July 19, 2023
Source/JKRP Architects
The rendering above shows the 15-story apartment building proposed by Bart Blatstein's Tower Investments at 1600 N. Broad Street in North Philadelphia. It would sit behind the AMC movie theater near Temple University.
Developer Bart Blatstein is planning to build a 15-story apartment building on city-owned land nestled behind the AMC Movie Theater near Temple University.
Renderings of the 242-unit project were revealed in a submission to Philadelphia's Civic Design Review panel. The 1600 North Broad Apartments would replace a parking lot just south of the Liacouras Center, between Broad and 15th Streets and Cecil B. Moore Avenue and Oxford Street.
The land is owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. Blatstein's Tower Investments owns the the shopping center that includes the AMC theater and the nearby Edge apartment building, a 12-story residence that was built in 2006.
Floor plans for the proposed building, designed by JKRP Architects, show that most of the units will be one-bedroom rentals. Only about a quarter of the apartments would be two-bedrooms or studios. A parking lot built around the lobby level of the building would include 62 spaces. No commercial space is planned for the building. The Rite Aid store that sits next to the parking lot will remain.
A timeline for the project to move forward is not yet known.
Another rendering of the proposed apartment building at 1600 N. Broad St.
A view of the ground level of Tower Investments' proposed 15-story apartment building.
The proposal would add more apartments to a stretch of North Philly that has seen a growing number of residential projects emerge in recent years, including the 171-unit building planned several blocks south at the former CVS at Broad Street and Girard Avenue. That project is expected to include a Lidl grocery store.
To the east, a 316-unit project called The York, consisting of two, three-story buildings, replaced a large parking lot at 1600 N. 11th St. and is now leasing for the fall and winter. And at 1717 N. 12th St., the 368-unit Vintage Apartments were built as a complement to the adjacent View at Montgomery, both primarily serving as student housing.
