2301 Chestnut St
2301 Chestnut St is a 4-story building in Center City Philadelphia with 78% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 62 homes and scores it 63 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
PA-2 & PA-3 · Screened 2026-09-15 · Worth a feasibility study
Where 2301 Chestnut St is
Its block in Center City Philadelphia, drawn from Philadelphia's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 2301 Chestnut St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 5,578 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 3 residential floors that is 16,733 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 2301 Chestnut St, 2026-09-15.
| Suitability scoreWorth a feasibility study | 63 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 76 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 4 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 25,107 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 78% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 51 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 5,578 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 62 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 75,322 sq ft | $27.1M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $14.9M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $3.7M |
| BuiltPhiladelphia's own record of the construction year | 1920 |
| ZoningCenter City Philadelphia | CMX4 |
| 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 707 ft of exterior wall, and across 3 residential floors the building carries 2,121 ft of it in total, divided among the 62 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.63: 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 20.7 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 2301 Chestnut St scores 63 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 76, Interior depth 73, Scale 41, Finance 31 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 2301 Chestnut St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency78% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 76 | 45% | 34.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 51 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 73 | 25% | 18.3 |
| Scale62 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 41 | 15% | 6.2 |
| Financeremaining gap is 41% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 31 | 15% | 4.7 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is finance, at 31 out of 100: remaining gap is 41% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%.
Built in 1920
Philadelphia records this building as going up in 1920, which puts it in the interwar stock.
As a rule, steel or concrete frames with punched windows and plates still narrow enough for daylight to reach the middle, often with high ceilings. Among the most convertible stock there is, and the reason so many early conversions were of buildings this age. 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 78% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 75,322 sq ft of converted floor, or $27.1M in total — about $437K for each of the 62 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 2301 Chestnut St: 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 16,733 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 62 homes is $12.2M.
What would have to be true
A $14.9M gap before any grant, $11.2M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 41% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $14.9M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 62 homes finishing at $437K rather than the $197K the model assumes — 122% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $162 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $3.7M moves that threshold to $377K a home. That is still above the $197K assumed, leaving $11.2M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 2301 Chestnut St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 2301 Chestnut St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 41% downto 442 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Conversion cost per square foot | 57% downto $111/sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 92% upto $377K |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 2301 Chestnut St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Center City Philadelphia
2301 Chestnut St ranks 54th of the 103 buildings screened here, against a median score of 67.
Its floor plate is better lit than 48% of them, and shallower than 60% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 79th 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
7th of 15 zoned CMX4 — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
15 of the screened buildings are zoned CMX4. 2301 Chestnut St ranks 7th 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 51 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: 1326 Chestnut St
The screened building closest to 2301 Chestnut St in converted floor area is 1326 Chestnut St: 71,663 sq ft over 8 stories, against 75,322 sq ft over 4 here.
2301 Chestnut St scores 63 to its 87, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 76 out of 100 here, 100 there (100% 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 4,500 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 2301 Chestnut St $3.7M, 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 2301 Chestnut St
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.
- 2300 Chestnut St4 stories · 85% daylit · 54 estimated homes · scores 72/100 (Strong candidate)about 170 ft away
- 2213 Chestnut St5 stories · 87% daylit · 45 estimated homes · scores 71/100 (Strong candidate)about 260 ft away
- 2400 Market St11 stories · 51% daylit · 460 estimated homes · scores 25/100 (Unlikely)about 300 ft away
- 2401 Walnut St8 stories · 80% daylit · 117 estimated homes · scores 70/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 620 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.