Holiday Hopes: Homes for Hahnemann's Former Campus

Race Street Labs is leasing, but we dream of what could be for this vital piece of Philly

Hahnemann Hospital, the medical institution which closed in 2019 that stood near the intersection of N. Broad & Race St., is one of my earliest memories of almost anything Philadelphia related. In fact, one of the loyal readers of this very blog played a key role here back in the day, helping countless people over the years. I remember hearing “Hahnemann” come up so many times in stories, I couldn’t help but think of it as one of the most important places in the entire city; after all, a literal princess was born here.

Looking NW from N. Broad & Race at the former Hahnemann Hospital campus

Grace Kelly/The Princess of Monaco definitely liked Philadelphia real estate development

But since the closure, the area around these historically protected buildings is now eerily quiet. For the most part, that is, thanks to a new concept that caught our eye as we were strolling past: Race Street Labs is now up and running thanks to a conceptual shift from new owners, Iron Stone Real Estate Partners.

A sign along Race St.

Another look at the labs from Race

While we decided not to wander up the driveway to get a closer look (for once), we were able to get more info from the website. This space is being marketed to life science tenants, with purpose-built lab space providing at-the-ready usage at a much lower price than other labs in the area. With a price-per-sqft coming in at $43 instead of $65, the hope is that growing companies will be lining up to grab a spot here. And speaking of grabbing a spot, both the 14th and 15th floors are offering 8,000 sqft of space apiece in this new look from D2 Design.

The no-frills lobby welcomes visitors

The lab space, ready to roll

The layout of the 14th floor shows office, conference, and lab space

It is great seeing this empty structure repurposed in this manner, especially with the built-in advantage of all that existing infrastructure. Lab/life sciences space seems to be slowly increasing in demand again as of late, and it is encouraging to see options like this expand beyond the Navy Yard/University City locations we typically see. But what’s even more exciting for our forward-looking gaze is the surface parking lot that sits painfully empty at this prominent corner.

The shadowed parking lot, practically begging for a different future

Above is the approximately 25,000 sqft parking lot that was entirely empty during our visit. Though a zoning permit was issued for slight parking changes near the Lab’s entrance, there doesn’t appear to be any other signs of action on this huge, CMX-5 zoned property. But given that we are in the throes of the holiday season, we’re going to light our wish list on fire to see if any portly, bearded elf might have some goodies on his sleigh for us.

“What’s this? What’s this? There’re buildings everywhere.”

That sprawling campus rendering there may just serve as an example of what the future could hold, at least conceptually. So, what’s this? Mill Creek Station, a 1,240-unit proposal pitched for the properties around the Provident Mutual building at 4601 Market. And guess what? The developer for that proposal is the very same Iron Stone who is the owner of the Hahnemann complex. Hmmmm. So, could we see something mixed-use with a residential focus eventually rise on this large, connected, permissively zoned lot much like we may see in West Philly? We have no idea, but we’d be happy to see a tall and elegant neighbor eventually go up here as a complement to the Art Deco glory of the hospital’s past. With all of the residential development taking place to the north, filling in this gap between Spring Garden and City Hall would certainly make this stretch of North Broad more welcoming than it is today.