Short-term rental apartments coming to the old Roxy Theater building in Philadelphia

Some beguiling signs appeared out front of the former Roxy Theater in recent weeks.

Once home to the smallest movie theater in Center City, 2021-2023 Sansom St. has been fallow since the pandemic struck and the Philadelphia Film Society moved its staff to their new operation at the Bourse. But now the building is again decorated with movie-style posters advertising something called “The Silver.”

“A coming-of-age love story about the American Dream,” the poster reads. “Two beautiful foreign women find themselves swept away by dashing young American entrepreneurs. Follow the adventure of these bombastic couples as they travel the world, triumph in car races, and build unique hotels together.”

(The posters’ quotes are tweaked here to replace the all caps in the original and to fix spelling and grammar errors. The several flights of narrative cannot be explained.)

The developer behind the project, Jason Morris of Coldwell Banker Commercial, began seeking permission for demolition from the Philadelphia Historical Commission in 2021. The former Roxy site is included in the Rittenhouse-Fitler historic district, so the developer needed permission to move forward. After some back and forth, it was granted in 2022.

The final project set for the site of the old Roxy will include the demolition of the one-story structure at 2021 Sansom to be replaced by a five-story building. The facade with the old entrance to the Roxy theater itself will be kept as an entrance to a new, larger building behind it.

Demolition of 2021 Sansom St. will take place on June 9, according to permits attached to the structure.

Morris sent The Inquirer renderings for the new building but then stopped responding to emails or phone calls.

But in a mid-May email to Jay Farrell, an architecture enthusiast who maintains a Facebook group on Philadelphia history, Morris described the project as a short-term rental building.

“We envision it as a boutique hotel mixed with an apartment building,” wrote Morris. “A sort of [Airbnb] but with fresh bleached white sheets vs. what you’d get via a home rental. Given that so many people are now working remotely and living a more mobile lifestyle, we think this concept will work.”

Morris said that he hoped the rental units would attract visiting workers from big local employers, such as Comcast, the University of Pennsylvania, Aramark, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It would also be useful for out-of-town families visiting their loved ones who are undergoing medical treatments at local health-care facilities.

“Our concept includes providing pull-out sofa beds in each of the units,” Morris wrote. “This will allow families to stay together.”

The rooms will be furnished and would include a maid service, but no other amenities.

After demolition, construction on the new buildings is expected to begin at the end of the summer and stretch into 2024. Morris expects the project to open in spring 2025. Each unit will feature a full kitchen, washer and dryer, and bathrooms. It is unclear how many units the project will contain.

Kevin O’Neill and KJO Architects are listed as the design professionals attached to the project. The movie-style posters list Brahin Properties and On-Point Consulting as “producers.”