Development team picked for large site fronting Delaware River

A partnership between Jefferson Apartment Group and Haverford Properties has been selected to develop a mixed-use project on one of the largest publicly-owned sites fronting the central Delaware River in Philadelphia.

Plans call for the construction of a complex that will have 550 apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail space along with public spaces focused around the extension of the Spring Garden Street corridor from Delaware Avenue through to the river’s edge.

A rendering shows how Festival Pier and other nearby parcels could be developed. This is not what is being proposed but an idea that was part of DRWC's master plan.

The parcel, which includes what many know as Festival Pier as well as other adjacent sites and totals 11 acres, is at the intersection of Spring Garden Street and Delaware Avenue and fronts the river. Cecil Baker + Partners is the architect.

The Delaware River Waterfront Corp. picked the developers after a review process that lasted six months.

The organization started the process in February in what was thought to be more of an effort to test interest in the site. The test became confirmation that Philadelphia's waterfront has become a place where private developers wanted to be.

There was interest from eight national and local players. Of those, three developers were initially shortlisted: the team comprised of Jefferson Apartment Group of McLean, Va., and Haverford Properties Inc. of Haverford, Pa.; RAL Cos., a multifamily developer from New York; and Toll Brothers Inc.,(NYSE: TOL) a residential developer from Horsham, Pa.

Before development of the site can happen, it will need extensive infrastructure improvements including sheet piling, importing clean fill, and compacting it to create a stable development pad. The developers will fund those improvements.

Aside from being one of the biggest, the site is one of the linchpins of the waterfront and its development will set the tone for much of what follows.

A project of this scale will be a significant anchor for the waterfront and continue activating a part of the city that is experiencing growth all around it in Old City, Northern Liberties and Fishtown. There has also been an uptick in private development along the river.

“This is going to be a waterfront success story, and a microcosm of what we intended in the master plan: taking a post-industrial brownfield and turning it into a dynamic new community with high-quality public space that is accessible, connected, and integrated into a well-designed, mixed-use development,” said Alan Greenberger, deputy mayor of Philadelphia who also sits on DRWC’s board, in a statement.

DRWC and the development team are expected to finalize a long-term sublease on the site by the end of this year, which is also when the design will be completed.

Live Nation uses a portion of the site as a concert venue and that is expected to continue through the summer season of 2016. DRWC and Live Nation will then identify another site that will work as a new concert venue.

Since it was formed in 2009, DRWC has steadily executed on its master plan with a series of successful placemaking initiatives such as Race Street Pier, Washington Avenue Pier, Penn Street Trail, Spruce Street Harbor Park and Waterfront Winterfest.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal