1600 John F Kennedy Blvd
1600 John F Kennedy Blvd is a 20-story building in Center City Philadelphia with 75% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 414 homes and scores it 61 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
PA-2 & PA-3 · Screened 2026-09-15 · Worth a feasibility study
Also addressed as 1602 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1604 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1606 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1608 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1610 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1612 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1614 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1616 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1618 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1620 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1622 John F Kennedy Blvd, 1624 John F Kennedy Blvd and 1626 John F Kennedy Blvd: Philadelphia’s address records place all 14 on this one footprint.
Where 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd is
Its block in Center City Philadelphia, drawn from Philadelphia's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 6,976 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 19 residential floors that is 132,540 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd, 2026-09-15.
| Suitability scoreWorth a feasibility study | 61 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 275 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 20 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 27,423 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 75% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 60 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 6,976 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 414 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 521,031 sq ft | $187.6M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $106.1M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltPhiladelphia's own record of the construction year | 1966 |
| ZoningCenter City Philadelphia | CMX5 |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
34 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 743 ft of exterior wall, and across 19 residential floors the building carries 14,111 ft of it in total, divided among the 414 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.62: 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 21.8 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd scores 61 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 69, Interior depth 51, Scale 100, Finance 15 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency75% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 69 | 45% | 31.1 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 60 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 51 | 25% | 12.7 |
| Scale414 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 51% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 15 | 15% | 2.2 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is finance, at 15 out of 100: remaining gap is 51% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%.
Built in 1966
Philadelphia records this building as going up in 1966, which puts it in the post-war stock.
As a rule, the period when plates got deep and facades became curtain wall: sealed glazing, lower floor-to-floor heights, and mechanical systems designed around a sealed box. Conversions here usually turn on whether the windows can be made to open and whether ceilings survive new plumbing. 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 75% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 521,031 sq ft of converted floor, or $187.6M in total — about $453K for each of the 414 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd: base cost plus the code work a change of use triggers.
| Base conversion cost | $260/sq ft |
|---|---|
| Plumbing risers to every unit | $40/sq ft |
| Operable windows and glazing | $30/sq ft |
| Additional egress stair | $18/sq ft |
| Fire sprinklers (NFPA 13R) | $12/sq ft |
| All-in | $360/sq ft |
That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 132,540 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 414 homes is $81.4M.
What would have to be true
A $106.1M gap before any grant, $96.1M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 54% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $106.1M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 414 homes finishing at $453K rather than the $197K the model assumes — 130% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $156 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $429K a home. That is still above the $197K assumed, leaving $96.1M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 54% downto 344 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Conversion cost per square foot | 71% downto $75/sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 118% upto $429K |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Center City Philadelphia
1600 John F Kennedy Blvd ranks 57th of the 103 buildings screened here, against a median score of 67.
Its floor plate is better lit than 42% of them, and shallower than 47% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 34th 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 CMX5 zone
35th of 65 zoned CMX5 — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
65 of the screened buildings are zoned CMX5. 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd ranks 35th of them against a median score of 67. 28 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 58 ft from a facade against this building’s 60 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 30,650 homes. The group’s top scorer is 112 N Broad St, at 93.
Its nearest match in size: 1500 John F Kennedy Blvd
The screened building closest to 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd in converted floor area is 1500 John F Kennedy Blvd: 510,948 sq ft over 20 stories, against 521,031 sq ft over 20 here.
1600 John F Kennedy Blvd scores 61 to its 69, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 69 out of 100 here, 78 there (79% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90%). On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 400 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd $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 1600 John F Kennedy Blvd
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 170 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 1601 Market St36 stories · 74% daylit · 702 estimated homes · scores 61/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 170 ft away
- 1628 John F Kennedy Blvd23 stories · 90% daylit · 246 estimated homes · scores 88/100 (Strong candidate)about 210 ft away
- 1601 John F Kennedy Blvd28 stories · 68% daylit · 912 estimated homes · scores 55/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 220 ft away
- 1625 Market St19 stories · 81% daylit · 270 estimated homes · scores 67/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 260 ft away
A screen, not a feasibility study, from outlines and heights rather than plans: the method and how to correct a figure. If you know this building’s interior, you know what this model cannot see.