Developer of Philly’s priciest condo to demolish and remake Rittenhouse landmark
A beloved Sansom Street building once likened to a Spanish Renaissance hacienda, and formerly home to Rittenhouse Coffee Shop is set to be demolished and painstakingly reconstructed.
The building’s owner, Southern Land Company, had promised to preserve the 1904 Sansom St. landmark as part of a larger development project set to bring the most expensive condos in city history to market. But now the company says the historic structure is unstable and needs to be completely demolished in order for a functional building to rise on the site. The plan, company officials say, will honor an agreement to preserve the historic structure brokered during negotiations over the development of their $300 million ultra-luxe tower, called the Laurel.
Southern Land says the reinvented coffee shop building will become affordable apartments.
https://whyy.org/articles/developer-...ouse-landmark/