The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Planning Commission voted on Tuesday to support developer Priderock Capital Group’s proposal to build a 4-story, 216-unit apartment complex at 4th and Race streets in Old City.
The project, which will go before the zoning board later this month, disappointed the Civic Design Review Committee in two meeting over the summer. The Committee felt it was overly suburban, not ambitious enough for the site, and unnecessarily cheap in terms of materials.
Nancy Rogo-Trainer, a Commissioner and chair of the CDR Committee, summarized the committee’s feelings on Tuesday.
“We struggled with a way of saying, ‘You should be more aspirational,’” she said. The materials in particular are disappointing, she said.
“It’s really kind of sad when someone building a block from Independence Mall thinks that standard brick is too deluxe a material, too expensive,” she said. “To me, that speaks volumes.”