happens to be the narrowest point of the wedge-shaped lot. Although the west side is considerably wider and faces the river, it also does not offer street access and faces the railroad tracks. To the north and south the site is hemmed in by the viaducts of the JFK Boulevard and the regional rail, which both rise over 20 feet above grade.

The design gracefully resolves the challenging parcel via grade-based separation of use. The lower level will be relegated to service access, loading bays, and a parking garage, which will partially slip under the rail viaduct. The main entrance will sit one level above at JFK Boulevard. The building podium will provide a nearly block-long stretch of pedestrian-friendly adjacency, making the foot crossing via the Boulevard to Center City a much more pleasant experience.

2301 John F Kennedy Boulevard. Photo by Jamie Meller. April 2023

If anything, our main gripe with the project is that, despite its effective layout, still does not utilize the site to its full potential, yielding a floor-to-area ratio of 5.49-to-1, when the site is capable of supporting a 12-to-1 ratio, more than double the current amount. We would not mind if the development team extruded the current design vertically into a taller tower, which would potentially yield one to two hundred or so residential units that would go a long way to boost the neighborhood’s housing stock and animating its still-forlorn streets. However, this scenario now appears unlikely with the recent permit issue, so we hope that the unused air rights will be transferred to one of the many development-ready sites in the vicinity.

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9 Comments on "Site Prep Continues at 2301 John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City West"

Daniel Ithaca | April 20, 2023 at 3:38 pm | Reply
44 spaces for big metal boxes (at perhaps 25,000 30,000 each = if 30k that’s $1,320,000 plus maintenance and loan service fees just for car storage).
287 residential units, what % of these are affordable housing, 5%? 10%? ~28 units?
- Bob | April 24, 2023 at 1:28 pm | Reply
  If you think developers are going to pay Center City prices for bargain-priced apartments, you’re a NIMBY looking for reasons to say no, not a YIMBY. There is so much available land in cheaper South Philly and North Philly that could be housing people if the zoning board would get rid of their ridiculous height restrictions and minimum parking requirements.
- Mark from Mount Airy | April 26, 2023 at 2:51 pm | Reply
  The affordable housing will happen when the people who move into this expensive building here leave older, less desirable dwellings that cost less. Everything the NIMBYs and their progressive enablers think about creating affordable housing is wrong. To create affordable housing you have to build a lot more of all types of housing, which means making building easier and putting less burdens on developers, not more. You know what also creates affordable housing? Good jobs. You know what happens when you have a City addicted to a high wage tax? It drives good jobs away, and those jobs that are left pay less in salary, and then housing becomes unaffordable for those workers.
  - OMG | May 3, 2023 at 10:34 am | Reply
    Bingo! Speaking as a CPA and someone who has studied economics for 20+ years, the best way to make housing affordable is to increase the supply (BUILD MORE OF IT).
whatever | April 20, 2023 at 9:09 pm | Reply
this is luxurious condo in prime location – plenty of affordable housing in west/north philly
teddy | April 21, 2023 at 2:24 am | Reply
Are there any plans in the works to clean up and power wash the railroad viaduct? It is quite an eyesore.
tdm | April 21, 2023 at 9:43 am | Reply
There can never be too much affordable housing, not with all the poor people you and I see in the streets every day
- Drew | April 22, 2023 at 7:43 pm | Reply
  My man…the solution to fixing poverty is not to keep them poor and feel “dignified” while poor…its to get them out of poverty…and people dont get out of poverty by simply being given a property that 90 percent of people making 100k a year cannot afford…
  Since those making 100k cant afford it, lets give it to those who make 30k.
  Great idea Karl!
  - donkey | April 24, 2023 at 5:06 am | Reply
    fully agreed – gentrification is great. If you want to live in prime location luxury, go make money and pay up. We need to improve equal starting point and provide more opportunity to the poor, but letting them live in the basement level of luxury condo is not the way to do it. First get them off the streets and work a job.

9 Comments on "Site Prep Continues at 2301 John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City West"

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