Saturday, October 12, 2019

New 30-Story Tower to Rise on North Broad St

The latest project in the wave of new development along North Broad Street is 30-story mixed-use tower named “Mural West,” a 30-story apartment building slated to rise on a parking lot at 523 North Broad Street.

The tower will have 290 residential units on the upper floors with ground-floor retail space. 

Also included on the lot is a separate, one-story restaurant and 24 on-site parking spaces.

Mural West sits just next to Meg Saligman’s popular 1999 mural “Common Threads,” which provides inspiration for the new development. 

A diagonal open space called “common ground” runs between the tower and the restaurant, directly below the mural.

The development plan preserves the mural, while the park enhances the viewer experience by providing a quiet respite from the urban neighborhood with trees, seating, and information about the mural and its creation.

The building is designed by AOS Architects and will be developed by EBRM, the group behind the Divine Lorraine Hotel.

The project is the latest in a recent boom of development along North Broad Street. 

In 2017 the Divine Lorraine Hotel was restored, followed by the Met Philly in 2018. The Nest,  new development geared toward Temple University students opened last year, while another new, 14-story project behind the Divine Lorraine recently broke ground.