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Campus Apartments’ latest plans for Walnut Street in West Philly come into focus

The new headquarters for Campus Apartments, a national student housing business, got its public debut Tuesday.

The city’s Civic Design Review Committee — a board of architects, planners, and developers who offer nonbinding suggestions for major developments — praised the developers for conducting extensive community engagement in West Philadelphia and altering the project design accordingly.

The apartment building is planned for 41th and Walnut Streets, just off of the University of Pennsylvania’s campus. It would consolidate the company’s many offices in University City into one building, on the second floor of a 12-story tower.

The developer tweaked the building to add warmer design touches, such as wood-like paneling, in an attempt to have the building better match its surroundings.

Two residential spaces and a handful of parking spaces would be on the ground floor. The project includes 23 parking spaces overall. The 10 stories above will include 136 apartments with 295 beds, including a penthouse level.

The project needs no zoning relief, and neighborhood groups legally have little influence over its outcome, but Campus Apartments has met repeatedly with the Spruce Hill Community Association, other neighborhood groups, and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s office.

“We see the design as … superior to other similar-scale buildings in the immediate vicinity,” said Andrew Goodman, director of equitable development with Gauthier’s office.

Read/view more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate/hou...y-city-civic-design-review-20221206.html