$280M W Hotel Ready to Rise on Chestnut Street

Chestlen Development is beginning work for a 52-story tower that will soon begin to rise at 1441 Chestnut Street in Center City. The 780,000 square foot project will construct 755 hotel rooms, of which 295 rooms will be managed under the W Hotel brand and 460 rooms dedicated to the Element by Westin. The development is projected to create 1,800 construction jobs and 450 permanent jobs and is expected be completed by Spring 2018.
 

The W Hotel and Residences will rise 582 feet and have 41,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, an 8,600-square-foot restaurant, and three levels of  below-grade parking garage for 185 vehicles.

Element Philadelphia will feature 460 rooms and a 6,392 square-foot sky lobby, and W Philadelphia will feature 295 rooms, a 2,900 square-foot spa, a 3,505 square foot outdoor pool and deck, a 1,590 square foot pool bar, and a 2,974 square foot garden area.

The tower will also include more than 1,700 square feet of retail space on the ground floor at the corner of 15th and Chestnut.

Tutor Perini is building the 769,704 square-foot project for Chestlen Development. Cope Linder Architects is the project designer.

The project, which sits across from City Hall and next to the Ritz Carlton, is estimated to cost $280.4 million.

Chestlen Development will put up $205.4 million, and receive $75 million in tax-payer subsidies over 20 years.

It is not unusual for the city to arrange tax incremental financing for construction projects, especially if the work will give an otherwise blighted area an economic boost.

However, tax incremental financing can be controversial when it is put into areas where development would likely have happened without it.

Once the project is completed, it is expected to generate $220.6 million in incremental tax revenues over 20 years and will represent an estimated $25.8 million net gain to the city and $12.3 million to the school district over those two decades.

The W Hotel and Element by Westin is expected to be completed by Spring 2018.