Hard Hat Tour: Vue32, the Building

This tower's backers are betting it will elevate the standard of living for Drexel affiliates and young professionals alike. Here's a look at what they can expect to see in - and from - their lofty perches.

By Sandy Smith· 3/22/2017, 3:44 p.m.

Vue32 offers many amenities, but this is the one management’s counting on to wow the tenants. | Photos: Sandy Smith

When we checked out the Vue32 project ten months ago, it was only barely rising from a hole in the ground.

It’s progressed quite nicely since then, and its developer, Radnor Property Group (RPG), expects to open the first element of the mixed-use tower — a day care facility and preschool on its first two floors — sometime around the end of next month.

And so it was that construction crews from general contractor TN Ward Company were all over the site when we visited yesterday, sprinting to finish the various pieces of this complex.

Actually, several of the apartment floors were closer to completion than the day care center was, probably so Vue32 property manager Bozzuto Management Group could show prospective tenants the actual spaces they could call home starting Real Soon Now.

RPG is building this complex in partnership with Drexel University, which owns the land on which it sits. The apartments in the Erdy McHenry-designed tower are being marketed primarily to Drexel graduate students, faculty and staff, but everyone involved would also like to see some of those young professionals our universities are churning out as residents as well.

The residents of the one- and two-bedroom units will enjoy some very nice amenities in addition to that preschool. Among them: a club lounge, a fitness center, a game room, a “genius bar” workspace, a conference room and a rooftop terrace, all on the building’s 16th floor.

They’re up there because the biggest amenity being pitched to the would-be residents is the view. The tower sits at the corner of 32nd and Race streets, right across from Powelton Yard next to 30th Street Station. The building is angled so that most of the apartments have fabulous views of Center City; those facing away from downtown have equally appealing views of the Parkway and Fairmount Park – and, of course, their occupants are always welcome up on the terrace for a Center City fix.

In addition to capturing work in progress, the photos below let you see what residents will see from that terrace and from their apartments. We also got a chance to look around the model units, which are close to finished.

Vue32’s amenities put it in the luxury class, but its rents don’t: units start around $1800 a month. Leasing information and more details can be found at the Vue32 website.

Vue32 Progress Report

The Vue32 tower from the Summer Winter Community Garden. Improvements to the garden, including Fairmount Park-style lighting and a new decorative wrought-iron fence and entrance gate, are also part of the Vue32 project.

Drywall was being delivered during our visit.

Construction workers get a pallet of drywall panels ready to load onto a construction hoist. We didn't join the drywall for the trip up.

The interior of the day care center still needs lots of work, but exterior glazing was already being installed.

Our first stop inside was the 16th-floor amenities level, which will also have apartments. This view is towards the apartments, which will face northwest.

Why? Because the roof terrace will face southeast...

...and offer residents a spectacular Center City skyline view. This view is to the southeast.

This view is to the east. You can see the Alexander, the Latter-day Saints' apartment tower, rising to the left of the Cira Centre.

The view to the northeast.

The view to the north.

Your railbuff section editor couldn't resist throwing in a shot of SEPTA's Powelton Yard from the terrace. It's the best view anyone's likely to get of the rail yard.

A closer view of progress on the Alexander from Vue32.

The fitness center will be housed in this split-level space.

The easternmost apartment on the 16th floor will have views to the north...

...and to the east.

An overview of the 16th floor: apartments on the right, amenities on the left.

Next stop: the fifth floor, where the model units are nearing completion.

Every unit has its own laundry facilities. The one-bedroom model unit's laundry is in its bathroom...

...whose door was awaiting installation.

The unit's bedroom has a closet with sliding doors, awaiting installation on the right.

All of the apartments have open plan living/dining areas and kitchens. The kltchen's rear wall in this unit is open at the top to provide light to the bedroom and facilitate air circulation throughout the living area and bedroom.

The view from the unit's living

The entrance hallway. A sliding barn door will close the bedroom, on the right, off from the entrance hallway.

The model junior one-bedroom also has an interior bedroom with an opening for light and air from the living area. The bedroom, however, will not have a barn door.

The junior one-bedroom's kitchen is a little more compact but just as well equipped.

The equipment cart is stationed approximately where the multipurpose work/dining table will be. RPG obtained the metal-topped tables with drop leaves from Crate & Barrel.

The view from the junior one-bedroom's living room.

RPG President David Yeager explains that a survey of prospective tenants revealed that they preferred a storage cabinet/linen closet in the bathroom itself.

The shower in the bathroom.

The junior one-bedroom's laundry shares space with the unit's water heater.

The building elevators are located near its east end - and the elevator lobbies also have large windows so residents and guests can take in the view.

The two-bedroom model, on the third floor, also has two bathrooms. This is the hall bathroom.

The living room of the two-bedroom unit.

The unit's kitchen. Stainless steel appliances and subway tile backsplashes are standard features.

The view from the master bedroom window.

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The master bathroom.

The master bedroom closet and bath.

The second bedroom.

The unit's climate control system is in a cabinet in the second bedroom.

A construction worker was hanging the closet doors when we dropped in.

Work in progress on another third-floor unit.

We took the stairs down from the third floor. Here's the day care center, viewed from the landing between the second-floor landing.

This is the apartment building main entrance.

The building also has a terrace on the first floor that's open to the public. A promenade will connect it to the ground at Race Street on the lot's northwest corner; here, it's one level above the street.