Luxury Apartment/Hotel Combo Begins Leasing in East Falls
The company behind the ROOST Apartment Hotel chain is bringing the apartment building/hotel hybrid model to a riverside site across from the Falls Bridge.
Now rising across from the Falls Bridge and set to open in September, The Driftway mixes well-appointed apartments, luxurious amenities and hotel-style service. / Renderings: Morris Adjmi Architects via Method Co.
Now leasing in East Falls: Luxury apartment living along the Schuylkill.
Method Co., the hospitality-oriented development and design firm, and development partner Cimbra Partners are ready to take lease applications for The Driftway, a new apartment/hotel complex now nearing completion right across the street from the Falls Bridge.
The first apartment building in East Falls to have a 24-hour concierge, The Driftway follows the same formula Method Co. used successfully at The Girard in the East Market development. By combining an apartment building and a flexible-stay residence hotel under one roof, The Driftway offers both residents and guests hotel-style service and amenities.
Morris Adjmi Architects, designer of The Girard and most of Method’s other residential and lodging properties, is the designer of this one as well.
Method Co. co-founder and President David Grasso explains that his firm is simply furthering a trend he and co-founder and CEO Randall Cook spotted on the horizon back in the early 2010s.
As he puts it, apartment-dwellers are looking for the same sort of stimulating experiences at home that they get when they venture out. “The consumer is more interested in experiences,” he says. “And being more exposed via social media to what’s out there in the world, their expectations are greater. So we created this company to be on the forefront of that consumer behavior change and shift to the convergence of hospitality and traditional real estate.”
That convergence is reflected in the mix of units at The Driftway. A portion of the building’s 142 units will be furnished extended-stay apartments, operated under Method’s ROOST Apartment Hotel brand.
Historically, some of the first apartment buildings to rise in the United States, in the late 19th century, were known as “apartment hotels.” The difference now is that, with the advent of this hybrid model, these new “apartment hotels” live up to both of the words in the term.
Rendering of the Driftway lobby
Amenities include a pool deck with an outdoor lounge and grills, an indoor lounge with a wet bar and billiards room, a demonstration kitchen, a 24-hour fitness center with Peleton bikes, a co-working space, a relaxation room and that 24-hour concierge. The Driftway will also program events and activities in the various amenity spaces. Those events will include cooking demonstrations from the culinary pros at Method’s restaurants, which include Wm. Mulherin’s Sons, an Italian restaurant and boutique hotel, and Hiroki, a Japanese omakase restaurant, both in Fishtown.
Plans, as shown in the rendering above, call for a restaurant on the Kelly Drive side of the building, facing the Schuylkill. The Driftway will have about 10,000 total square feet of retail space. Other retail tenants will include a bank, and negotiations are underway on adding other tenants to the retail mix.
According to Method Co., the Driftway is the first building of its kind not only in East Falls but also in Northwest Philadelphia as a whole. And the company chose to build in East Falls because of its location. “There’s a hole in the market for a customer who wants the amenities and convenience of luxury city living but still wants to feel part of nature and be outside the hustle and bustle of downtown,” says Grasso.
The Driftway, he says, fills that hole. Its first tenants should take up residence in September. The hotel part of the building will begin operating not long afterwards.
The Driftway by the Numbers
Address: 4300 Kelly Dr., Philadelphia, PA 19129
Number of units: 142 one-bedroom, two-bedroom and bi-level duplex apartments, some of which will be furnished apartment hotel units. Junior one-bedroom apartments range in size from 481 to 530 square feet, regular one-bedrooms range from 522 to 691 square feet, and deluxe one-bedrooms range from 741 to 776 square feet. Regular two-bedroom apartments range in size from 977 to 1,205 square feet and deluxe two-bedrooms range from 1,057 to 1,180 square feet. The duplexes range in size from 1,386 to 1,397 square feet.
Number of parking spaces: 115, in an adjacent lot. Bike parking is also available.
Pet policy: Pets are welcome; contact leasing office for details.
Rents: Contact leasing office for information on rents.
More information: The Driftway website; leasing@thedriftway.com; 215-995-2669
Updated June 6th, 8:01 a.m., to reflect the actual status of The Driftway project; allocation of apartments to the hotel, nature of the restaurant, and retail tenants are still being determined.
