Last summer, we gave you the heads up that construction would soon be underway for the first part of Cira Centre South, a new tower on Chestnut Street. At the time, it was predicted that owners Brandywine Realty Trust would be breaking ground in the fall, a timeline that appears was off by only a couple of months. We were in the area the other day and snapped a couple of photos of the site.

Existing garage on Chestnut

Looking down

Lots of dirt moving around

Last week, new specifics emerged about this project, which has been dubbed The Grove at Cira Centre South (hereafter TGACCS). According to Phillydeal$, Brandywine will be partnering with Campus Crest Communities to construct the thirty-three story tower that will ultimately contain units…

With Brandywine Realty Trust unloading their entire Exton portfolio in late July in a move that resulted in a gain of $9.9M, the group now has a bit more capital to undertake the construction of a mixed-use retail and residential development at 1919 Market St. next to the Blue Cross Blue Shield building. Originally, a twin to the aforementioned building, completed in 1991, was intended for this site as we explained several months ago, but legal wrangling killed the project before it got out of the ground.

Members of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) zoning committee have reported they are in early talks with attorneys for Brandywine Realty about a partnership with Blue Cross and a project at the long vacant lot, which served as a PHS Pop-Up Garden last year.

Last summer

In April, the Philadelphia…

The Cira Centre stands as one of the few tall buildings in University City, separated from the Center City skyline by the Schuylkill River. But it may soon have company in the form of Cira Centre South.

Cira Centre

Attorneys for developers Brandywine Realty Trust presented informal plans to individuals in the development division of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) last week, according to executive director Gary Jastrzab. He said those plans contained errors and were incomplete.

Cira Centre South rendering

“I can’t comment,” said Steve Rush, director of leasing at Brandywine.

“For all intents and purposes, our development division has not really seen the plans in any official capacity,” said Jastrzab.

A source, however, told Naked Philly that employees at the Cira Centre have seen presentations about Cira Centre South this summer, revealing plans to break ground on a tower fronting Chestnut Street as…

For a vacant lot in the middle of our central business district, 1919 Market St. has a fascinating history over the past few decades. The last building on this lot, the Penn Center Inn, was torn down over twenty years ago in anticipation of a twin to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Building. According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, a second development plan was held up for over a decade by numerous lawsuits after the original developer went bust. Finally, after years of litigation, Opus East purchased the lot in 2005 and planned a 38-story mixed use building and then a 14-story residential building before going bankrupt in 2009. At the beginning of this year, Brandywine Realty Trust purchased the lucky lot for $9.3M.

Most recently, the lot contained a pop-up garden, thanks to the Pennsylvania Horticultural…

Hard at work

If you’ve been to 30th Street Station lately, you may have noticed the serious construction activity taking place in the parking area on the southern side of the station. It’s been going on for months, and we didn’t have a clue what was going on there… until now. Turns out that a host of people and organizations are behind an effort to reclaim the southern parking lane for a new forty foot wide public space, with an eye toward improving walkability at this meeting of West Philadelphia and Center City. Stakeholders include City Council, the Planning Commission, the Streets Department, Amtrak, Brandywine Realty Trust, the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, University City District, and several other organizations. Yes, everyone and their mother…

The 33,746-square-foot lot at 1919 Market (aka the failed Opus Condominium Tower) was very popular at the bankruptcy auction Brandywine Realty Trust attended. After some back and forth, 1919 finally ended in the victorious hands of Brandywine with a $9.3M bid. The agreement of sale between Brandywine, Bank of America and the trustee came about only after Brandywine was able to propose the best offer. Jerry Sweeney, CEO and president of Brandywine, told us that “the goal of these auctions are speed of execution, certainty to close the deal and ensuring adequate ‘coverage,’ or ability to pay debt service if the transaction doesn’t go to closing.” Brandywine had offered an increase in their deposit to satisfy two of those goals and included, according to Sweeney, “forfeiting the deposit if the deal failed.” We are excited for Brandywine’s new purchase and plans for a mixed-use development at the…