In recent weeks, we've profiled two shuttered Philadelphia schools which are currently available for sale through a cooperative effort with PIDC. Twenty schools are available in all, but we've chosen to only highlight the properties that we deem as the most interesting redevelopment candidates. As the deadline to submit a bid for one of these buildings is today, we figured we'd hurry up and profile one more school, for you multi-millionaire procrastinators out there.
The former Bok School is an architectural gem, and the former Smith School is no slouch either. The same can't be said, though, for the former William Penn High School at Broad & Master, which was closed back in 2010. Based on the architecture, you might have guessed it was built in 1974. And you'd be right. What the building lacks in character, it makes up for in size.
According to the listing, the five-story building has over 550,000 sqft of interior space, and sits on a lot that's over 220,000 sqft. That's about 1.5 square blocks, in case you're keeping track at home, and there's a huge amount of frontage on Girard Avenue. This isn't the sort of project that could be handled by a mom-and-pop developer. So what can we expect to see here?
If we were to guess, we'd predict demolition of all the buildings on the property, and several phases of new mixed-use development. Temple was apparently interested in the parcel late last year, and we could easily see a project unfolding like the Wanamaker development a few blocks to the north. Perhaps one of the developers behind North Broad Street redevelopment could step in, but this seems much more likely to be an institutional development. Or if you're interested, you can still bid for the property yourself. Asking price is $15M.