A Rooftop Restaurant Could Join a Hotel Near Rittenhouse Square
The Pomerantz Building at 1525 Chestnut St. could see an addition, a Sonder, and dining with a view - if approved
As we were dodging the torrents of rain during yesterday afternoon’s downpour, we were lucky enough to find a break in the weather to stop by 1525 Chestnut St. in Center City. After finishing up in 1917 with a design from Philly firm Simon & Bassett, the building served as HQ for the A. Pomerantz stationery company from its construction until the mid-1990s, when former Phillie Garry Maddox purchased the spot. A couple decades later, the building was vacant when it received something of a lifeline, finally getting historic protection in June 2013.
Since then, the building has been in something of a state of flux, with plans coming and going (per yours truly in my old gig), though the building looks roughly the same as it did upon receiving its historical status. There were some hints that an update could be coming, with zoning permits back in 2022 and some facade work last year, though it was difficult to pin much down beyond a potential addition/hotel concept. There weren’t many other details that could be gleaned from a recent marketing pamphlet for the commercial space, leaving us somewhat in the dark around what the future might hold here.
But, as you probably have guessed, we have plenty of new information, thanks to an upcoming trip to the Zoning Board of Adjustments (ZBA). A little background first: these high-level plans from a few years ago come to us from Parallel Architecture Studio, but it seems as if the building has new ownership, with records listing DO Holdings as the owner for the last several years. The zoning permits and DO Holding’s post both indicate a hotel proposal, with a trip to Parallel’s website specifying that a 37-room Sonder is the planned size and hotel operator, respectively. We also noticed a rendering that was new to us, giving us a better picture of what’s coming when paired with an old massing drawing. It looks like some facade changes are perhaps planned, though any exterior adjustments would need Historical Commission approval given the protected status.
A closer look at the ground level reveals another potential piece of news: signage for Sev, a laser hair removal spa, which currently has a spot on Frankford Ave. in Fishtown in the base of the Archway Hotel - what a conceptual coincidence! A look through the permits doesn’t indicate that this is a sure thing, nor do we see any news from Sev on a potential new location; we’re going to keep this firmly in the “maybe” pile as far as a new ground-floor anchor, at least for now.
What we do know is making progress, at least permit-wise, is a very exciting potential addition - and the entire reason we stopped by this spot in the first place. Per a rule requiring a trip to the ZBA to get a special exception for any new restaurant in the area (hurray for overlays!), we can see that a restaurant proposal is on the agenda for review on Wednesday, August 6th. We didn’t see any record of who this operator might be in the publicly available info. Nor did we find any clues when perusing the Center City Residents’ Association website, the Registered Community Organization (RCO) for this property, which would usually have a zoning committee review prior to the ZBA trip. But we’re sure to find out more next week either way, when this 10th floor restaurant will look to add rooftop dining and drinks, much to the delight of this blogger.
That’s a boatload of new info coming at you on this Friday afternoon for just one property, if you ask us (Editor’s Note: no one asked you, dude). So, as you shift into weekend mode, know that there may be a new spot with skyline views to enjoy a rooftop happy hour in the years to come.
