A team led by developer Pennrose has been selected to
build a new complex of dwelling units, offices, hotel rooms and shops on the
largest remaining parcel of municipally owned land in Center City.
The Pennrose-led group was chosen largely on the strength
of its proposed architecture and site plan for the 3.2-acre lot at Chinatown’s
western edge, Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority executive director Gregory
Heller said in an interview late Monday afternoon.
Philadelphia-based Pennrose, which is partnering with the
Philadelphia Bar Foundation on its proposal for the lot occupying most of the
area bounded by Race Street and the Vine Street Expressway, between Eighth and
Ninth Streets, was selected over a team led by Parkway Corp., also based in
Philadelphia.
“We felt the design of [the Pennrose] proposal was much
stronger,” Heller said. “The architecture was ambitious and really set the tone
for how Philadelphia wants to develop.”
Heller said the Redevelopment Authority and other city
agencies participating in the selection process also were impressed by the
potential social and economic impact of the planned 160,000-square-foot office
building for legal-aid organizations, to be called the Equal Justice Center.
The center's aim is to consolidate dozens of legal-aid
agencies now spread across the city into one building, to the benefit of
public-service attorneys and their clients, according to the Bar Foundation.
Pennrose's plan also entails an 11-story, 150-unit
apartment tower; 55 units of affordable senior housing; a 147-room Comfort Inn
hotel; and a 143-spot parking lot. Ground-floor retail is planned throughout
the complex, which is being designed by architecture firm WRT LLC of
Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Parkway’s proposal — designed by Philadelphia
architecture studio Cecil Baker + Partners — was planned in collaboration with
the nonprofit Chinatown Community Development Corp. and senior-housing
developer Presby’s Inspired Life.
It called for market-rate condo units, low-income senior
housing, a hydroponic greenhouse, and an “inter-generational park” with
playground equipment for kids, exercise stations for adults, and other
features. Its ground-floor retail was to include a 20,000-square-foot anchor
Asian supermarket with a second-floor food court.
Pennrose and Parkway were the only companies to submit
proposals for the site, large sections of which cannot be built on because of
subway tunnels that run beneath it. The property also accommodates an entrance
to the Chinatown station on the Broad-Ridge Spur of the Broad Street Subway.
The Redevelopment Authority's board must approve the
selection before the Pennrose team can acquire the site. Heller declined to
specify the purchase price the group had bid, but characterized it as an
appropriate "market rate" proposal.
Source: Philly.com
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