Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Location vs Location

Proof that a trendy website and a "finance-anyone" real estate craze can sell anything, the Arts Condo (formerly Arts Tower Apartments), which occupies the Sylvania Hotel designed by Leroy B. Rothschild and completed in 1922 at Locust and Juniper, has managed to schlep 300 square foot studios for $199,000 a pop. Now occupying the pages of Craigslist with ads spouting the cliche "location, location, location", these micro-apartments are appointed with luxury amenities such as "stainless steel appliances" and "granite counter tops". Seriously? Are you kidding me? The "appliances" - if you can honestly pluralize that word - include a mini-fridge/hotplate/sink combo, all in one room smaller than your first dorm room. Rented at roughly $950-$1000 a month, if location is your only concern (and if you are considering renting at the Arts Condo, it is), check out Philadelphia Management Company's Adelphia House at 13th and Chestnut. It might not have the same "stainless steel appliances" or a one foot wide slab of granite wedged between the kitchen sink and your bathroom, but at the former Adelphia Hotel designed by renouned architect Horace Trumbauer (Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library), you will get a grand lobby, 24-hour security, and compared to the average studio in the Arts Condo, about twice the space for about $100 less. Opt for a smaller studio and spend as little as $600 a month for this "location, location, location".

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