PHILADELPHIA | 1813 Ranstead Street | 156 FT | 12 FLOORS

[summersm343]

Title: 1813 Ranstead Street
Project: Residential
Architect: USA Architects
Developer: ??
Location: 1813 Ranstead Street
Neighborhood: Center City West
District: Center City
Floors: 12 Floors
Height: 156 Feet


1813-Ranstead-Rendering-1024x633 by Mr. Summers, on Flickr


1813-Ranstead-Rendering-1-1024x633 by Mr. Summers, on Flickr


1810-Ludlow-1024x795 by Mr. Summers, on Flickr

84-Unit Building Planned at 18th and Ludlow

Around 4 years ago, one of the lowrise buildings at 1812 Ludlow Street was demolished to expand the parking lot. More recently, 3 more buildings at 1814-1818 Ludlow were demolished. We imagined some kind of development was in the works, but were not sure what was planned until yesterday when a zoning permit for a multifamily building was issued.

The parcels at 1810-18 Ludlow along with another vacant lot at 1813 Ranstead Street are being combined to make way for a 12-story, 50,380 square foot building with 84 residential units, 28 automobile parking spots, and 28 bicycle stalls.

The building will have setbacks starting on the 8th floor. Its residential entrance will be located on Ranstead Street, while the parking garage entrance will be placed along Ludlow Street. The facade looks like it will be made out of black brick on the first floor and black and white fiber cement panels on the upper levels.

Read/view more here:
https://www.rising.realestate/84-unit-building-planned-at-18th-and-ludlow/

[Aether]

I thought we saw something on this a while back, not a bad looking building. Has an industrial feel, I think the city should fully embrace the industrial aesthetic

[summersm343]

Wrong thread

[kool-ski]

Saw this for a high-rise apartment building on a very tight lot at 1813 Ranstead Street

COMMERCIAL BUILDING PERMIT
CP-2024-003183

https://eclipse.phila.gov/phillylmsprod/...sentation=Public&PosseObjectId=756248442

Subject application for the 4,601 SF vacant property which is proposed to be developed into an 84 dwelling unit Residential 12-story apartment building. The basement will contain utilities and storage. Floor 1 will provide lobby access and resident amenity space. Floors 2-12 will contain apartments, with roof accessible for maintenance purposes only

https://eclipse.phila.gov/phillylmsprod/...sentation=Public&PosseObjectId=636394183
(Streets Review)

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by kool-ski

Saw this for a high-rise apartment building on a very tight lot at 1813 Ranstead Street

COMMERCIAL BUILDING PERMIT
CP-2024-003183

https://eclipse.phila.gov/phillylmsprod/...sentation=Public&PosseObjectId=756248442



https://eclipse.phila.gov/phillylmsprod/...sentation=Public&PosseObjectId=636394183
(Streets Review)

This parcel also encompasses 1808-1818 Ludlow which would be the bulk of the mass
There was an old rendering here
https://www.rising.realestate/84-unit-building-planned-at-18th-and-ludlow/

[kool-ski]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

This parcel also encompasses 1808-1818 Ludlow which would be the bulk of the mass
There was an old rendering here
https://www.rising.realestate/84-unit-building-planned-at-18th-and-ludlow/

Oh ok I remember this one now. I thought It might have been this project but I wasn't sure. Seeing the rendering makes it that much clearer how they were going to fit in 84 units lol. Thank you so much

[BroadandMarket]

This is via Facebook but it seems 1813 Ranstead is under construction.





source: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10162737405232971&set=pcb.9264783713543847

[Gatorade_Jim]

Originally Posted by BroadandMarket

This is via Facebook but it seems 1813 Ranstead is under construction.





source: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10162737405232971&set=pcb.9264783713543847

I walked by the other day and it’s actively being worked on. Was nice to see something happening there.

[skyhigh07]

Nice to see at least something is getting built in CC right now.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Rub-and-Tug Tower (sorry) is over half height

[PHL10]

I keep forgetting about this one - construction site is so sneaky.

[PHLtoNYC]

Philadelphia contractor pivots to development with 84-unit Rittenhouse Square project
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...ttenhouse-apartment-building-ludlow.html

The project from Philadelphia-based MMB Contractors at 1813 Ranstead will have 84 apartments, primarily small studios with a handful of one-bedroom units mixed in. Dubbed The Ranstead, the building is under construction and is expected to be completed in the mid to late spring of 2026.

Kelley said MMB saw the number of luxury multifamily buildings in Rittenhouse coming online as it was plotting the development, and decided to target a more affordable price point. The project has 11 one-bedrooms that are between 650 and 700 square feet, and the rest are studios that range from 350 to 450 square feet.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

This part of the article stands out to me:

While it's the first project that MMB Contractors is developing on its own, it's worked as a general contractor for projects such as the nearby Restaurant Aleksandar, renovations to 1760 Market St., Five Iron Golf and offices for companies such as Houwzer, Publicis and Guru Technologies.
Kelley said that while there are no immediate plans, MMB Contractors will likely look for other ground-up development opportunities.

It will be interesting to see if MMB evolves into a new home-grown developer. This was a narrow site so im sure their construction experience helped plan this one out

[Capsule F]

I'm worried about the cladding on this, do we know what it's going to be?

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by Capsule F

I'm worried about the cladding on this, do we know what it's going to be?

What it will actually be is always a surprise lol. The plans are brick on bottom two floors, cement fiber panels 3-10 and top 2 floors metal

[summersm343]

It’s not much but I’ll take it. Keep forgetting about this development honestly.

[3rd&Brown]

I don't have a picture but the cladding is pretty far along and tbh it looks much better than I expected.

It definitely cleans up the street. Immediately has gone from feeling like an Alleyway to feeling like a real (albeit small) street. A la Sansom Street.

Big improvement for that little pocket. I have to imagine their are random smaller parcels like this on secondary streets all over Center City (that likely sell at a discount because of their inaccessability/lack of visibility). Maybe this could become this particular company's niche.

It would be nice if the Center City District came in after and gave the whole block a little bit of attention. Lots of cities have implemented various alleyway programs to clean things up. Everytime there's a catalyst like this on a small street in Center City the city should leverage that investment to clean up the block entirely. I have to imagine it could be done for very little.

[PurpleWhiteOut]

The Center City District released an alleyway study just this summer with examples from other cities as well as existing domestic activations

https://centercityphila.org/research-reports/reclaiming-alleys-2025

[UrbanRevival]

Love it. These are the kinds of projects that set Center City apart in a national context (outside of Manhattan). It reminds me a lot of relatively recent projects on Sansom Street.

The use of finite space to integrate residential density is fantastic. It's the lifeblood of increasing vibrancy.

[BroadandMarket]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

The Center City District released an alleyway study just this summer with examples from other cities as well as existing domestic activations

https://centercityphila.org/research-reports/reclaiming-alleys-2025

Center City District is great but this is dumb. The problem with Philly alleys is that the dumpsters aren't locked and homeless people turn the alleys into a trash filled mess. We don't need a 50 page study for that. The majority of the center city dumpster alleys should just be restricted to only the building management teams. Most of Manhattan has no dumpster alleys at all. They all have trash rooms which is why you see huge commercial and residential buildings put out huge piles of trash bags.