101 N Independence Mall E

Where 101 N Independence Mall E is

Its block in Center City Philadelphia, drawn from Philadelphia's own building outlines and street centerlines.

The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm

31 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.

The typical floor has 1,016 ft of exterior wall, and across 10 residential floors the building carries 10,160 ft of it in total, divided among the 327 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.60: a squarish plan, with enough perimeter for a conventional double-loaded corridor. How window line and plate shape are measured.

At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 32.7 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 101 N Independence Mall E scores 46 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 45, Interior depth 39, Scale 100, Finance 4 — each out of 100, then weighted.

Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is finance, at 4 out of 100: remaining gap is 58% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%.

Built in 1973

Philadelphia records this building as going up in 1973, which puts it in the late-modern stock.

As a rule, typically the hardest to convert: the deepest plates of any era, large central cores, and floor-to-floor heights tight enough that running residential drainage under a ceiling can be the thing that ends a project. That is the era’s general tendency rather than a finding about this building — the model reads an outline and a height, and can see nothing inside — but it is the first thing an architect would want to know, and it colours how much confidence the 63% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$360 per square foot all-in across 488,820 sq ft of converted floor, or $176.0M in total — about $538K for each of the 327 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 182,232 sq ft of windowless core, which has to be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered like the rest of the building and then earns nothing. Against it the model sets a completed value of $197K a home, which for 327 homes is $64.3M.

What would have to be true

A $111.7M gap before any grant, $101.7M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 61% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $111.7M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 327 homes finishing at $538K rather than the $197K the model assumes — 174% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $132 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $508K a home. That is still above the $197K assumed, leaving $101.7M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 101 N Independence Mall E, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 101 N Independence Mall E re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Center City Philadelphia

101 N Independence Mall E ranks 70th of the 103 buildings screened here, against a median score of 67.

Its floor plate is better lit than 19% of them, and shallower than 38% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 37th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 103 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.

Within the CMX4 zone

9th of 15 zoned CMX4 — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.

15 of the screened buildings are zoned CMX4. 101 N Independence Mall E ranks 9th of them against a median score of 58. 5 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 64 ft from a facade against this building’s 64 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 4,016 homes. The group’s top scorer is 901 Arch St, at 84.

Its nearest match in size: 819 Chestnut St

The screened building closest to 101 N Independence Mall E in converted floor area is 819 Chestnut St: 454,742 sq ft over 12 stories, against 488,820 sq ft over 11 here.

101 N Independence Mall E scores 46 and 819 Chestnut St only 32, and the difference is a hard fail rather than a matter of degree: the lower one is capped at 35 because its deepest interior point is 89 ft from a facade, past the 80 ft threshold beyond which conversion requires carving a light well. On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 2,000 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 101 N Independence Mall E $10.0M, on the assumption it qualifies. Whether it does, no published dataset can say.

That figure assumes the building meets the Act’s vacant-and-abandoned test, which turns on code-enforcement and receivership records no city publishes.

It does not sit in a 2018 designated Opportunity Zone, so it would not draw that Section 201 priority.

Other buildings screened near 101 N Independence Mall E

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 350 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 399 Market St
  5 stories · 67% daylit · 80 estimated homes · scores 40/100 (Marginal)
  about 350 ft away
• 330 Market St
  4 stories · 77% daylit · 45 estimated homes · scores 53/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 390 ft away
• 325 Chestnut St
  13 stories · 87% daylit · 211 estimated homes · scores 80/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 650 ft away
• 100 S Independence Mall W
  9 stories · 56% daylit · 229 estimated homes · scores 30/100 (Unlikely)
  about 860 ft away