BREAKING: Permits Issued for Last Piece of Waterfront Square

193 residential units and 201 new parking spaces will join the condo towers and a nearly finished mixed-use building next door

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: the Delaware River Waterfront is changing more than any area in the entire city. With mixed-use projects and residential buildings rising everywhere you look, the formerly forlorn stretch along Delaware Ave. has become something of a new neighborhood in our estimation. And after making a brief stop at 933 N. Penn St. recently to check on progress, we are pleased to report that something is now afoot next door at 901 N. Penn St. for this surface lot in a sea of residences.

901 N. Penn St. in yellow, long a surface lot after original plans were abandoned long ago

A look at the site today, fenced off and used as a scruffy parking lot

933 N. Penn St. - 195 units at full height just to the north

That surface parking lot you see above was originally slated to consist of two more tall towers as part of the original five-tower plan for the luxurious Waterfront Square condos. After this project served as something of a trailblazer for development in the area, the last two towers stalled thanks to the Great Recession, leaving the space vacant until today.

The original five-tower plan, with the two tallest towers never to be (from WHYY)

A 195-unit, mixed-use project from GY Properties and designed by HDO Architecture you see under construction above is getting close to the finish line, adding a dose of residents to what had been a surface parking lot for Rivers Casino next door. And then last summer, plans went to Civic Design Review for 901 N. Penn, offering another 193 units and parking for a total of 201 vehicles (both in a garage and on the remaining surface lot). This project comes to us from the same GY/HDO team and continues the look and feel of the contemporary structure in progress now.

195 units will take up the seven floors of the nearly complete 933 N. Penn St.

The site plan for 901 N. Penn St., with 75 parking stalls and a 126-space surface lot joining the party

901 N. Penn in the center is planned to continue the existing concept

Landscaping will help activate the street presence of this chained-off lot

The surface parking lot will be hidden from the view of those passing by

The big news? Zoning permits were issued yesterday for both the 193-unit building as well as the 201 total parking spaces - a huge step in the process. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that things are going to start here tomorrow, the near completion of 933 next door and the five-building Five on Canal project close by (from the same developers) may mean that funding is available to round out the promise of Waterfront Square after nearly 20 years. What used to be a rather desolate stretch with some cars and even fewer people is most certainly getting a glow-up, and we are thrilled to see the residential options continue to grow along one of the most exciting stretches in town.