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On the market: A contemporary home in Point Breeze for $799,000

The house, built in 2018, grew out of a dream and collaboration of Temple University roommates.

The floating staircase acts as a centerpiece through the home, extending into the finished basement.
The floating staircase acts as a centerpiece through the home, extending into the finished basement.Read moreWe Film Philly

Nick Giganti was a business major at Temple University with an interest in real estate, and his roommate, Gabriel Deck, was an architecture major, so the potential partnership was there from the start.

“I’m going to build my own house some day, and you’re going to design it for me,” Giganti recalls saying.

They were in the Class of 2006, and it took 12 years — long enough for Giganti to afford to buy and develop a vacant corner lot and Deck, now an established architect, to design it.

Giganti, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., had bought his first house in Point Breeze in 2009 because it was one of the few places he could afford. He fell in love with the neighborhood and persuaded his two brothers to move there, too.

His younger brother, a custom woodworker, helped with some of the wood finishes in the 3,000-square-foot second house, built in 2018. His father, a retired electrician, also came down from New York to pitch in.

But practicality has triumphed over sentiment. Giganti, now married with two small children, has decided that Glen Mills, Delaware County, would be a better place to raise them.

The three-bedroom, 3½-bath contemporary house has three roof-deck spaces with sweeping views of the city, plus a back yard with a garden.

The kitchen has high-end GE slate appliances, with custom walnut floating shelves, and quartz countertops.

The main level open-floor plan has a dining/living area with nine-foot ceilings. The second floor has two large bedrooms and a laundry room, and the third-floor primary suite has a sitting room, a bathroom with floating vanity, teak bench and walk-in shower, and soaking tub.

The roof deck has a pilot house with wet bar and 360-degree views of the city skyline and the stadiums, along with color-changing LED lights.

The floating staircase acts as a centerpiece through the home, extending into the finished basement.

“There are a lot of wood accents to keep it from being too sterile,” Giganti says, along with scratch-resistant walnut flooring throughout the home and a roll-up gate for parking.

There are six years left on the property tax abatement.

The house is listed by Nicholas Giganti of Keller Williams Philly for $799,000.