It always gets us jazzed up when we hear about surface parking lots changing into buildings, especially when it happens in or close to Center City. So you can imagine our glee when we heard last week that two of ’em on North Broad Street should be disappearing in the near future. Dueling parking lots on the southeast and southwest corners of Broad & Callowhill are owned by the Parkway Corporation, one of the biggest parking lot owners in town.

SE corner

Last month, Parkway, which has partnered with Hanover Properties, presented plans to the Logan Square Neighborhood Association for two new mixed-use buildings on these two corners. According to Center City District, these buildings will include over three-hundred apartment units, 17K sqft of ground floor retail, and underground parking. According to the LSNA minutes from June, the buildings will only go up five or six stories. Not as much density as we’d like to see here, but still infinitely better than surface parking lots.

Southwest corner lot

In case you don’t realize, these buildings would rise directly across the street from the Inquirer building, which is located on the northwest corner of the intersection. Where this project could get very interesting is if Bart Blatstein wins the six-horse race for Philadelphia’s second casino license. If that were to occur, Parkway would have the potentially challenging task of renting apartments across the street from a casino and entertainment complex. On the other hand, the Penn Treaty Village Pennthouses are located almost as close to Sugarhouse, and they’ve had few problems renting their luxury apartment units to our knowledge.

We’d imagine we’ll be hearing a lot more about this project in the coming months, and can only hope it comes to pass. If anyone had doubts about the growing draw of North Broad Street, proposals like this should confirm that momentum is still building for this area. Surely, another three hundred apartments would only further increase the area’s draw. Would a casino do the same? That, friends, seems like a question for another day.