PHILADELPHIA | 1706 Rittenhouse | 401 FT / 122 M | 31 FLOORS | T/O

[Swinefeld]

1706 Rittenhouse

Website: 1706rittenhouse.com/

Location: 1706 Rittenhouse, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Usage: Condominiums
Height: 401' (122 meters)
Stories: 31
• 29 single story units
• two story lobby
Development Team:
Architects: Cope Linder Architects
Interior Design: Daroff Design
Structural Engineers: Cagley Harman & Associates
Construction Management: L.F. Driscoll Co.
Developers:
• Scannapieco Development Corporation
• Parkway Corporation
Estimated Cost: $130,000,000
Units/Condominium: 29 units, starting at $3,500,000
Groundbreaking: April 2007
Completion: 2008
Amenities/Features:
• Indoor pool (endless?)
• Automated parking garage
• Private conference room
• Fitness center/sauna
• Private garden
Trivia:
• Rittenhouse Square was renamed for famous Philadelphian David Rittenhouse (1732-96)
• Each unit will be on its own floor with unobstructed views.

Images

Aerial view of future site


View of future site


Tom Scannapieco posing with a model


Color rendering used in ad


More renderings

[TheOldMan]

whats the status on the project. from what i heard a while back, sales were slow. is it still happening as far as anyone can tell?

[Swinefeld]

Originally Posted by TheOldMan

whats the status on the project. from what i heard a while back, sales were slow. is it still happening as far as anyone can tell?

Groundbreaking is scheduled for April and it seems full steam ahead.

Recent article:

Some very-high-end projects, such as Scannapieco Development's 1706 Rittenhouse Square, continue to take reservations at a steady pace, since the $4 million to $12 million prices attract buyers with financial resources greater than just home equity. Groundbreaking is due in the spring.

Philadelphia Magazine reports the penthouse sold for $6.9 million, a new record for Philly real estate.

[LostInTheZone]

they have a banner ad with a rendering up on-site.

I like this one a lot. Very nice proportions, three street frontages (but not retail?) and large but well-scaled windows. With its small floor area, it's right in scale with the other midrises and smaller buildings around it. It reminds me of the Medical Arts tower.

See architects? Inserting a modern highrise into an older human-scale really isn't that hard if you make a few considerations, and that doesn't mean tacking on fake brick for "context".

[SJPhillyBoy]

December 7, 2006 07:49am

Scannapieco Unveils 30-Unit, $120M Condo

By Marita Thomas

1706 Rittenhouse Square

PHILADELPHIA-Partners Scannapieco Development Corp. and Parkway Corp. plan to break ground in spring 2007 for 1706 Rittenhouse Square, a 31-story residential condo, designed to contain 29 4,000-sf, full-floor units topped by a two-story, 7,000-sf penthouse. Unit prices begin at $3.5 million, and the penthouse carries a $12-million price tag.

Tom Scannapieco, CEO of the Blue Bell-based company, tells GlobeSt.com the estimated construction cost is $120 million and he expects completion 22 months after groundbreaking. Locally based Prudential Fox Roach is handling the marketing effort, headed by Joanne Davidow.


The sales office opened in September and Scannapieco says, “We have eight reservations. We are not intending to have more than one unit per floor, although the design allows for breaking lower floors in half to create two units.”
Regarding the reported sales slowdown for the proliferation of Center City high-end condos, he acknowledges, “It’s a question of how many buyers are in the market at this price level. We expected to sell about one unit a month and we are ahead of that. The other projects are not directly competitive with ours, which has units with windows on all sides. With just 29 residents, this also represents a different environment than the others and offers more privacy and security.”

Locally based Parkway owns the parcel, which is currently a parking lot at the corner of 17 and Rittenhouse Square streets, one block east of Rittenhouse Square. The company owns approximately 100 parking facilities in nine major markets. Joe Zuritsky, Parkway’s CEO, has utilized an automated parking process, which will be used in the condominium’s underground parking area. At the swipe of a card, a resident’s vehicle is mechanically moved to a numbered space facing in the user’s planned travel direction.

Locally based Cope Linder is the architect, and the property includes a landscaped garden enclosed in a fence designed by iron-sculptor Albert Paley. Daroff Design, also based here, is designing the entrance and common areas and providing buyers with a menu of custom options for floor plans of up to four-bedroom units.

