Three new towers proposed for Logan Square in Center City

A development company from Minnesota is proposing to construct three towers on a Center City site long known as River City — a grandiose plan that entailed constructing a whopping 15 million square feet.

NP International has great ambitions for the property at 23rd and Arch streets but nothing on that scale.

It wants to build a 42-story tower and two 21-story structures that would have a hotel fronting John F. Kennedy Boulevard as well as space for condominiums, apartments and retail. The developer has quietly been working for months with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association on the project ­— now called River Walk — and went before the Philadelphia Planning Commission last week.

“They have been responsive to all of the needs and concerns of their near neighbors,” said Ed Panek, chair of the neighborhood group’s zoning committee, in an interview. “They gave them the opportunity to preserve as many views as possible.”

This is just one project Logan Square is grappling with. The neighborhood has become a hotbed of development activity and, as Panek said, he’s sitting on “$2 billion of property development.”

Aside from River Walk, Logan Square is reviewing:

A proposal from PMC Property Group to construct a 26-story tower at 23rd and Cherry streets.

Brandywine Realty Trust’s proposal to construct a 28-story mixed-use building at 1919 Market St.

The redevelopment and capital improvement project at Park Towne.

The ongoing construction of 1900 Arch St., an apartment building by PMC Property Group.

Comcast Corp.’s proposed Innovation & Technology Center.

The construction of Museum Towers II, a 16-story apartment building.

The proposed redevelopment of the former family court building.

Other projects are already underway, such as the Mormon temple, the proposed 32-story apartment complex and meeting house by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, among others.

River Walk is significant for many reasons, the least of which the parcel is large and any development will leave a mark on the city, that neighborhood and stretch of the Schuylkill River. NP International described the project on its website as an “urban redevelopment that is planned to compliment the city’s growth and revitalization along the Schuylkill River.”

The site is L-shaped, totals a tad more than 8 acres and has an unusual history. It also is an example of how long it can take for a site to finally get developed — or at least closer to it.

H. Leonard Fruchter assembled several pieces of land over four blocks to create the parcel in 1980. He had visions of building a vast mixed-use complex totaling 7.5 million square feet called Penn Center West. In 1985, Fruchter sold a block to the developer that ended up constructing the Commerce Square office complex.

Fruchter didn’t get to hold on to the rest of the property for long. The mortgage on it was taken over during the savings and loan crisis and sold in 1994 to a partnership that included German financial institutions. In 2006, while the real estate markets were marching to their zenith, developer Ravi Chawla and his World Acquisition Partners proposed River City, a $3.5 billion master planned community that would consist of 10 buildings. It would have totaled an astounding 15 million square feet.

The over-the-top plan, which, in hindsight should have been taken as an obvious signal the real estate market had hit its peak, wasn’t well received by the neighborhood association.

“Their proposal would have blocked the sun and was totally unacceptable to us,” Panek said in reflection. “This project, these developers have worked very carefully with us.”

In 2012, Garrison Investment Group, a New York firm that owned the note on the property retained Jones Lang LaSalle to sell it. The site is now going through the city approval process.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal