The Broad St. corridor between Spring Garden and Ridge has seen some of the trendiest redevelopment in the city in the past few years, with residential development at
Lofts 640 and culinary development
at Osteria. It looks like this redevelopment is about to rub off on surrounding blocks.
The Regis Group has obtained necessary zoning approvals to convert the erstwhile Paul Green School of Rock into the Brandywine Lofts apartments. Construction is expected to begin shortly at 15th and Brandywine, and the apartments should be up in four to five months.
The design firm
JKR Partners, which is also working on a number of other projects across the city including
North 28 in Brewerytown and
777 S. Broad, is handling the design elements for the Brandywine Lofts. Glenn Felgoise, the director of marketing at JKR, says the lofts will include 10 apartments on the second and third floors of the old music school. Five of these apartments will be on the second floor, three will be on the third floor, and two will be on both floors.
Felgoise says the first floor will be marked by a parking garage, game room, kitchenette, and garden space for residents. He confirms that each apartment will have its own parking space, and there will also be storage for at least 18 bicycles. The units will be sized from 813 to 1,043 sq. ft., and will include one or two bedrooms and one or two baths. Eight of the apartments will be fitted with decks. No word on price points yet.
One reason why JKR was chosen to work on Brandywine Lofts is because of its expertise in adaptive re-use. Indeed, the design firm will strive to preserve some of the historical elements of the structure, especially on the second floor. “Units at [the] rear of second floor have exposed heavy timber trusses in space,” he reports. JKR is looking to preserve these trusses.
Given the recent development proposals on North Broad, Brandywine Lofts is in a great location. According to Felgoise, the best perks of the location are access to the Broad Street subway line, the
Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), and other new and proposed developments on Broad. The proposed Lofts are only one block from N. Broad and two blocks from the Spring Garden subway station. In addition, it will also be just a one-block bike ride to get to the conceptual
Spring Garden St. Greenway.
Writer: Andy Sharpe
Source: Glenn Felgoise, JKR Partners