Development Roundup: PMC Property Group Has Been Busy

One Water Street | Rendering: PMC Property Group, Varenhorst

PMC Property Group has been making some noise around the Philadelphia real estate landscape recently. We talked with Jonathan Stavin, PMC’s executive vice president, to catch up on a hand full of their projects from Old City to Logan Square.

Retail Back in Play at One Water Street

Construction is well underway One Water Steet, a 250-unit apartment complex just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge. Stavin said the timeline “remains on schedule” to top off the building by mid-October.  The big news is that there are some major changes coming to the final product.

Stavin confirmed that they’re adding retail inside the building and public art to the site, “in order to address some of the the additional concerns raised by the community.”

Though it’s probably not as architecturally bold as the Bridge project at 2nd and Race, the latest rendering (above) of the project shows more variation in color and textures than the previous iterations. Here’s to hoping to looks great in real life. Leasing is expected to begin “as soon as January,” said Stavin.

218 Arch Presentation

In June, PMC and architect Steven Varenhorst presented an apartment development for the site of a surface parking near 2nd and Arch in Old City. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, the project sits on the historic street of Little Boys Court, which may be the city’s last cobblestone lane. Therefore, the plans must pay a visit to the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

A presentation of the project is on the Architectural Committee’s agenda for the August 25 at 10 a.m., where updated plans and designs will be unveiled. Officials deemed the design “incompatible” in height, massing and scale with the historic neighborhood, according to earlier reports, and called for more information as to how Little Boys Court would be restored and incorporated into the final project.

Here’s what it looked like in June:

Image courtesy of Jon Farham

The project is expected to cost $28.5 million and Stavin confirmed that the project currently consists of new apartment building featuring 116 rental units.

Plans Emerge for One Franklin Plaza

PMC finalized the purchase of 200 North 16th Street on August 16 for $43 million, according to a report from The Inquirer‘s Jacob Adelman. Stavin confirmed the deal and said the project will be called One Franklin Plaza. “We’re going to create apartments on the upper floors (10 through 24) and office space with the rest.” The building is currently vacant.

Stavin didn’t yet know how many apartments would ultimately be in the building, and also said that they didn’t yet have any tenants lined up for the office space. Gensler’s New York office will handle the design, which includes “re-skinning” the exterior of the building.