Developers Seek Zoning Code Change for Supersized Apartment Building

Bigger may not always be better, but it certainly has its uses. For instance, attempting to plop a mammoth apartment tower at 19th and Chestnut? Yeah, that’ll get you no small amount of attention.

Here we grow: will 1900 Chestnut and the surrounding lots become the newest luxury apartment development in the vicinity of Rittenhouse Square? Photo: Google Maps.

Pearl Properties, a homegrown developer and real estate firm, snapped up the historically-designated property just outside Rittenhouse Square – a building so outsized that it extends down the block. The developers, however, have lofty ambitions… they want to build up. On the 29th, they’ll be presenting a plan to the CCRA that would stack one hundred ten apartment units over two floors of retail space for a total of twenty-six stories. For reference, the site was formerly occupied by a Qdoba restaurant, and there’s a Starbucks next door.

It seems that the developer has had these cards up its sleeve for some time. Pearl has been quietly snapping up property on the block for the past few years – first a vacant lot, then the shuttered Boyd Theater. When Qdoba hit the skids, it was the final piece of the puzzle.

The would-be Chestnut St. apartments would come to us from the same developers who built the very new, very pretty Sansom. Photo: Pearl Properties

Current zoning for the site only allows for a building about half the height of the planned apartment block. Peal Properties seeks to double the existing square footage, and has drafted legislation that would change the zoning for just the lots on which the would-be highrise could be built. They could have sought a variance, but that does take longer. As it is, they’ll be tasked with persuading the Association that the ginormous rental property would be a good idea – but they won’t have to face the zoning board, which is notoriously more likely to scrutinize and drag their collective feet. Pearl Properties brought us both The Sansom and The Granary, so at least there’s no question about their pedigree and ability to produce nifty new developments.

Feel like you have something to say about the plans? Sound off at the Center City Residents’ Association meeting at 7:00p.m. at The Sanctuary of Holy Communion Lutheran Church located at 2110 Chestnut Street.