It was a pretty common thing, a few decades back, that developers were buying up huge old mansions in the Rittenhouse neighborhood and chopping them up into apartment units. In fact, some of the most affordable (and crappy) apartments in Center City can be found in those converted buildings. While this was a rather common practice back in the day, we don’t see it very often anymore and the reason for this change is simple. Today, most of the old mansions that haven’t been converted to apartments are well maintained and will likely remain single family for the foreseeable future. There are hardly any properties left where it makes financial sense to convert from single family to rentals or condos. But every now and then, we run into one.

According to a reader, 1726 Spruce St. has been sitting vacant for several years, but developers purchased it for $2.7M at the end of last year. As you might imagine from the context above, they’re converting the building into apartments. According to permits, they’re planning five apartments and a first floor office space. We’d have to think that the units will be listed as condos, but rentals are certainly a possibility. Looking at the old listing, we can see many of the original interior details are still intact. Plus, the rear of the building features some unique windows that you can see from Delancey Street.

You won’t be able to see those windows from Delancey Street for much longer, though. The previous owners took the property to zoning and were able to subdivide the parcel and create a new residential lot on Delancey Street. That parcel, pictured above, will soon accommodate a new construction home. We said above that we couldn’t think of too many examples of mansions converting to apartments, there are even fewer examples that come to mind of new construction homes on Delancey Street. We cannot even imagine what the list price will be, but rest assured it’ll be a pretty penny.