Gridmark Group has submitted a revised proposal for 1706-10 Walnut St.: a seven-story building with 88 apartments and street-level retail. The plan replaces the developer’s August proposal for a two-story, 33,000-square-foot retail building. The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported the change; its report attributes the project details and developer’s comments to Gridmark founder Ari Weber.
Plans and review
The design by Philadelphia-based JKRP Architects includes 66 one-bedroom apartments averaging about 600 square feet, 12 studios and 10 two-bedroom units. Many units are planned to have balconies.
Gridmark changed course from a retail proposal to an apartment plan.
The site is in the Rittenhouse-Fitler Historic District, where new construction requires Philadelphia Historical Commission approval. Earlier this year, the commission’s Architectural Committee recommended approval of the retail design and asked Gridmark to consider a bronze cornice. The revised apartment proposal will undergo a separate review.
Standards for historic-district review
Philadelphia Historical Commission review materials cite Standard 9, which requires related new construction to be differentiated from historic work and compatible with its massing, size, scale and architectural features, as set out in the commission’s review materials.
The 1423 Spruce Street proposal involved a different site and applicant, according to commission minutes.
A vacant lot with a contested past
Three 19th-century townhomes on the property were damaged by arson during unrest in May 2020 and later demolished. The city’s Department of Licenses & Inspections determined they were too damaged to save; the demolition took place in early 2021. Walnut Gardens, an outdoor bar and restaurant, opened on the vacant site in June 2023 and remains there.
The revised proposal now returns apartments to a site where Gridmark had previously considered a 30-story tower before proposing retail, according to the Inquirer’s August report.