[theWatusi]

Here is the current pricing for all of the floors in 1706 Rittenhouse

I heard the penthouse was sold too, but it is still listed as active on the MLS. Guess the listing agent is lazy, as the listings do not included any (renderings) photos either. You would think for the pretty healthy commission she would take the 3 minutes to do it.

RATR and Murano have renderings on the MLS.

Anyway, so some of these are probably sold already.


MLS# Status ZIP Address Floor Price Bed/Bath
4727583 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 4 $4,180,850 4 2/0 FLT
4727589 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 5 $4,201,680 4 2/0 FLT
4727595 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 6 $4,222,610 4 2/0 FLT
4727601 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 7 $4,243,340 4 2/0 FLT
4727605 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 8 $4,264,170 4 2/0 FLT
4727607 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 901 $4,285,000 4 2/0 FLT
4727615 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1001 $4,526,850 4 2/0 FLT
4727619 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1101 $4,568,700 4 2/0 FLT
4727624 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1201 $4,610,550 4 2/0 FLT
4727633 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1301 $4,652,400 4 2/0 FLT
4727638 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1401 $4,694,250 4 2/0 FLT
4727646 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1501 $4,736,100 4 2/0 FLT
4727648 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1601 $4,777,950 4 2/0 FLT
4727649 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1701 $4,819,800 4 2/0 FLT
4727655 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1801 $4,861,650 4 2/0 FLT
4727659 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1901 $4,903,500 4 2/0 FLT
4727665 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2001 $4,945,350 4 2/0 FLT
4727668 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2101 $5,087,200 4 2/0 FLT
4727671 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2201 $5,129,050 4 2/0 FLT
4727674 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2301 $5,170,900 4 2/0 FLT
4727677 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2401 $5,212,750 4 2/0 FLT
4727682 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2501 $5,254,600 4 2/0 FLT
4727686 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2601 $5,296,450 4 2/0 FLT
4727690 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2701 $5,840,500 4 2/0 FLT
4727693 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2801 $6,363,625 4 2/0 FLT
4727696 1A 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2901 $6,849,085 4 2/0 FLT

[Swinefeld]

Originally Posted by LostInTheZone

they have a banner ad with a rendering up on-site.

There are. I have some pics that I will upload tonight.

I'm dying to see this "endless" pool. Is that like a bottomless pit?

[LostInTheZone]

We are not intending to have more than one unit per floor, although the design allows for breaking lower floors in half to create two units.”

that answers one of my questions.

that second set of renderings, enc the street level looks earlier- note the solid panels between windows. It looks like they revised it and went glassier. Do we have a more current rendering of the ground floor?

[omp835]

I'm glad the neighbors made the developers push the tower off the street. I think it makes for a stronger design.

[Swinefeld]

Originally Posted by LostInTheZone

they have a banner ad with a rendering up on-site.

Indeed. Here are three renderings from the on-site billboards.





That guy looks a little sketchy.

[Zoot]

I really hate to be a "negadelphian," but if sales are strong, why are the majority of the units still listed on MLS? While MLS is not always 100% accurate, one has to wonder.

On another note, the advertisements for this building are pathetic. I saw one in Philly's Jewish Exponent a couple of months ago that was showing a "view" from one of their units. Funny thing was, the "view" wasn't Philadelphia (it had curved streets, not a grid)! To make the ad even more pathetic, it said something like "private full floor residences" and then said something like "know your neighbors." Hmmm...

[theWatusi]

Originally Posted by Zoot

I really hate to be a "negadelphian," but if sales are strong, why are the majority of the units still listed on MLS? While MLS is not always 100% accurate, one has to wonder.

I just took a quick look and there are currently 26 active units (floors 4-29) Some agents will keep a property "active" even if there is a contract on it.

Active = property is still on realtor.com and other websites = phone calls = buyer leads

Kind of a bait-and-switch technique if you will.

