Arthaus and the Center City Towers. Photo by Thomas Koloski

YIMBY Looks Back at Arthaus Rising Into the Philadelphia Skyline

The 542-foot-tall, 47-story, 108-unit Arthaus condominium at has recently completed construction at 311 South Broad Street on the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, becoming the most recent addition to the Philadelphia skyline. Replacing several prewar buildings and a parking lot, world renowned architects Kohn Pedersen Fox originally designed the tower in a different style and brand nearly a decade ago. With the revival and change of plans, the tower went from a hotel to a condo after Dranoff Properties acquired the property. The project, formerly known as the SLS International Hotel, dominates the skyline to the southeast of the main cluster of Center City skyscrapers.

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Wawa Station. Credit: Colin LeStourgeon.

SEPTA Opens Regional Rail Extension To Wawa In Middletown Township

Exciting things have arrived in Middletown Township in Delaware County, PA, within the greater Philadelphia metropolitan region, where SEPTA has officially began train service to the Wawa Station. Located along the Media/Wawa Line (formerly called the Media/Elwyn Line), Wawa sits at a roughly three mile distance from Elwyn, the regional rail line’s former terminus. The project to restore former train service in the farther reaches of DELCO was originally given a price tag of $57 million, before it was inflated to a final number of $197 million. The extension is fully electrified, as is the rest of the Regional Rail network.

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142 West Huntingdon Street

Construction Complete at 142 West Huntingdon Street in West Kensington

In September 2020, YIMBY reported that permits had been filed for a three-story two-family rowhouse at 142 West Huntingdon Street in West Kensington. Since then, construction has been completed on the development. The structure replaces a vacant lot on the south side of the block between North Howard and North Mascher streets. Designed by Plato Marinakos of Plato Studio, the building spans 3,267 square feet and features a roof deck. Permits list V2 Properties as the contractor.

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1826 Chestnut Street. Looking southeast. Credit: Goodman Properties

Still No Signs of Progress at 1826 Chestnut Street in Rittenhouse Square, Center City

In December 2020, SkyscraperPage forumer FairmountFellow revealed a pair of renderings showing a skyscraper situated atop the prewar building at 1826 Chestnut Street in Rittenhouse Square, Center City, which they purportedly observed in a “local cooperative presentation.” The rendering shows a floor count of around 42 stories and indicates that the project would be developed by Goodman Properties. The development’s location next to the proposed high-rise at 113-121 South 19th Street suggests a height of around 550 feet. Although there are indications that the development is still active, no permits have been filed in the meantime and information on the project remains exceedingly scarce. We dispatched our photographer to the site to check for signs of progress, yet none were to be found, with a CVS Pharmacy still operating out of the former theater building.

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