Dwight City Group plans almost 300 units for former Hahnemann University Hospital campus

Almost five months after placing its initial $16.25 million offer on a collection of former Hahnemann University Hospital buildings, Dwight City Group’s bid was finally approved last week.

Despite the auction’s delay from its original date in July, there were no other bidders, and the sale is expected to close before year’s end.

Dwight City Group’s new properties include the two long-empty patient towers at Broad and Race Streets. The developer plans 288 apartments with amenities, such as a shared working space and a lounge. Parking will be offered in a neighboring garage and surface lot. One- and two-bedroom units are planned for the site.

“We stick with middle market apartments, not super high end,” said Judah Angster, the Dwight Group’s CEO. “We like to believe that there’s a lot of space for affordable luxury product in the area. That’s the only thing we do.”

Angster cautioned that the redevelopment of the former Hahnemann buildings will be a slow process and that the building may not be leased up until close to 2030.

Environmental remediation alone could take a year, as asbestos has to be cleared out. Construction would take at least a year and a half, and filling the building could take as much time due to the large number of units.

When Dwight Group’s interest first became public in May, Angster described potential plans for both hotel and commercial operations in the building as well.

Now he de-emphasizes those aspects, saying it will likely not be a full-service hotel. And although Dwight Group is still exploring commercial options for the ground floor, that could prove difficult as well.

“We’ve had a few commercial brokers walk through ground-floor space on the north and south tower and thus far, they’ve not been optimistic,” Angster said. “They feel that it’s a very busy street facing Vine, which is the challenge.”

The Hahnemann acquisition will be Dwight Group’s second major Center City project. Earlier this year the company obtained 84-unit Anderson Hall, a former University of the Arts building on South Broad Street.

Before that, the New York-based company, which also has offices in Upper Darby, had been quietly expanding outside Philadelphia’s hottest housing markets and remaking historic buildings into apartment projects in working-class city neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs.

“It’s been a slow migration to get into Center City,” Angster said. “With the current pricing in Center City as attractive as it is, we just feel blessed that we’re able to do projects so close to the core CBD [central business district], which has always been our goal.”

Dwight Group’s acquisition is the first major movement on the former Hahnemann properties since 2021, when Iron Stone Real Estate Partners purchased the New College Building, which is used by Drexel University, and the former Bobst Building, now known as Race Street Labs.

The north and south towers that are being purchased by Dwight Group share some minor utilities, stairs for egress, and pathways with Iron Stone buildings.

Iron Stone is “very excited for their acquisition and plans for redevelopment,” said Andrew Einstein, a partner with Iron Stone. “They will create an anchor [at an] important corner of Center City right at the front door of the Convention Center.”

Iron Stone, Temple University, and Parkway Corp. all considered purchasing the Hahnemann buildings that Dwight is acquiring, but none decided to bid on them.

With Dwight’s acquisition of this last large bloc of Hahnemann properties, only Martinelli Park, across Vine Street from the north tower, is still available.

In July, the HOW Property Group bid $5.5 million for that last piece of Hahnemann property, but a later and lower offer from the company was not accepted.