Permits were issued for the construction of a large mixed use building at 1801-05 North 2nd Street in Olde Kensington. The building will stand five stories tall and will feature 20 residential units as well as two commercial spaces at the ground floor. Parking will be situated in the basement. The structure will hold 25,106 square feet of space and will cost an estimated $2,510,000 to build.
Two Liberty Place at 50 South 16th Street in Center City is a 848-foot-tall skyscraper similar in style to the complex’s anchor tower One Liberty Place at 1650 Market Street, with its floor boosted by an extension on the north side of the structure. Designed by Murphy/Jahn and developed by Willard G. Rouse III of Rouse and Associates, the tower was erected in 1988 and stands 58 stories tall. Philly YIMBY looks at the design process through drawings by Helmut Jahn that date to 1986.
Permits have been issued for a the construction of a multi-family residential development at 2723 Federal Street in Grays Ferry, South Philadelphia. The building will rise three stories tall and include six residential units. A total of 6,133 square feet of space will be included in the development and construction will cost an estimated $827,955.
A permit has been issued for the construction of a four-story, three-unit building at 2529 North 2nd Street in West Kensington. The project site is located on the east side of the block between West Cumberland and West Huntingdon streets. The fully sprinkled structure will span a footprint of 875 square feet and will contain a total of 3,758 square feet of interior space, which translates to a generous average of 1,253 square feet per apartment. The roof deck will offer sweeping skyline views, given the building’s future prominence above its low-rise surroundings. Filings list Martinez Emilio Flores as the owner, Alex Rong of AR Engineers and Christopher Carickhoff as the design professionals, and V2 Properties Construction Management LLC as the contractor. Construction is expected to cost $525,000.
The Loews Philadelphia Hotel, formerly known as the PSFS Building, located at 1200 Market Street in the Market East section of Center City, is a remarkable skyscraper for Philadelphia as the building was ahead of its time when it was built. Upon completion, it was the most massive structure in the skyline as the large, T-shaped tower rose almost as high as the clock tower of City Hall. The 36-story building originally stood at a height of 491 feet, the first skyscraper to be built just under the informal Gentleman’s Agreement height limit. The International Style tower was designed by George Howe and William Edmond Lescaze. William later on went to design One New York Plaza just three years before his death in 1969. The developer of the skyscraper was the Philadelphia Savings and Fund Society, which still has their iconic initials attached to the east and west sides of the blue crown above the main roof.
