Where to Find Family-Size Apartments in Philly
With more families opting to rent, developers are building more apartments they can live in. Here are five recent buildings that have larger apartments.
The children’s splash pad at the Sol Mar roof terrace at The Poplar, a Post Brothers apartment community in West Poplar / Photograph courtesy Post Brothers
Historically speaking, renting has been a phase most Americans go through. The typical life trajectory went something like this: Student graduates from college and rents an apartment, either alone or with roommates, while they launch their career. Sometime after that happens, the student gets hitched and moves to another apartment. Or, here in Philly, they find a cute trinity and buy it. If they don’t do that, they begin thinking about buying a home once they start thinking about starting a family, while the couple in the trinity realize they’re going to need a decent-sized second bedroom and start shopping for a move-up home.
Recent trends in house prices have put roadblocks in this path for many. And that means that instead of buying a house, our hypothetical young couples start looking for bigger apartments.
Up until recently, that would have been a challenge for many, for most apartment communities had nothing but one- and two-bedroom units. Now, however, developers are responding to the growing demand for apartments where families can raise children with bigger units and even amenities aimed at the young’uns. Here are five city apartment buildings where one can start a family, all of them pet-friendly.
Rendering of the splash pad in the Adventure Garden, the children’s roof deck at 1001 South Broad / Renderings by BKV Group Architects via Post Brothers
1001 South Broad
This joint venture of Tower Investments and Post Brothers, known as One Thousand One and designed by BKV Group, sets the standard for family-friendly apartment living. Among its many amenities are two outdoor courtyards, one of them designed just for kids. It has a splash pad with a seaplane they can climb into and a rubberized track where they can learn to ride a bike safely, something that’s hard to do on busy city streets.
Rendering of the Canopy Pool Club for all residents of One Thousand One, young and old
The community has 55 three-bedroom apartments ranging in size from 1,250 to a super-roomy 3,160 square feet. Rents for these units range from $5,395 to $15,995 per month. For more information, visit the One Thousand One website or the leasing office on-site, email live1001@postrents.com or call 267-792-0563.
The children’s playroom at The Poplar / Photograph courtesy Post Brothers
The Poplar
Post Brothers also took the kids into account here when it designed the amenities at this former Strawbridge & Clothier furniture warehouse. The Baja California-influenced Sol Mar roof deck features the children’s splash playground you see at the top of this article. Downstairs, the amenity floor includes a children’s playroom outfitted with nooks where parents can read to and play with their children. Although The Poplar sits right next to the SEPTA Regional Rail main line to the northern ’burbs, it got outfitted with exceptional sound insulation which means you won’t hear the trains as they whoosh right past the amenity-floor fitness center.
Residents of the new Darien apartment building, across 9th Street and the tracks from The Poplar, have full use of the latter’s amenities. Both buildings contain three- and four-bedroom units; rents for currently available ones start at $3,746 per month. Healthcare, industry, city and education workers currently receive a $1,000 rent credit. For more information, visit The Poplar and Darien website or the on-site leasing office. You can also email The Poplar leasing agents at thepoplar@postrents.com or call 215-839-1040. You can reach The Darien leasing agents by email to thedarien@postrents.com or by phone at 267-275-0782.
The Atlantic
This luxury apartment building, built in 1922 as the headquarters of the Atlantic Petroleum Company, marked Post Brothers’ arrival on the Avenue of the Arts. Starchitect Rafael Viñoly, who designed the Kimmel Center across Spruce Street from it, turned his hand to this building and turned its inside into a striking modern building filled with the latest amenities on its roof and in its basement. Down below, those include a children’s playroom, while up above, the highest playground and splash area in the city offers outdoor recreation for the little ones. In a thoughtful touch, when Post Brothers redid the building’s traditional mullioned windows, they replaced the double-hung ones with windows whose bottom halves pivot open to an acute angle from the bottom, making them kid-safe.
