Speculation Time! Predicting the future of 401 Market St.

We let our imagination run wild about what's ahead for this office tower that sits on a key corner of Independence Mall

While out and about earlier today, we found ourselves at Independence Mall looking east towards 401 Market St., best known as the former home to Wells Fargo. This 11-story tower was also the former home to the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center, which was only open for a short time before closing in early 2024. These vacancies left the American Bible Society as the only office tenant and the Museum of Illusions at the southeast corner as the only ground-floor draw. The owner of the property, Miller Investment Management, just recently paid off a $56 million loan on the building, clearing the outstanding debt - and clearing way for the future.

Looking east towards 401 Market St., now mostly vacant (don’t worry, we weren’t behind the wheel when taking the photo)

The owner has not yet disclosed plans for what’s to come, saying only that there was a “strategic repositioning plan” for the building. But, dear reader, this lack of clarity is not going to stop us from thinking about what might lie ahead. Let the speculation commence!

So, while many other commercial properties across the city are making the shift to residential uses, something about the language used and the vibe of the building doesn’t scream luxury apartments to us. What this property does feel like, however, is a hotel. Given the building’s footprint, the space isn’t organized for a residential conversion as the amount of light this would receive in the interior of the building isn’t ideal for those looking to ren. But for hotel goers, this would seemingly be not nearly as big of an issue.

The location of this property directly adjacent to one of the biggest tourist traps in the city sure seems ripe for those who want to experience all the history of Old City. The views overlooking Independence Mall would be stunning and the size of the building seems perfect for large groups, along with plenty of conference attendees from the Convention Center just several blocks away to the west. A hotel play here would also mean that the exterior wouldn’t need to be massively upgraded, with glowing hotel signage at the top seemingly harmonious with the existing look.

Additionally, the former Discovery Center would be a perfect spot for a large, experiential restaurant, with 40,000 or so square feet of space available. A gym of some sort would also be a good fit here and could offer access to hotel goers in addition to neighborhood residents. Oh, and this all sits directly above the 5th Street station on the MFL line, enabling visitors to explore in ways beyond a vehicle. Again, we aren’t certain this is going to happen, but if it was our $56 million, that would be the direction we’d go in.

400 Market St. immediately across the street

It is possible, of course, that we could see apartments here, just like we’re about to see at the building directly across the street at 400 Market. We stopped by here earlier this year to tell you about the 176 residential units that are coming to this former office building, which has since received construction permits and has new scaffolding around that base that foretells imminent construction (we hope). This influx of new residents in this narrower building is a very welcome addition to this block, which currently has a grand total of zero people. Would the red-bricked neighbor across the street want to compete with this? Who’s to say!

Again, we have no idea when we might know what the fate is for this block of Old City, but it sure seems like it will be different soon enough. With the recently added bike lanes and other pedestrian improvements from 2nd to 6th St. nearly wrapped up, we can only hope that these spaces are activated and inviting in the years to come. And with all of the tourism momentum that we hope to see after the big celebrations coming next summer, we may need a few more rooms to accommodate all of those who will be clamoring to visit the best damn city on the planet.