1900 Walnut's Next Owners

Every great city has one park that's held above all others. Central Park seemed to set the bar, and although Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square was laid out a century and a half earlier, the architecture that surrounds it is clearly Philadelphia's Manhattan. 

It's missing one thing, though: a lack of vacant lots. In its northwest corner is a fenced off parcel with a rogue portrait of a cow facing its green meadow. It's blight. And it's blight that sits on what is likely the most valuable piece of property in Center City.

Don't ask me what was once there. Locals have their folklore about the site. It was a mansion. No, row homes. Maybe an apartment building? I can't find information on its history. If you remember what was there, feel free to comment below. I'm curious.

But I'm even more curious why 10 Rittenhouse and Anthropologie were allowed to hollow-out two historic buildings for what amounts to a numeric address, while 1900 Walnut has been passed around to global developers like an aging Vegas prostitute. 

At the edge of the condo boom in 2007 it was purchased by Ireland's Castleway Properties. A few years ago Toll Brothers expressed an interest in building a McSkyscraper on the site. Just kidding. Toll Brothers, largely mocked for their neoclassical suburban monstrosities, has actually managed to pull off some handsome, urban projects. 

For whatever reason, they lost interest in 1900 Walnut and we once again forgot it was there. 

Rumors started filling up the message boards when workers were seen drilling on the L-shaped lot last week. And BizJournals.com has the answer.

Southern Land of Nashville has agreed to purchase the land for $30M, $40M is it can negotiate the right to build something denser than current zoning allows. 

While that sounds hopeful, BizJournal is repotting that Southern Land is shopping around for a partner to throw in 90% of the development cost. So unless someone's ready foot most of the bill for this ambitious project, Southern Land might just be the developer babysitting this mysteriously vacant lot.

More Condos?

Not really, but unlike the ghost neighborhoods in Miami and Phoenix, Philadelphia never got too carried away to finish what it started.
10 Rittenhouse Square - which could more accurately be called 1800 Sansom Street as it rises above the square from a half a block north - and 1706 Rittenhouse Square Street - which also takes some liberties with how it addresses itself - are nearing completion. 10 Rittenhouse awkwardly rises from behind a reclaimed historic facade on Rittenhouse Square, while 1706 Rittenhouse Square Street gracefully rises from it's tiny lot above a robotic parking garage as an urban oasis from the super rich.
777 South Broad Street, developed by South Broad's own snap-together plastiscraper (Symphony House for those who haven't noticed the Lego Blocks at Broad and Spruce) developer Carl Dranoff, is starting to look a less like the soap opera set his previous incarnation evolved into. It's hard to tell if the rear will play out as a humble, tree lined courtyard, or as a parking eyesore for the townhouses behind it. My guess is a little bit of both. While it might not possess the melodramatic luxuries of it's sister to the north, you won't have to worry about it being your problem when the plastic panels start falling off the facade, this newbie's going apartment. Finally, a few apartments for the growing mob of disgruntled renters being out priced by condo conversions going nowhere - cough, Arts Tower (but that's another story).