As cars became the primary mode of transportation in the middle of the 20th century, city planners had the terrific idea to build highways through major American cities. While these roads made it easier for folks to drive from point A to point B, their impact of the aforementioned cities ranged from negative to disastrous. The Cross Bronx Expressway devastated the Bronx, destroying and dividing neighborhoods. I-93 cleaved downtown Boston, and it took years and cost nearly $15B to relocate the highway underground. And of course, in Philadelphia, I-676 split Chinatown while I-95 cut off numerous neighborhoods from the Delaware waterfront.

If we may make a generalization, people want to live near the water, but they aren’t as excited about the prospect if they need to cross over or under a major highway to get from their home to downtown. This being the case, residential development along the Delaware River has not been especially robust. We’ve started seeing real progress in the River Wards, where several sizable projects have gone up in recent years – but the action in South Philly has been largely limited to commercial development of big box shopping centers and the occasional canceled casino.

Finally though, it seems like there might be a path forward for a significant project on the South Philly waterfront, at a site we’ve covered a few times in the past. Back in 2017, we told you about plans for 10 towers on Columbus Blvd. south of Washington Avenue which would have added thousands of units and dozens of retail spaces, essentially creating a new neighborhood on the Delaware. That project obviously never moved forward. Fast forward to 2023, when we told you about plans at 1341 S. Columbus Blvd., where developers proposed a 23-story, C-shaped building with 612 apartments, 500 parking spots, and retail space. That… also didn’t happen. But soon enough, it’s looking like something will indeed happen at this location, with the potential for additional phases in the future.

Next month, developers will come to Civic Design Review to present their project for a 36-story building with 620 apartments and 187 parking spots. The building will include about 10K sqft of retail space, and the project will also include a one-story building next door with another 20K sqft of commercial. The contemporary glass edifice, designed by Perkins Eastman, would be a signature structure on the waterfront and would represent a notable and noticeable addition to the Philadelphia skyline.

But that’s not all! This is apparently only the first phase of a larger project. The site is so large that there’s room for two more buildings at this address. The one-story building, planned to the west of the 36-story structure, could be part of the pad for a second building next door. Just for kicks, the developers could also construct another building on the north side of the property, above Wharton Street. Of course, there would be quite a bit of overall site landscaping and public space that would be a part of this huge project.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We’ve now covered two projects at this address which didn’t move forward, and the development environment isn’t exactly easy these days. We’ll hope to see the first building get built and will consider future phases as aspirational, at least right now. We’ll be very interested to see how the CDR committee responds to the project and the site master plan, and we’ll be especially interested to see whether there’s any progress toward construction after the CDR process wraps up. Projects in the River Wards have lit the way; soon enough it could be a big project in South Philadelphia showing that it’s possible to overcome the challenges posed by I-95.