Symphony House

When Philadelphia's big real estate developers find a neighborhood they like, they really dig in. Bart Blatstein has made himself the virtual lord of Northern Liberties with factory-style lofts and hip hangouts. Now Carl Dranoff is firmly on his way to becoming the boss of South Broad Street. Dranoff conquered two key corners there during the boom years, with the pink-hued Symphony House at Pine Street and the deco-inspired 777 at Fitzwater, and has plans for a development at Spruce Street.

When the Kimmel Center was built at Broad and Spruce Streets in 2001, the city decided to sell off the parcel it controlled at Broad and Pine Streets. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., which owned the land on behalf of the city, put it up for bid and selected developer Carl Dranoff, who wanted to re-create the romance and glamor of the 1920s, when South Broad Street was at its height as the financial and cultural epicenter of the city. Tonight, Dranoff will unveil the project that has been five years in the making: Symphony House on the Avenue of the Arts.

Except to those who resolutely averted their eyes during construction, it won't come as news that Symphony House is the ugliest new condo building in Philadelphia. The 32-story mixed-use tower flounces onto venerable South Broad Street like a sequined and over-rouged strumpet. Sheathed in a sickly shade of pink concrete, the building resembles, as one blogger wittily observed, a giant Pepto-Bismol bottle. If only it were possible to look away! When architecture is this bad, it's all too easy to pile on, or move on. But the lessons Philadelphia takes away from Symphony House will determine what shape this aspiring "Next Great City" assumes in the 21st century.

There's been a situation brewing on Broad Street - excuse me, make that the Avenue of the Arts. Amid the beautiful Kimmel Center and the welcoming Suzanne Roberts Theater, ugly has surfaced. No, I'm not talking about that towering monstrosity, Symphony House, which my colleague, architecture critic Inga Saffron, called "the ugliest new condo building in Philadelphia" when it opened three years ago. I'm talking about a different kind of ugly. Because for more than two years, the 32-story Symphony House, the new kid on the block, has been embroiled in a pitched battle with the venerable Jamaican Jerk Hut, the popular eatery two blocks away that has been a South Street mainstay for more than 20 years.

When the Kimmel Center was built at Broad and Spruce Streets in 2001, the city decided to sell off the parcel it controlled at Broad and Pine Streets. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., which owned the land on behalf of the city, put it up for bid and selected developer Carl Dranoff, who wanted to re-create the romance and glamor of the 1920s, when South Broad Street was at its height as the financial and cultural epicenter of the city. Tonight, Dranoff will unveil the project that has been five years in the making: Symphony House on the Avenue of the Arts.

Who says there's a pent-up demand for luxury condos in Center City? Carl E. Dranoff. A week before the sales office opened for his 31-story Symphony House at Broad and Pine Streets, Dranoff says, he had already sold 45 of the building's 163 condominiums - though they won't be ready for at least 22 months. These decisions to spend between $458,000 and more than $1.4 million were based on pictures and drawings and a five-minute video shown at the Dranoff Properties office in University City that focuses as much on the neighborhood - the Kimmel Center is 100 steps from the high-rise's front entrance - as it does on Symphony House's art-deco style.

It was the quintessential Philadelphia neighborhood story. Even more delicious than the flavorful meatballs handmade by Gabe Marabella or the chicken and mango salsa served up by Lisa Wilson was the friendship that developed between the two small-business owners, who on paper were supposed to be adversaries. The story began during a Welcome America event at Penn's Landing last month. Marabella, the legendary meatball maker, found himself operating a vending stand right next to Wilson, owner of the Jamaican Jerk Hut. You know the Marabella name.

I awoke this morning to discover that my company had joined the ranks of some of the greatest architects and developers in America who have been criticized by Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron ("Nightmare on Broad Street," Oct. 26). Many great buildings, including our own City Hall and Art Museum, faced severe criticism when first unveiled, but Saffron's review of Symphony House went beyond criticism. It was a one-sided, mean-spirited, malicious rant. Am I to imagine that all of the many sophisticated buyers at Symphony House have bad taste?

I am definitely a classical music lover. I subscribe to the Philadelphia Orchestra, the family concerts, and the chamber music series. However, I feel that the objections to the outdoor music at the Jamaican Jerk Hut by residents of Symphony House and other nearby buildings are very much out of line ("Disharmony on Avenue of the Arts," Friday). This business was operating for many years before the Symphony House was built. The complaints remind me of the people who purchase a new home near railroad tracks, or a busy shopping area, and then complain about the noise or the traffic.

The Borders Group said Friday it would close its 26,000-square-foot store at the corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets - a prime piece of Center City real estate - in May as the Ann Arbor, Mich., bookstore chain struggles with Chapter 11 reorganization. The store is one of 225 nationwide that Borders will close. Outlets in North Wales, King of Prussia, and Langhorne also will be shuttered, the company said. The first wave of closures was announced Feb. 17. Borders spokeswoman Rosalind Thompson said Friday that Borders had been given some time to "work with landlords on obtaining concessions on rent," but the company had been unsuccessful in doing so for the Center City store.

