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Developer plans 23-story residential tower in first phase of Philly Cathedral-property project

The tower would rise at the corner of 17th and Race Streets, displacing what’s now a vacant convent building and a parking lot.

Artist's rendering of residential tower planned for diocesan property beside the historic Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter & Paul in Center City.
Artist's rendering of residential tower planned for diocesan property beside the historic Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter & Paul in Center City.Read moreSolomon Cordwell Buenz

Exeter Property Group plans a 23-story reflective-glass residential tower beside the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter & Paul as a first phase of development at the Center City property.

The tower would rise at the corner of 17th and Race Streets, displacing what’s now a vacant convent building and a parking lot, according to a presentation posted this week to the website of the Philadelphia’s Civic Design Review board. The panel, which offers nonbinding suggestions on the Philadelphia’s biggest development proposals as part of the city’s building-approval process, is scheduled to consider the project Feb. 4.

The design is being presented more than three years after officials with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said they would begin seeking a developer to revamp the underutilized property around the historic cathedral.

The 245-foot-high building being proposed by Conshohocken-based Exeter, which was selected for the job, will have 273 dwelling units. The proposal also involves a landscaped public plaza around the structure.

A separate, 685-foot-high tower is planned as part of a later phase of development at the corner of 17th and Vine Streets, northwest of the cathedral. The CDR presentation did not indicate that proposed building’s use.