[NEWS] Shorter tower now envisioned for last major Rittenhouse Square-area development site

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A condo-and-apartment tower proposed for the last sizable piece of undeveloped property in the Rittenhouse Square area will be downsized,  part of a deal between the developer and neighbors that also includes preserving two historic buildings at the site.

Current plans for the project, known as 1911 Walnut, call for an approximately 47-story glass-and-precast-concrete building on a cut-limestone base, rather than the previously intended 55-story tower of mostly glass, officials at developer Southern Land Co. said late last week.

The revised proposal preserves  the Rittenhouse Coffee Shop and Warwick apartment buildings, built in 1855 and 1903 on Sansom Street, company founder and chief executive Tim Downey said in an interview. Southern Land plans to redevelop those structures into low-income supportive housing to be operated by Project HOME, he said.