Developer plans to build residential tower next to Pa. Academy of the Fine Arts

The owner of the Electric Factory concert venue is part of a plan to renovate a mostly vacant structure in center city next to a Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts building into a mid-rise residential tower.

The Logan Square Neighborhood Association held a vote Tuesday on owner Convention Center Parking LP's proposal to add four stories to the dilapidated six-story building at 142 N. Broad St. and to convert it into apartments or condo units, association President Drew Murray said.

The building, sandwiched between PAFA's Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building and Parkway Corp.'s 150 N. Broad Street headquarters - across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center - is used as an underground parking lot, with its upper floors apparently vacant.

"It's a positive development for North Broad Street," said David R. Brigham, president and CEO of PAFA, which is not involved with the proposal.

Murray had no other details about the development plans and declined to share the result of the association's vote during Tuesday's meeting.

Myron J. Berman, owner of the Northern Liberties building that houses Electric Factory, is the signatory on a mortgage on the property in a document filed with the city.

In other documents, the address of Convention Center Parking matches the address of the Electric Factory or of a Staten Island home listed in public records under Berman's name.

Multiple messages left for Berman were not returned.

Source: Philly.com