This is not allowed under the MLS rules, but rules are self policed. So until another agent attempts to sell one of these units and finds it is already sold, I doubt the listing agent will be reported and the "status" corrected. (if in fact they are inaccurate to begin with which I am not 100% sure of which is why I myself will not report her)

FYI below are the units w/ current pricing. All of the asking prices have been raised above the original price when listed which would indicate good activity on the building

4727583 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 4 $4,180,850 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727589 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 5 $4,201,680 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727595 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 6 $4,222,610 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727601 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 7 $4,243,340 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727605 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 8 $4,264,170 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727607 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 901 $4,285,000 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727615 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1001 $4,526,850 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727619 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1101 $4,568,700 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727624 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1201 $4,610,550 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727633 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1301 $4,652,400 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727638 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1401 $4,694,250 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727646 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1501 $4,736,100 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727648 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1601 $4,777,950 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727649 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1701 $4,819,800 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727655 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1801 $4,861,650 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727659 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 1901 $4,903,500 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727665 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2001 $4,945,350 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727668 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2101 $5,087,200 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727671 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2201 $5,129,050 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727674 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2301 $5,170,900 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727677 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2401 $5,212,750 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727682 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2501 $5,254,600 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727686 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2601 $5,296,450 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727690 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2701 $5,840,500 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727693 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2801 $6,363,625 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006
4727696 RES ACT 19103 1706 Rittenhouse Sq 2901 $6,849,085 4 2/0 Flt 05/05/2006

Disclaimer: I am not the listing agent, nor do I have any indirect financial beniefit associated with this building. This post is not intended to solicit business, and is provided as information to curious SSPers

[CondoGuru]

Techincally, doesn't an "A" for active listing mean that it's not sold yet? If it's truly sold, it would be listed as "Active w/ Contract" or "P" for pending, right? Since this property doesn't even exist yet, it can only be "A" or "P" until completion. Futhermore, isn't it illegal for Philadelphia Magazine to report that 1706's penthouse sold for $6.9 million since that's not yet a public record? It's one thing to sell the penthouse at the Rittenhouse Hotel and publish the sales record, it exists and post-settlement it becomes a public tax record. But in this case, that's private information until the property is completed and conveyance occurs. The MLS listing for that building appears to contain nothing more than reservations, otherwise the units would be listed as pending, not active. This would suggest that they haven't actually sold anything as far as signed Agreements are concerned, but merely reservations. I also remember reading somewhere that the penthouse was priced at $12 Million, not $6.9...looks like they gave it away! lol

[theWatusi]

Originally Posted by CondoGuru

Techincally, doesn't an "A" for active listing mean that it's not sold yet? If it's truly sold, it would be listed as "Active w/ Contract" or "P" for pending, right? Since this property doesn't even exist yet, it can only be "A" or "P" until completion. Futhermore, isn't it illegal for Philadelphia Magazine to report that 1706's penthouse sold for $6.9 million since that's not yet a public record? It's one thing to sell the penthouse at the Rittenhouse Hotel and publish the sales record, it exists and post-settlement it becomes a public tax record. But in this case, that's private information until the property is completed and conveyance occurs. The MLS listing for that building appears to contain nothing more than reservations, otherwise the units would be listed as pending, not active. This would suggest that they haven't actually sold anything as far as signed Agreements are concerned, but merely reservations. I also remember reading somewhere that the penthouse was priced at $12 Million, not $6.9...looks like they gave it away! lol

"Trend" (the local MLS) definitions of status

ACTIVE

Listings of property currently available for sale where the seller has directed the Participant to market the property, set appointments for showings and present agreements of sale to the seller. No agreement of sale is currently in effect.
Symbol: A, ACT

ACTIVE UNDER CONTRACT

Listings of property where an agreement of sale is in effect and the Participant has been instructed by the seller to continue to market the property, set appointments for showings and present additional agreements of sale to the seller.
Symbol: AC, A/C

ACTIVE NO SHOWINGS

Listings of property currently available for sale where the Participant has been instructed by the seller to market the property and present agreements of sale to the seller, but not to set appointments for showings during a current, specified period of time. No agreement of sale is currently in effect. When the No Showing End Date arrives, the listing will be updated to "Active" status.
Symbol: AN

PENDING

Listings of property where an agreement of sale is in effect and all contingencies in the agreement of the sale have been met (but the settlement has not yet been completed) or the Participant has been instructed by the seller to no longer market the property, set appointments for showings or present additional agreements of sale.
Symbol: P, PND

SETTLED

Listings of property where a successful closing has taken place and title has transferred from seller to buyer or where possession of a property has transferred from a lessor to a lessee.
Symbol: S, SLD

So by these if one of the units in the yet to be constructed 1706 Ritt has a contract (agreement of sale) it should be noted as A/C in the MLS. If a unit is "reserved w/ a deposit" but no binding AOS is in effect, then presumably it could still be rightfully listed as A(ctive).

