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Two residential high-rises planned beside Quaker building in North Philly’s Poplar neighborhood

Other projects under development by Hightop include the Spruce Square apartments in West Philadelphia and Graduate Square in South Philadelphia.

Artist's rendering of residential high-rises planned in Poplar neighborhood, as seen from Eighth and Poplar Streets.
Artist's rendering of residential high-rises planned in Poplar neighborhood, as seen from Eighth and Poplar Streets.Read moreCoscia Moos Architects

An affiliate of Philadelphia-based Hightop Real Estate & Development, which is completing apartment and rowhouse projects throughout the city, has plans for a pair of residential high-rises in the city’s Poplar section, one of them covering most of a city block.

APOM Holdings LLC, which shares an address with Hightop, is scheduled to present plans for the 388-unit project at Ninth and Poplar Streets to the Philadelphia Civic Design Review board next month, according to the panel’s website.

APOM is also listed in documents posted to the board’s website as the beneficial owner of the 1.5 acre site, indicating that the Hightop-affiliate has a deal to buy the property from its current owner, developer Post Bros.

The Hightop-affiliate’s plans call for one 11-story structure that would span north from Poplar Street to cover most of the block between Darien and Ninth Streets. A second, narrower 11-story building would rise at Poplar Street between Darien and Eighth Streets.

Parking for residents would be underground and on the buildings’ first floors, although the first floors also would accommodate some retail spaces, according to the plans.

The development site sits just across Ninth Street, along which run elevated rail tracks from the 10-story industrial structure known as the Quaker building, which Post is converting into a 285-unit apartment building. The land under contract by the Hightop-affiliate had been acquired by Post in its deal for the Quaker property.

Other projects under development by Hightop include Spruce Square, a 21-unit apartment building in the West Philadelphia neighborhood of Spruce Hill, and Graduate Square, a 75-unit development at 25th Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, according to its website.

The plan is scheduled for a March 5 hearing before the Civic Design Review board, which offers suggestions on the city’s biggest development proposals as part of Philadelphia’s planning process.