At number 19 on Philly YIMBY’s December 2020 Development Countdown is the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia‘s Roberts Center For Pediatric Research Phase 3, a 350-foot-tall, 21-story tower proposed at 730 Schuylkill Avenue. The building is a part of the CHOP’s four-tower master plan in BGraduate Hospital (though the area is also sometimes described as the Schuylkill section of Grays Ferry), South Philadelphia. The site sits directly to the southwest of the 375-foot-tall CHOP Roberts Center for Pediatric Research at 734 Schuylkill Avenue, which was completed in May 2017. Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the architect for Phase 1, is likely to be the designer for the new tower.
The four-tower master plan will add considerable bulk to the skyline just to the south of South Street. The shape of the one-story structure with an underground parking garage to the northwest of Phase 1 strongly suggests that it was planned in anticipation for the new tower. Though no progress has been evident with that building, 730 Schuylkill Avenue seems to be more finalized, as a rendering has been released. The final floor count is also difficult to correctly ascertain with the available rendering.
Site of 730 Schuylkill Avenue. Image via Google Earth
CHOP Project massing. Photo via Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
730 Schuylkill Avenue from the Walt Whitman Bridge. Photo, model and edit by Thomas Koloski
730 Schuylkill Avenue site from One Liberty Place. Photo by Thomas Koloski
The plans for the building were revealed in 2013, when the master plan showed three towers surrounding the first phase of the project, labeling the tower to the northeast phase 2, the tower to the southwest phase 3, and the tower to the south of it phase 4. The site for phase 3, 730 Schuylkill Avenue, is currently an active parking lot that is available for use by staff and visitor parking for the CHOP Roberts Center.
No anticipated completion date is known for the project, as there has been little news regarding the development in recent months.
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Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River Walk will one day emulate a small portion of the Chicago River Walk.
Every single tower being planned is a vital part of this vision for Philadelphia.