I dont think it could be Pending because by definitition all contingencies must be satisified, which would include the buyer being able to obtain a mortage (i dont think a lender would issue a mortgage committment on a building not completed)

Anyway, as far as the price of the "sold" penthouse, it is not illegal for the builder(seller) to give out that information, but it would be illegal and unethical for the listing agent to do so. Its like if you sell your own house and tell your buddies at work what you got for it before the closing.

[CondoGuru]

So what you're saying is that they aren't actually sold, but just possibly reserved? This makes more sense. Because I do know that if a builder hasn't yet provided the Declaration and HUD reports, they cannot sign contracts period. Until that happens, there can only be reservations. That's why the Ritz hadn't signed any contracts for such a long time. I had friends that were under "reservation" there for more than 8 months before signing, where most require you to sign in 15 days.

[CondoGuru]

[QUOTE=thewatusi;2667223]"Trend" (the local MLS) definitions of status

I dont think it could be Pending because by definitition all contingencies must be satisified, which would include the buyer being able to obtain a mortage (i dont think a lender would issue a mortgage committment on a building not completed)

Actually in new construction lenders extend mortgage committments all the time. They typically offer committments with "rate-locks" throughout the duration of construction (usually 1 to 2 years max). But the catch is, relatively few developers offer any contingencies at all in their agreements when the delivery date is so far out. So the actual unit can be under agreement and listed as pending even if it does not yet exist, because the Agreement has been executed and deposit monies delivered without a mortgage contingency. It just depends on the terms of the agreement set forth by the developer. They really hold the cards when it comes to new construction...it's definitely more of a risk than buying an existing home. But when you're talking about $3.5 Million or more, those people are more than likely not concerned about contingencies anyway. They know they have the money, they know they'll qualify.

[theWatusi]

Originally Posted by CondoGuru

Because I do know that if a builder hasn't yet provided the Declaration and HUD reports, they cannot sign contracts period.

Thats a good point. PA law says a buyer has a right to review condo docs before closing. While they certainly can sign a AOS, they could easily get out of it pending review of the Decs and Covts.

Originally Posted by CondoGuru

in new construction lenders extend mortgage committments all the time. They typically offer committments with "rate-locks"

True, when I deal with these McMansions out here in sprawl-ville the mortgage lenders will issue a committment w/ a rate lock, however the committment itself will be contingent upon "seller (builder) providing U+O" or something to the effect. this protects the lender from lending against a million dollar hole in the ground. But in the price range of 1706 Ritt, you very well could be dealing with a buyer that can pay cash anyways.


I think what started this discussion is according to what is currently listed as active and avaliable on the MLS is most likely wrong (assuming they have "sold" some units)

[BigDan35]

So what's the deal with this proposal? Happening? Not happening?

[SJPhillyBoy]

They advertised in this Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer's Real Estate section, so it is still on. Maybe they just need to sell a few more units before they begin.

[CondoGuru]

In my opinion, it's dead. Think about it. Starting prices at $3.5 Million at 1706 Rittenhouse as opposed to Richard Meier's spectacular Mandeville Place which starts at $1.98 Million after reconfiguring the layouts...??? The developer of Mandeville Place is calling other developers in town to try and sell the land and get out. If they can't make Mandeville a reality at a lower price and far superior design than 1706, who the hell would put their money down on 1706??? These are pipe dreams that will probably never get built I'm afraid. At least not in the near future. And that's not me being pessimistic, just realistic. I don't think Philly has those kinds of buyers yet. If you can afford $3.5 Million, you can still afford to live in New York quite comfortably. My NYC friends who move to Philly are looking for bargains and more space that they can't afford there...they're not spending north of $3 Million to get it!