When his team arrived, no one even knew how many units the Robert M. Stern signature building was supposed to have.
"There are . . . uncompleted floors in the building, 28 to 32, and no one had decided whether they were going to have single units or more," said Dranoff. "We are selling 32 as a single floor and have a buyer who hasn't yet closed, and 31 is sold and divided, but we are trying to make that one unit."
Floors 28, 29, and 30 now will have four units each. Raw (unfinished) space runs $900 to $1,100 a square foot.
As his own projects - from the Left Bank in University City, to 777 S. Broad St. in Center City - have demonstrated, Dranoff is into details.
"Until now," he said, handing over a slick new brochure for 10 Rittenhouse, "there wasn't even one of these."
Pricing was another hurdle. As the project faced legal and public-relations difficulties, prospective buyers began trying to set their own prices, often prolonging negotiations for as long as two years and scaring off those who feared the haggling would whittle away the value of the units they had already purchased.
In addition, Dranoff said, some lower-floor condos were priced higher than those on the more-desirable upper levels.
Both situations have changed, he said: Prices have been firmly established, and higher floors command more.
Crucial for Dranoff will be restoring confidence in the product, which took several knockout punches after developers Robert Ambrosi and Harold B. Wheeler, operating as ARCWheeler, launched 10 Rittenhouse Square on Nov. 10, 2009.
Among them: The grand opening came almost 21/2 years later than planned, missing the real estate boom by a mile because of legal appeals, which added at least $100 million to construction expenses.
"It was delivered at the wrong time," Dranoff said.
