With urban living increasingly a lifestyle of choice and
a lack of for-sale residential units on the market, developers in Philadelphia
are beginning to feel confident enough to move forward with condo projects.
Scannapieco Development plans to construct a 26-story
building at 5th and Walnut streets that will have 40 condos, a long-dormant
condo project at Two Liberty Place will be revived and complete the Residences
at Two Liberty, and now Dranoff Properties will go condo at One Riverside.
Dranoff tweaked his One Riverside project to be a condo
instead of apartments. A year-long appeal on the zoning approval for the
project unknowingly bided the developer enough time for the market to shift in
favor of for-sale units. It also provided enough time to eliminate competition
at 10 Rittenhouse Square as its condo inventory diminished.
“We could have sold 10 Rittenhouse over twice,” said
Dranoff, who helped iStar reposition and sell the building’s unsold units.
Another indicator of the fledgling condo market can be
seen in pricing. Prices at 10 Rittenhouse steadily climbed with condos selling
most recently north of $1,000 a square foot and some trading as high as $1,200
to $1,300 a square foot.
“It became apparent there was a shortage of brand new,
bull’s-eye location, highly finished units for executives and families,”
Dranoff said. “Many re-sales are smaller and demand is for brand new, highly
finished units with parking, a doorman and all amenities. There is a shortage
of that inventory. No new condominium buildings have been constructed since
2007 and we think the market is deep enough for a new round of condos.”
Dranoff’s $90 million One Riverside will now have 88
condos rather than 147 apartments and 110 parking spaces rather than 88. A
floor was also added, bringing it to 22 stories though the square footage
remains the same.
Construction is expected to begin in January.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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