Apartment Building Added to Large Development at 1401 South Columbus Boulevard

South Columbus Boulevard, along the lower Delaware River waterfront, is starting to see major new residential and commercial development.  The new development includes townhouses, high rise apartment buildings, mid rise apartment buildings, and retail centers. Many of these uses are included in mixed-use developments that include apartments, townhouses, and retail.  One of the largest of these developments is being built at 1401 South Columbus Boulevard on a long vacant lot along the waterfront. That site is being developed by Tower Development. It has a large section of townhouses on the northern side of the property and retail development along South Columbus Boulevard itself.  Tower Development is now planning to include a large apartment building on the south side of the property. This apartment building is being designed by BLTa, with landscape architecture by Ground Reconsidered.

This new apartment building will be seven stories tall and will be shaped like a U.  It will have 356 rental apartment units. The first floor will have a 12,000 square foot retail space on Dickinson Street.  The second floor will have recessed decks and a deck over the parking garage in the middle of the U-shaped building. An amenity space will be on the Dickinson Street side, over the retail space and leading to the recessed decks.  The residential entrance and lobby will, also, be on the Dickinson Street side and the access to the services will be on the Tasker Street side. Dickinson Street will end in a circle at the trail along the Delaware River, which will run all along the waterfront outside the building and the townhouses next door.  New trees will be planted on the east and west sides of the building and a lawn will be next to the river trail. The exterior will have light and dark gray metal panels and trim.

The Delaware River waterfront is starting to experience a lot of new development.  Penn’s Landing is about to get a whole new park with major new development proposed for the adjacent parking lots.  New apartment buildings and townhouses are being built north of the Ben Franklin Bridge, and the lower Delaware waterfront and South Columbus Boulevard are experiencing the same kind of development.  Across from the new apartment building by Tower Development, a shopping center is being rebuilt with a block-long mid rise apartment building. North of this new apartment building, a development of new high rises is about to be built.  And nearby, dozens of new townhouses were just completed at South Columbus Boulevard and Catharine Street. The new apartment building at 1401 South Columbus Boulevard will fit in well with these other waterfront developments in South Philadelphia.