441 N 5th St
441 N 5th St is a 4-story building in Center City Philadelphia with 73% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 48 homes and scores it 46 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
PA-2 & PA-3 · Screened 2026-09-15 · Marginal
Also addressed as 443 N 5th St and 445 N 5th St: Philadelphia’s address records place all 3 on this one footprint.
Where 441 N 5th St is
Its block in Center City Philadelphia, drawn from Philadelphia's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 441 N 5th St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 5,442 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 16,325 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 441 N 5th St, 2026-09-15.
| Suitability scoreMarginal | 46 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 60 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 4 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 20,470 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 73% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 69 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 5,442 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 48 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 61,411 sq ft | $22.1M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $12.7M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $2.9M |
| BuiltPhiladelphia's own record of the construction year | 1930 |
| ZoningCenter City Philadelphia | CMX3 |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
35 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 565 ft of exterior wall, and across 3 residential floors the building carries 1,696 ft of it in total, divided among the 48 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is compact at 0.80: close to a square or a circle, the most efficient envelope an office can have and the least generous one for apartments: little perimeter to divide among homes. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 16.0 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 441 N 5th St scores 46 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 67, Interior depth 28, Scale 32, Finance 26 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 441 N 5th St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency73% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 67 | 45% | 30.1 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 69 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 28 | 25% | 6.9 |
| Scale48 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 32 | 15% | 4.8 |
| Financeremaining gap is 44% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 26 | 15% | 3.9 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is finance, at 26 out of 100: remaining gap is 44% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%.
Built in 1930
Philadelphia records this building as going up in 1930, 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 73% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 61,411 sq ft of converted floor, or $22.1M in total — about $461K for each of the 48 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 441 N 5th 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 16,325 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 48 homes is $9.4M.
What would have to be true
A $12.7M gap before any grant, $9.8M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 45% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $12.7M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 48 homes finishing at $461K rather than the $197K the model assumes — 134% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $154 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $2.9M moves that threshold to $401K a home. That is still above the $197K assumed, leaving $9.8M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 441 N 5th St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 441 N 5th St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 45% downto 415 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Conversion cost per square foot | 61% downto $101/sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 104% upto $401K |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 441 N 5th St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Center City Philadelphia
441 N 5th St ranks 71st of the 103 buildings screened here, against a median score of 67.
Its floor plate is better lit than 38% of them, and shallower than 35% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 84th 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 CMX3 zone
13th of 14 zoned CMX3 — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
14 of the screened buildings are zoned CMX3. 441 N 5th St ranks 13th of them against a median score of 73. 8 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 53 ft from a facade against this building’s 69 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 1,122 homes. The group’s top scorer is 461 N 3rd St, at 84.
Its nearest match in size: 2300 Chestnut St
The screened building closest to 441 N 5th St in converted floor area is 2300 Chestnut St: 60,687 sq ft over 4 stories, against 61,411 sq ft over 4 here.
441 N 5th St scores 46 to its 72, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 28 out of 100 here, 81 there (deepest interior point 48 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 9,300 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 441 N 5th St $2.9M, 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 441 N 5th St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 530 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 309 Callowhill St6 stories · 76% daylit · 146 estimated homes · scores 62/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 530 ft away
- 461 N 3rd St5 stories · 100% daylit · 53 estimated homes · scores 84/100 (Strong candidate)about 880 ft away
- 421 N 7th St7 stories · 85% daylit · 229 estimated homes · scores 79/100 (Strong candidate)about 890 ft away
- 417 N 8th St5 stories · 85% daylit · 103 estimated homes · scores 72/100 (Strong candidate)about 1,320 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.