Bart Blatstein plans 245-unit building on North Broad Street, behind AMC Theater

A new 245-unit apartment building is being proposed for 1600 N. Broad St. just behind the AMC movie theater.

The building is being developed by Bart Blatstein’s Tower Investments of Philadelphia. It will be 15 stories tall and will replace the surface parking lot between the movie theater and the Edge, the 12-story student housing project to the immediate west. Blatstein owns and developed both of those projects as well.

“We were looking for something that had a little bit of form and a little bit of character, and we came up with this ribbon design,” said Jerry Roller, principal with JKRP Architects of Philadelphia. “It’s the last piece of open land and it slotted in pretty nicely.”

There won’t be any commercial space in the building, although the existing movie theater and the attendant shops in the 102,277-square-foot neighboring structure — which Blatstein also owns — will remain in place.

Although the development is right across the street from Temple University and flanked by another large student-apartment building, Roller said it wouldn’t be aimed at undergraduates.

“These are conventional apartments. They’re assuming it’s going to be graduate students, faculty, people related to Temple,” said Roller. “But they don’t think it’s going to attract undergrads. That’s not what they’re looking for.”

There will be a total of 62 parking spaces included in the project, replacing the 16 that currently exist. However, unlike the existing parking lot, which is open to the general public, the new spaces will be open only to residents.

A community meeting on July 12 revealed that neighborhood sentiment is broadly against the project.

“It was a big shock for the community. Everybody was unhappy,” said William Harris, president of the United Neighbors Alliance Civic Association. “We’re getting hit with a lot of large projects. So when you combine them, it’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ And they’re not providing much parking with those projects.”

Harris said that the development team at the meeting did not provide a price range for the units but that none would be available below market rate. Roller also could not provide a price range.

“Not a clue,” Roller said. “It’s going to take a while to get this built.”

More than half of the units — 181 — will be one-bedrooms, with the remainder a mix of studios and two bedrooms.

“The biggest red flag was the number of single units,” said Harris, “which screams potential student housing.”

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority owns the land. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Roller said the building would be composed of concrete, glass, and metal panels. The paneling will be done in blue.

“We’re assuming this is going to be a concrete building, and that sort of window wall will work well with the materials that we have,” said Roller. “We want the light color, and then something a little darker. Blue seems a little bit more interesting than dead black. A little friendlier.”