Morning Headlines: The Amenities of the Granary and the “Hipper” Sansom Apartments
As part of its ongoing partnership, the Inquirer/Plan Philly has an article about the glut of new housing in Center City. JoAnn Greco puts the current count at 1,000 new units, but focuses specifically today on Pearl Properties’ Sansom and the Granary, designed by DAS Architects. The Granary project is actually two: “the retrofit of the original 1862 granary, which calls for another 25 apartments to be located in its upper portion” and “the 227-unit adjunct to The Granary that DAS has built across the street from The Barnes Foundation.”
The two buildings’ exteriors complement each other, says the firm’s Dave Schultz, but residents will want to know what the interior has to offer:
…The two-tiered assemblage of public spaces includes a lobby lounge, fitness center, library/music room, business center, and an 8,000-square-foot rooftop terrace on the eighth floor with sweeping views of the Parkway and downtown.
The promise of ground floor retail includes a big box pet store that will offer daycare and grooming services. Inside, the apartments continue to merge industrial robustness — exposed concrete walls and ceilings — with mod-cons like bamboo flooring and open-shelved kitchens. About half of the units have balconies, and penthouses on the ninth floor have access to their own private terraces.
As for the Sansom, it will have 104 units and “is aiming for a hipper renter, one who wants to line up for fried chicken at Federal Donuts across the street or toss back brine and brew down the block at Sansom Street Oyster House.” Though there’s no parking at the Sansom, there are amenities: “a small fitness center and lounge” and a rumored Adolf Biecker spa and salon. Rents start at $1,895 for one bedrooms.
For more news:
• The School District is pissed off at architects and engineering firms, and it wants 26 of them to pay. “The school district anticipates recovering up to $2 million as a result of these suits.”
Read more here
• A miracle, and it’s not even Christmas: a new construction project finished a month ahead of time. But: “As the Home2Suites hotel at 12th and Arch Streets officially opened for business Tuesday, one thing remained conspicuously absent by midafternoon. Patrons.”
• One of the city’s most loved kid-centered writing/reading projects, Mighty Writers, is opening a new location in one of the city’s most loved historic row of buildings at 39th and Lancaster. Read all about it on Hidden City.
• Speaking of children and the school district, mold and lead paint were discovered inside two schools in Cheltenham Township, and an engineering firm has been hired to get rid of it. Ew.
