Remodeling in Rittenhouse’s oldest high rise | Real Estate Newsletter
And ask a home builder.
How do you design a condo in a building known as the grande dame of Rittenhouse Square?
Mindy and Thaddeus Fortin basically had a blank canvas when they bought their condo in 1830 Rittenhouse Square in 2019. The home’s interior had been taken down to the studs, with dirt floors and crumbling brick walls.
Mindy wanted to turn the space into “a Parisian loft, chic and beautiful, but not overly polished,” the couple’s architect said.
She also wanted to highlight historical aspects of the building, which was built in 1912 and designed by a noted local architect.
Take a look inside the finished product and see how she realized her vision.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Ask a builder: Read what a local homebuilder told me when I asked him why construction is so expensive in Pennsylvania.
On second thought: Find out why U.S. homebuyers are walking away from contracts at a record rate, and why it’s a different story in our area.
Building up Broad: See what developer Carl Dranoff has planned at the former site of a McDonald’s near Broad and Christian.
From dreams to reality: Peek inside this Jersey Shore bungalow that a couple dreamed about for decades.
📮Are you living in the home of your dreams? How’d you make it a reality? Share your knowledge with readers by emailing me.
— Michaelle Bond
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When the Fortins moved from a smaller unit in 1830 Rittenhouse Square to their current 3,800-square-foot condo, they had a lot of room to play.
But the pandemic made realizing their vision for the space difficult, especially since their building wasn’t letting contractors in. Workers ended up climbing scaffolding and getting in through a window.
The Fortins mostly live in Florida and use their Philadelphia condo as a summer home and hosting space for family and friends and fundraising events.
Some of the home’s interesting features:
🪟 100 feet of windows that overlook Rittenhouse Square
🥘 a kitchen where the appliances and most of the shelves hide behind cabinet doors
💡 a roughly 34-inch wide Fortuny chandelier in the primary bedroom that’s mostly made of silk and a 60-inch wide Libertine chandelier in the living room that was handmade and includes hundreds of crystals
🍸 a bar and lounge at the entrance
Take a look inside the Fortins’ condo and learn more about their building — the first residential high rise on Rittenhouse Square.
Last week, I told you about a national report that found that in Pennsylvania, the typical new home costs more than double the price of the typical existing home.
Pennsylvania was one of only two states where this is the case.
This week, I bring you a conversation I had with a local homebuilder about why building in the state is so expensive.
Andrew Kaye’s got lots of experience. Some of his credentials:
He represents Pennsylvania at the National Association of Home Builders.
He’s a past president of both the Home Builders Association of Bucks & Montgomery Counties and the Pennsylvania Builders Association.
He’s spent almost four decades in the home-building industry and leads a residential development company that builds in the five-county Philadelphia region.
It didn’t surprise me that he named government regulation as one of the main drivers of development costs.
Read on to also see what he’s got to say about affordability and tariffs, and learn why he has hope that things could soon change for the better for Pennsylvania builders and homebuyers.
The latest news to pay attention to
U.S. homebuyers are walking away from contracts at a record rate. But it’s a different story in the Philly area.
L&I inspectors’ lax work put Philly workers and residents at risk, an investigation by the City Controller found.
Developer Carl Dranoff is planning to turn the site of a former McDonald’s near Broad and Christian into his latest residential high rise on the Avenue of the Arts.
A Philly real estate agent defrauded investors of $1.5 million, spending their money on gambling and personal expenses, federal prosecutors said.
A townhouse developer’s proposal to build a small memorial to the beloved Fishtown church St. Laurentius got scathing feedback from a city architectural Committee.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s regional headquarters is staying in Philly’s One Penn Center after DOGE threatened to close it.
Philly’s powerful building trades unions have turned against Pat Dugan as he runs against DA Larry Krasner as a Republican.
The struggling Fashion District has hired outside help to fill vacant storefronts.
House of the week: For $425,000 in Abington, a three-bedroom midcentury modern home near a SEPTA Regional Rail station.
Barbara and Roy Law had a shared dream of living in Longport, where they went on vacations with their families growing up.
They put that dream on hold for a while, spending two decades in their Egg Harbor Township home. But in 1996, they finally bought a bungalow in Longport.
It’s only 2½ blocks from the beach. And it’s a favorite hangout spot for the Laws’ two sons and their grandchildren.
The Laws have a two-level backyard with lots of plants and flowers and a koi pond. And they like to read and talk to neighbors from their shaded front porch.
Peek inside the Laws’ home to see the coffee table with embedded seashells that a surfer made for them and some of Roy’s collection of Bosson chalkware heads.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the location this photo shows?
📮 If you think you do, email me back.
I didn’t get any correct answers to last week’s quiz. It featured a photo of the Calm Your Mind series of nine outdoor silhouettes at Tilden Middle School in Southwest Philadelphia.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
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