170 S Independence Mall W

Where 170 S Independence Mall W 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 1,334 ft of exterior wall, and across 11 residential floors the building carries 14,673 ft of it in total, divided among the 476 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.67: 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 43.3 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 170 S Independence Mall W scores 18 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 6, Interior depth 0, Scale 100, Finance 0 — each out of 100, then weighted.

Most of what it earns comes from scale, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 0 out of 100: deepest interior point 121 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.

Built in 1911

Philadelphia records this building as going up in 1911, which puts it in the pre-1920 stock.

As a rule, the era that converts most readily: load-bearing masonry, small floor plates laid out before deep-plan offices were possible, operable windows and generous floor-to-floor heights. The usual obstacles are not daylight but hazardous materials, lifts and bringing structure up to current code. 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 43% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$360 per square foot all-in across 1,041,645 sq ft of converted floor, or $375.0M in total — about $788K for each of the 476 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 594,970 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 476 homes is $93.6M.

What would have to be true

A $281.4M gap before any grant, $271.4M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 74% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $281.4M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 476 homes finishing at $788K rather than the $197K the model assumes — 301% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $90 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $767K a home. That is still above the $197K assumed, leaving $271.4M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 170 S Independence Mall W, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 170 S Independence Mall W re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Center City Philadelphia

170 S Independence Mall W ranks 101st of the 103 buildings screened here, against a median score of 67.

Its floor plate is better lit than 3% of them, and shallower than 3% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 26th 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

64th of 65 zoned CMX5 — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.

65 of the screened buildings are zoned CMX5. 170 S Independence Mall W ranks 64th 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 121 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: 2400 Market St

The screened building closest to 170 S Independence Mall W in converted floor area is 2400 Market St: 844,797 sq ft over 11 stories, against 1,041,645 sq ft over 12 here.

170 S Independence Mall W scores 18 to its 25, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 6 out of 100 here, 22 there (51% 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 7,900 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 170 S Independence Mall W $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 170 S Independence Mall W

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 250 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 105 S 7th St
  4 stories · 63% daylit · 66 estimated homes · scores 33/100 (Marginal)
  about 250 ft away
• 700 Chestnut St
  6 stories · 100% daylit · 36 estimated homes · scores 83/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 410 ft away
• 508 Walnut St
  20 stories · 48% daylit · 712 estimated homes · scores 23/100 (Unlikely)
  about 490 ft away
• 615 Chestnut St
  17 stories · 59% daylit · 466 estimated homes · scores 36/100 (Marginal)
  about 520 ft away