The Atlantic contains three-bedroom corner apartments on its lower floors and four-bedroom penthouses on its top floor, including one currently rented unit that, at $30,000 per month, was the priciest apartment in the city when it went on the market in 2021. Post Brothers is offering the same $1,000 rent credit to healthcare, city and education workers here. You can obtain more information by visiting The Atlantic website or calling 215-839-1007.
View from one of the east-facing penthouses at 210 South 12th / Photograph by Laura Randall, Optimist Consulting
210 South 12th
Looking for the ne plus ultra in a family-sized apartment? You will find it here at this new Wash West/Gayborhood tower’s 30th- and 31st-floor penthouses. These units are as of now the highest three-bedroom apartments in the city, with great views of the skyline, the Delaware and neighborhoods to the south, depending on which unit you rent.
The 30th-floor roof deck at 210 South 12th / Photograph by Midwood Design Studio
In addition to four penthouse units, the 30th floor contains many of the building’s amenities, including a kitchen, dining/meeting room, lounge and one of the highest roof decks in the city, outfitted with a fire pit, grills and an outdoor pool.
The lobby library lounge and adjacent green wall / Photo by BLTa/Perkins Eastman
The building’s second floor has a fitness center, sauna, yoga room, and game room. A library lounge and dog park occupy the lobby floor. 210 South 12th is designed by RSHP (formerly Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, founded by Pritzker Prize-winner Richard Rogers), built by Midwood Investment & Development and managed by Scully Company.
Those penthouses will cost you, however: They rent for as much as $13,250 per month. And they will hit the market soon. For more information, visit the 210 South 12th website, visit the on-site leasing office or call 267-827-2839.
The amenity terrace on the ninth floor of Avira in University City / Renderings by Redundant Pixel
Avira
Schuylkill Yards’ first residential building takes the “vertical neighborhood” Brandywine Realty Trust first tried out at the FMC Tower at Cira South to the next level. Families will love the 29,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities on the building’s ninth floor.
Cross-section of the Avira amenity floor lounge
Imagine movie night with the kids on the outdoor terrace’s huge screen, swimming in the pool, or games in the game room. Or trips to area attractions and regional destinations — building manager Gotham Properties loves to program excursions and other events for building residents.
Three-bedroom units at Avira start at $7,995 a month (figure is net after two free months on a 12-month lease, part of an introductory promotion). For more information, visit the Avira website, email leasing@aviraliving.com or call 215-392-9480.
Rendering of The Battery’s rooftop amenity deck / Renderings courtesy The Battery
The Battery
This development by Lubert/Adler Real Estate Funds turned John T. Windrim’s 1923 PECO generating station at Fishtown’s northeast corner into a live-work-play-stay complex like no other. This 2024 Preservation Achievement Award-winner boasts two amenity decks, one jutting into the Delaware and another nine floors above it. It also has a full complement of luxury amenities, a bike path running through it and Penn Treaty Park next door. The complex also includes office and co-working space, a function hall and a hotel.
One lucky family can rent the currently available three-bedroom, 2,277-square-foot apartment on the fifth floor for $8,701 a month. If you’d like to be that family, visit The Battery website or call 866-566-7815 for more information.
Vernon Lofts
For some Philly families, a decent apartment they can afford is the first and only thing they need. They will find that apartment at Vernon Lofts in the heart of Germantown. Developer Odin Properties turned the vintage-1950 C.A. Rowell department store into a modern community with roomy apartments, on-site laundry facilities, bike storage, a roof deck with skyline views, a lounge with game tables and co-working spaces available for lease. Nearby Vernon Park has recreational facilities, and Wissahickon Park and its trails are not far away.
Three-bedroom units at Vernon Lofts range in size from 805 to 1,138 square feet; currently available units rent for $2,010 to $2,499 per month. The building even offers affordable four-bedroom units, true rarities hereabouts, but none are available at present. For more information, visit the Vernon Lofts website, email vernon-lofts-w@m.knck.io or call 267-377-4384. Odin Properties also has apartment communities with three-bedroom units in Overbrook and Port Richmond.
