Wow this is great news. The African American Museum gets a brand new home and the Family Court building is used for a different boutique hotel. It looks like there is a tower too. IMO this is much better because the Family Court building has incredible mosaics/murals but they mostly have nothing to do with African American history.
National Real Estate Development and Frontier Development & Hospitality Group have been selected to transform the former Family Court building into a boutique hotel and build a new location for the African American Museum in Philadelphia on a neighboring surface parking lot along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
After a request for proposals process that started in July 2021, the city and Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. announced the selection of Philadelphia-based National Real Estate and Washington, D.C.-based Frontier Development on Tuesday afternoon. Method Co., Smith & Roller and BKP Development Group are also collaborating on the project.
The 247,196-square-foot former Family Court building at 1801 Vine St. is planned to include a restaurant, bar and event space in addition to the hotel. The new African American Museum in Philadelphia would be built on the 88,000-square-foot parking lot at 1901 Wood St., which is managed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
The development is estimated to be completed in 2028 at the earliest, but the complexity of the project, which includes historic rehabilitation, could force it to take longer.
The team of developers are also drawing up plans — as seen in renderings for the project — for a 30-story apartment tower with 500 to 600 units on the 1901 Wood St. lot.
The city and PIDC required proposals to include the museum’s relocation from 701 Arch St. and the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central Library’s new Children and Family Center. The library is at 1901 Vine St., directly south of the parking lot and west of the former Family Court building.
The African American Museum will join a host of cultural institutions located along the Parkway, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, the Rodin Museum and the Franklin Institute.
Previously, the city had a several-year agreement with Miami-based Peebles Corp. to turn the Family Court building into an upscale hotel but that ended in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic and challenges the proposal had with the federal Historic Tax Credit Program.
The parking lot at 1901 Wood St. was also previously eyed as the location for the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central Library to expand with a 60,000-square-foot Children and Family Center.
In 2021, PIDC put out a request for qualifications to redevelop the properties. Four finalists were announced in August 2022. The deadline for proposals was extended to February to allow development teams to propose the museum being located at 1901 Wood St. rather than at the former Family Court building if they could do so without impacting the library’s expansion plans featuring an auditorium, storage and relocation of administrative office space.
In addition to National/Frontier, the three other finalists were:
Trammell-Crow/Badger Group/Salamander Hotels
Tishman Speyer/Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners
Lubert-Adler/Mosaic Development
The building at 1801 Vine St. was designed by Philadelphia architect John Torrey Windrim and built in 1941 with funds from the Works Progress Administration. It’s considered a twin building along with the Free Library of Philadelphia, a structure completed in 1927. They’re modeled after the palace buildings of La Place de la Concorde in Paris. The Family Court building’s exterior and a portion of its interior, including 37 murals, are listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
“This visionary project hopes to honor the original intent of the Parkway, while seamlessly integrating the site into the surrounding neighborhoods, bolstering the cultural tapestry of the Parkway and Logan Circle," National Real Estate Development President Daniel Killinger said in a statement.
Philadelphia-based National Real Estate Development’s $1 billion East Market project spans a city block from Market to Chestnut streets and from 11th to 12th streets. It includes two apartment towers, shopping, dining, a grocery store, office space, pedestrian plazas and Jefferson Health’s 19-story Honickman Center.
National Real Estate is also working on a multiphase $500 million development in Northern Liberties. The first phase features a 13-story, 360-apartment building at 200 Spring Garden St. named The Noble planned to open in early 2024.
Frontier Development & Hospitality Group specializes in hospitality and multifamily developments and has $600 million of urban infill mixed-use development underway.
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
Prev
Linear Mode
