Carl Dranoff has staked the claim as the developer de rigueur on South Broad Street in recent years. Symphony House brought a tower of new condos and a new theater to the mix. 777 South Broad brought a bevy of new rental apartments and tasty Indian food. Southstar Lofts is under construction now, and will bring apartments and retail to a long-underused Center City corner. And with that project well past the midway point, it’s time to look to the next project on Dranoff’s list. Like the others we just mentioned, this one will also be rising on South Broad Street.

Southstar Lofts coming together

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, this extremely ambitious project will rise at Broad & Spruce, on the southeast corner. The project will include condos, a hotel, and a restaurant. Earlier today Inga Saffron tweeted about a Washington Square West Civic Association meeting flyer that indicates that the plan is for a forty story building. Let’s hear it for height and density where it’s appropriate!

This is the building that's there now

The flyer also mentions a curb cut which would indicate that parking is definitely a part of the plan, which should ease the fears of people for whom parking is their one and only concern in the world. Ah, but will there be enough parking? To find out, you’ll have to go to the WSWCA meeting next Tuesday, at 6:30, at 1001 Locust St., in Room 224.

No doubt, this project will be a huge deal for South Broad and the Avenue of the Arts, and we look forward to hearing more about it in the months to come. And even knowing as little about it as we do now, we are excited and can’t wait to see it built.