On the Market: Penthouse Condo Steps from City Hall

If you look closely, you can still see the Georgian Revival bones of the old INA boardroom in this spacious condo at 1600 Arch St. #1621, Philadelphia, PA 19103. But you’re more likely to be blown away by the quality and attention to detail of its very modern great room first. / Photographs by Ed Tully, HomeJab, via Coldwell Banker Realty

Want to lay your head in a condo where the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck slept?

How about an apartment Steve Wynn used to pitch his Philadelphia casino proposal to the public?

Or maybe you’re willing to set your sights a little lower and buy the place former 6ABC anchor Monica Malpass called home.

If you’d like to do any of these things, then this Logan Square penthouse condo for sale is the place you want. All of these people have used it for lodging or for show over the 20-odd years since the Insurance Company of North America (Cigna by the time it moved out) left the building containing it.

But none of them have ever set foot in the condo you see here. That’s because the man who built it, Daniel J. Keating III, gave it a helluva makeover last year.

That’s right, you’re looking at the snazziest “builder’s special” you‘ve ever laid eyes on.

Keating is the eldest of the third generation of a legendary Philadelphia building family. The firm he headed, however, is not the one that bears his name, or more accurately, his grandfather’s. He owned Keating Building Company, which transformed the old 1925 INA headquarters building into a luxury condo called the Phoenix back in 2002. (He sold Keating Building to Perini Corporation, now Tutor Perini, in 2009.)

The project turned the office building into 270 condominium units. He sold 269 of them in just 18 months, most of them with the help of the agent now marketing this one, Louise Marzulli of Coldwell Banker Realty.

But not this one. “It was specifically held out for 20 years before I decided to put it on the market,” he says. During that time, he configured and reconfigured the soaring former INA boardroom to perform all of the functions above and more.

The common spaces in the Phoenix recall its Beaux-Arts origins. But when Keating decided it was finally time to put this extra-large condo on the market, he went in a completely different direction.

16th-floor hallway lobby and front entrance to Unit 1621

This is what you see when you approach its front door from the 16th-floor hallway. What you see when you open the door appears at the top of this article: a two-story-high great room done in striking modern design by architect-planner Bob Henderson.

Living room

At one end is the living room. Its focal point: a limestone accent wall that rises up to its beamed see-through ceiling.

Dining room

The dining room, at the opposite end, has a gas fireplace with a stone-tile surround as its focal point.

Balcony

French doors in the center open onto a balcony with excellent views of LOVE Park and City Hall.

Breakfast nook

Side terrace

Steps on one side and a ramp on the other lead to the kitchen and breakfast nook. The nook sits to the left of the steps and has doors leading to a large side terrace.

Kitchen

To the right of the stairs you will find this ultra-sleek kitchen outfitted with top-drawer appliances. Those include a Wolf cooktop, microwave and oven, two Sub-Zero refrigerators and freezers and a wine fridge under the quartz-topped island. For more casual entertaining, you can have your guests sit at the island and put on a show.

Primary bedroom

Three bedrooms and a bonus room can be found off the corridors next to the breakfast nook and beyond the kitchen. The primary bedroom has a stylish hardwood accent wall.

Primary bathroom

Primary bathroom shower

The same tree species provided the wood for the dual vanities in the primary bathroom, which also has a large shower lined in stone tile. Each of the other two bedrooms has its own en-suite bathroom as well. Guests can use the powder room off the hall. And the bonus room can serve as a home office or den.

Because this Logan Square penthouse condo for sale is in the Phoenix, you also enjoy first-class amenities that include a fitness center, media center, and community roof deck with even nicer views all around. You can also dine out at Tir Na Nóg, the Irish pub and restaurant on the 16th Street side of the building’s ground floor, without having to go outside.

And that’s not the only place you can go to without getting wet or cold. If you love to travel, Keating points out that the Phoenix is “the only building I know where you can go to Paris without going outside.” That’s because, when this building was being built, the Pennsylvania Railroad was also making plans to build Suburban Station right next door. When it opened in 1930, a passageway connected this building’s basement to the station concourse.

The connection is now part of the condo’s secured area, which means that all you need to fly to the airport is your key fob and the Regional Rail fare. (But be sure to pack for the possibility of inclement weather at your destination.)

And with so much great shopping, dining, arts, culture and entertainment within walking distance, you probably won’t need to use your car all that much. But if and when you do, just call the valet. This condo comes with spaces for up to four cars in the Phoenix’s underground valet parking garage. And that also means that you don’t have to go to the garage yourself, or outside for that matter, to get your car(s).

Now aren’t you glad Keating waited to offer this one-of-a-kind condo in the heart of it all for sale?

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 3

BATHS: 3 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET: 3,752

SALE PRICE: $4,200,000

OTHER STUFF: A $2,535 monthly condo fee covers insurance, maintenance and use of the building and its common facilities.

1600 Arch St. #1621, Philadelphia, PA 19103 [Louise Marzulli | Coldwell Banker Realty]