Here are some of architecture critic Inga Saffron's blog posts from the last week. You can see others at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/changing-skyline . Workplace squatters at Glaxo I went down to the Philadelphia Navy Yard yesterday [March 21] to take a look at the architecture of the new GlaxoSmithKline building, but what really caught my eye were the desks, er, workspaces. Glaxo's new offices are organized around the concept of hoteling, where employees aren't assigned their own desk or cubicle.

Osage Partners of Philadelphia, Greycroft Partners of Los Angeles, and MissionOG of Devon, say they have invested $3.2 million in Center City-based PeopleLinx , a firm that helps companies give their workers' LinkedIn accounts a standard corporate look and uses LinkedIn data to boost sales. PeopleLinx, which counts FMC Corp. , Firstrust Bank and Prudential among its clients, was set up by LinkedIn veterans Nathan Egan and Patrick Baynes . It will use the new cash to add to its staff of 13 full-time employees and about 25 contractors, says Egan, a Cornell grad and onetime specialty chemical salesman.

Developer Carl Dranoff came late to bicycling. Growing up in Philadelphia's Oxford Circle, no one rode bikes, he says. They walked to school and afterward hit the basketball courts for exercise. Dranoff didn't get on a bicycle until it became a matter of pride: His young daughter was learning to ride a two-wheeler. Why couldn't daddy? He was 35 at the time. Now 63, Dranoff still isn't exactly steady on a bicycle, even when he's pedaling one of the porker-class Dutch models that belong to his company's new bike-sharing program.

OK, this is really getting ridiculous. When last we polished off a plate of oxtails at the Jamaican Jerk Hut, the venerable Caribbean eatery at 15th and South, owner Lisa Wilson was still waging a David-and-Goliath battle with residents of Symphony House, a 32-story luxury condominium complex at Broad and Spruce. Never mind that the Zoning Board of Adjustment and Common Pleas Court had both ruled in the Jerk Hut's favor: Namely, that Wilson could play live reggae music for her customers on the lot next to the restaurant on weekends in spring and summer.

It was the quintessential Philadelphia neighborhood story. Even more delicious than the flavorful meatballs handmade by Gabe Marabella or the chicken and mango salsa served up by Lisa Wilson was the friendship that developed between the two small-business owners, who on paper were supposed to be adversaries. The story began during a Welcome America event at Penn's Landing last month. Marabella, the legendary meatball maker, found himself operating a vending stand right next to Wilson, owner of the Jamaican Jerk Hut. You know the Marabella name.

When Philadelphia's big real estate developers find a neighborhood they like, they really dig in. Bart Blatstein has made himself the virtual lord of Northern Liberties with factory-style lofts and hip hangouts. Now Carl Dranoff is firmly on his way to becoming the boss of South Broad Street. Dranoff conquered two key corners there during the boom years, with the pink-hued Symphony House at Pine Street and the deco-inspired 777 at Fitzwater, and has plans for a development at Spruce Street.

Nine months after winning the seventh season of Bravo's Top Chef , Kevin Sbraga has signed a lease for his own restaurant. The upscale casual Sbraga is pegged for this fall at 440 S. Broad St., in the Symphony House space at the corner of Broad and Pine Streets that last housed Chew Man Chu. "I call it a personal rendition of American food," says Sbraga, who lives in the Willingboro house in which he grew up. "I learned during ...

The developer of the Victor Lofts apartment building on the Camden waterfront has put off repayment of a $3 million loan to the Delaware River Port Authority because he's short on cash. The agency lent $3 million to Victor Associates in 2003, interest-free until 2009. The money was part of a $52 million financing package assembled by developer Carl E. Dranoff to convert the historic RCA Victor "Nipper Building" into 341 upscale apartments overlooking the Delaware River and the Philadelphia skyline.

The Borders Group said Friday it would close its 26,000-square-foot store at the corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets - a prime piece of Center City real estate - in May as the Ann Arbor, Mich., bookstore chain struggles with Chapter 11 reorganization. The store is one of 225 nationwide that Borders will close. Outlets in North Wales, King of Prussia, and Langhorne also will be shuttered, the company said. The first wave of closures was announced Feb. 17. Borders spokeswoman Rosalind Thompson said Friday that Borders had been given some time to "work with landlords on obtaining concessions on rent," but the company had been unsuccessful in doing so for the Center City store.

Blue skies and a high of 62 degrees on Feb. 14 were hardly what one would have expected this winter, but they were definitely a treat for Marianne Harris. As director of sales, leasing, and marketing for Dranoff Properties, Harris and her boss, Carl Dranoff, had chosen that day for "the first annual Valentine's Day Progressive Luncheon," to show the developer's buildings in Center City and University City. "I can't believe how lucky we were," she said at the front door of 777 South Broad, Dranoff's newest luxury rental building, which opened March 25. Inside, real estate agents and brokers, many from Main Line offices, dined on bow-tie and tortellini pasta prepared to order, then toured the models, common areas, and fitness and storage facilities.