A new 468-unit apartment tower is planned for South Broad Street

A new 43-story residential tower is headed to Center City, bringing 468 new apartments to the intersection of Broad and Lombard Streets.

Fresh renderings from the Goldenberg Group place the proposed tower in the context of the neighboring Symphony House condo tower. The new images highlight its soaring glassy facade next to the historically protected building that used to house the city’s District Health Center One.

The residential tower would be built on a narrow surface parking lot, while the now-defunct municipal health center would be repurposed as commercial and retail space. It also includes underground parking for 30 vehicles and more than 200 bicycles.

The Goldenberg Group would not comment on the new renderings, which will be debated at a public meeting on Aug. 2, before the Civic Design Review committee. This panel of municipally appointed architects, developers, and other experts will debate the merits of Goldenberg’s plans, although it has the power only to make suggestions and cannot force the developer to make changes.

Aside from that, the final approval stages are expected to be completed soon.

The city moved District Health Center One to South Philadelphia, and the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia nominated the low-slung modernist office structure for historic designation in 2017. At the time, critics argued that the alliance’s action would stymie new projects on this corner of Broad Street.

In the renderings, the Goldenberg Group highlights how the new apartment tower would work with its historically protected neighbor to the immediate south. The base of the building would be transparent to “provide breathing space for the historic Health Center,” while the design would “take cues” from the older structure.

“There was concern that we would limit redevelopment of the site by nominating what was perceived by some as an ugly, quirky, antiquated building on an important corridor,” said Patrick Grossi, director of advocacy with the Preservation Alliance. “This [design] validates what we did. I’ve always been struck by cities like Montreal, where historic architecture and newly constructed buildings work together. This is a good example of that in Philadelphia.”

The Goldenberg Group’s planned residential tower fits within the recent history of South Broad Street in Center City. In 2007, Carl Dranoff opened the Symphony House, a 31-story luxury condo tower across Lombard Street from Health Center One. Although The Inquirer’s architecture critic, Inga Saffron, panned the building, it inaugurated a new period of high- to mid-rise residential construction on the corridor.

Since then, Dranoff opened the Southstar Lofts condominiums in 2014 on Broad and South Streets and more recently the 47-story Arthaus luxury tower on Broad and Spruce.

The Goldenberg Group’s project stands out by not being developed by Dranoff and because it would cater to the rental market. Although by no means affordable housing, the tower at Broad and Lombard will likely be targeted to a different demographic than the “silver tsunami” of wealthy empty nesters that Dranoff designed his high rises for.

“Carl Dranoff really pioneered South Broad Street as a major residential site, and now other people have joined in,” said Paul Levy, president of the Center City District. He notes that Center City’s population has grown during the pandemic and that most of the newer apartment buildings downtown have upward of 95% occupancy.

“I’m bullish on developments like this,” Levy said. “There will be a limit at some point, but we haven’t reached it yet.”