2401 Walnut Street
During the mid-00's building boom in Philly (and America), 500 nonillion condo highrise proposals appeared out of nowhere. There started to be so many of them that they all started to look alike. Out of the 34 vigintillion condo projects that all seemed to be on the way, Mandeville Place stood out as the most risky and badass.
This was going to be a 43-storey building with only 45 condos in it. Do the fucking math. That meant that most of the units inside were going to be entire floors of the skyscraper. That's fucking nuts. Even the mega-expensive 1706 Rittenhouse only has a handful of such units. This was going to be crazy. On top of that, it was going be a cool-looking-ass building!
The plan called for a 607-foot super-thin wall of glass that would rise from 24th and Sansom. The Rosenbluth Building at 2401 Walnut would be incorporated into the design with added retail and a garden/roofdeck/restaurant.
The developer, Bedrock Group, LLC, could have renamed themselves Badassery Associates, LLC if they finished this thing. Richard Meier and Partners Architects executed this kickass design. I'm not sure if I've EVER complimented a living architect before.
The saddest part about this project is that I can't even blame anyone or anything specific for its non-existence. No NIMBYs or Civic Associations fucked this one over. It was fully approved... construction was supposed to begin in March 2008. Contractors for every part of the building were engaged. Rumors of site prep swirled around the internet. Then.. the housing crash. Fuck. Needless to say, this is as dead as a dead dog's dick. What a shame.
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You should write a dead ass proposal story on the american commerce center.
ReplyDeleteDamn you, housing market. I forgot about this one. I had my heart set on Mandeville Place for years. It's up there with the Center City Tower for slick buildings I always wished got built.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know who's behind the "Green Offices" reno in the Rosenbluth Building?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I tend to think of proposals such as this as "only mostly dead" (Princess Bride FTW) because while nothing's happening with them there are no new plans or developers superseding them, and hence they may be able to come back with a vengeance eventually.
yeah, this Meier design is sick. But as a correction, 1706 Rittenhouse is in fact ALL full-floor units except two floors of half-floor units.
ReplyDeleteWhat Spark said. Also, at least one unit encompasses *more* than one floor - the owner bought two.
ReplyDeleteyeah, this one broke my heart.
ReplyDeleteShit, that hurts.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see a rendering done of all the great dead-ass proposals at once; to see what the Philly skyline could have been.