Condos and Rumors of Condos

While wandering around town, poking our heads into various construction sites, we can't help but take the pulse of the condo market. After all, the question of the day, and every day, is, "How long will Philadelphia's condo craze keep oing?" We can't answer that, but we can report that a couple of good projects seem stuck in neutral because they are unable to accumulate enough pre-sales to get green-lighted by the banks. One unfortunate casualty of the slowing market is Brown/Hill's 205 Race Street, designed by the New York architects SHoP, in Old City. It would be a shame if this elegant mid-rise didn't get built because it is a fine building, with ground-floor retail, underground parking, and interesting, rhythmic facades. It would also help populate a rough edge of Old City.
This isn't the only project where dirt is being moved around and around, without any actual digging taking place. We hear through the grapevine that the Murano, another well-designed project, is also struggling to meet its threshold for pre-sales. Like 205 Race Street, the tower at 21st and Market Streets might be considered on the edge of things. Its construction would fill in an crucial gap between the Rittenhouse Square and Logan Square neighborhoods, and make Market Street a lot more interesting.
It wouldn't be right to say the market is cooling across the board. Location is everything. Sales at the art deco Ayer Tower, which overlooks Washington Square, are reported to be brisk. The former headquarters for the N.W. Ayer advertising agency is one of those typically understated, Philadelphia-style art deco buildings. But the more you look, the more you notice its fantastic, stylized carvings of birds, robed figures and open books. It's being converted by Brown/Hill and the Goldenberg Group, who had the wit to avoid imposing faux deco on the interiors. Instead, Wesley Wei is giving the units a light, minimalist look that will make the Ayer the airiest building in town.