Demolition begins near Rittenhouse Square to make way for a needle tower with 215 units

Pearl Properties is beginning demolition at 19th and Sansom Streets to make way for a slender 50- to 54-story residential tower a block from Rittenhouse Square.

The proposal at 113-121 S. 19th St. is directly across from the company’s 24-story Harper tower, which houses K’Far Cafe, Goldie, and Federal Donuts among its retail offerings.

Dubbed Harper Square, Pearl’s plan was first proposed in 2020 as a 50-story tower with 183 units. An amended building permit issued at the end of 2021 adds four more stories for a total of 215 units, although a community benefits agreement with the Center City Residents Association would make it difficult to abandon the earlier version.

“Pearl Properties is very excited to be starting construction activities on our Harper Square project on 19th Street in Rittenhouse Square,” said Reed Slogoff, a principal with Pearl. “We are extremely optimistic about the future of Center City and all the amazing amenities that Philadelphia offers. Upon completion expected in 2027, Harper Square will be an important contributor.”

Pearl declined to comment further.

Demolition of four buildings on 19th and Sansom Streets, including the one that used to host the Rittenhouse location of the local Cavanaugh’s sports bar chain, is set to be completed by Sept. 1. The new tower calls for over 30,000 square feet of retail, with the plans for three storefronts.

Pearl says that full construction will begin by year’s end and that the building is expected to open within 30 months.

The plans submitted to the city in 2020 promised 55 off-site parking spaces in the garage underneath the original Harper tower.

But the garage in the older building is fully booked by its residents, so Pearl is exploring alternative solutions. The Center City Residents Association hopes to broker a deal between Pearl and Goodman Properties, which is planning a 47-story apartment tower with an underground parking garage a half block away at the current site of the CVS pharmacy at 1826 Chestnut St.

“We had very much hoped that they would share the parking with the proposed CVS tower at 19th and Chestnut, but I was unable to make that happen [so far],” said Richard Gross, president of CCRA.

Pearl’s original proposal also called for not only preserving the historically protected buildings like the redbrick townhouse at 121 S. 19th St., but the street-facing aspects of its neighbors — the three four-story beige buildings at 113-119 S. 19th St. — which would have served as the tower’s entrance.

But that plan was eventually discarded.

“They were saying they would keep the facades along 19th, but then later they let us know that was not going to happen,” said Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

Pearl signed a community benefits agreements with the Center City Residents Association and the Preservation Alliance in 2020, and the proposal won accolades from the city’s advisory Civic Design Review that year as well.

But there have been no signs of construction in the intervening years. The 2020 building permit expires on Oct. 17, and beginning demolition would not automatically extend it (although the Department of License and Inspections would likely do so under those circumstances).

In recent years, few large-scale projects have broken ground as interest rates soared and construction costs remained elevated. In recent weeks, due to the difficult financing environment, development partners have exited the redevelopment of the Family Court building and a plan for the largest apartment building ever proposed in Ardmore.

The apartment market in Philadelphia is also seeing a surge in completions, leading some to fear a glut that will make it hard for developers to charge the rents they would need to repay their construction loans. However, some builders argue that Center City itself may be immune from the dynamic.

Still, preservationists like Steinke fear that the difficult construction financing environment could mean that in the short term, Pearl will only be able to demolish the existing buildings.

“Given the economic climate and the way that new residential construction is slowing down, I would hope that demolition is not followed by a long period of vacancy at that site,” Steinke said.

The company has also taken on development of the vacant lot on Jewelers Row that had been cleared by Toll Bros., which razed a chunk of the shopping district but never began construction on the proposed tower.

“I hope Pearl moves expeditiously to construction [on 19th Street],” Steinke said, “No one wants an empty lot for any length of time.”