Condos to Rise on Site of Failed Trump Tower

The site on the Delaware River where Trump Tower was supposed to rise in Philadelphia is back on the market. The pier and surrounding land was meant to be developed into a $300 million glitz-and-glam condo building complete with lush landscaping, 263 living units, and a posh spa. Way back when, the completion date for the project was given as mid-2008. Then, of course, the Great Recession happened and real estate took a nosedive, stalling progress on the project even though all the building permits had already been acquired. The company that had formed to develop the tower went bankrupt in 2013 and the site was sold by its mortgage holder to a Minneapolis-based company for a paltry sum.

In an artist’s rendering from the architecture firm commissioned to design them, four-story condos rise on the riverfront on site of the doomed Trump Tower.

Much was made of the plans for Trump Tower when the project was announced. Glossy brochures for the doomed condo/hotel building showed a picture of the man who is now president, with quotes borrowed from a marketing campaign.

Shovel Ready Projects, a development group based in Northern Liberties, currently owns the former Trump Tower site and has big plans for the site known as Pier 35 1/2 at North Delaware and Fairmount Avenues: 41 four-story condo homes, each boasting a generous 2,800 square foot floor plan. The homes would be designed by architecture studio Cecil Baker & Partners. Now, they just need a buyer to see the vision through.

In July, the permits expired for a 45-story condo and hotel development that would have been developed under Donald Trump’s name. It was at that point that Shovel Ready commissioned Cecil Baker & Partners and made plans for the pier. Shovel Ready spokesman George Polgar said that the condos are a much more feasible idea for the plot than Trump Tower was. “From a practical standpoint, while everybody liked the soaring prospect of some great waterfront tower thing, the reality is it’s an expensive proposition,” he said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer.