829 N American St
829 N American St is a 3-story building in Center City Philadelphia with 81% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 37 homes and scores it 60 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
PA-2 & PA-3 · Screened 2026-09-15 · Worth a feasibility study
Also addressed as 831 N American St, 833 N American St, 835 N American St, 837 N American St, 839 N American St, 841 N American St, 843 N American St, 845 N American St, 847 N American St, 849 N American St and 851 N American St: Philadelphia’s address records place all 12 on this one footprint.
Where 829 N American St is
Its block in Center City Philadelphia, drawn from Philadelphia's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 829 N American St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 4,064 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 2 residential floors that is 8,128 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 829 N American St, 2026-09-15.
| Suitability scoreWorth a feasibility study | 60 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 71 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 3 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 21,569 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 81% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 58 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 4,064 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 37 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 43,137 sq ft | $15.5M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $8.3M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $2.2M |
| BuiltPhiladelphia's own record of the construction year | 1965 |
| ZoningCenter City Philadelphia | CMX2.5 |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
37 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 678 ft of exterior wall, and across 2 residential floors the building carries 1,356 ft of it in total, divided among the 37 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.59: 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 18.5 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 829 N American St scores 60 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 82, Interior depth 55, Scale 25, Finance 35 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 829 N American St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency81% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 82 | 45% | 37.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 58 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 55 | 25% | 13.7 |
| Scale37 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 25 | 15% | 3.7 |
| Financeremaining gap is 39% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 35 | 15% | 5.3 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is scale, at 25 out of 100: 37 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150.
Built in 1965
Philadelphia records this building as going up in 1965, 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 81% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 43,137 sq ft of converted floor, or $15.5M in total — about $420K for each of the 37 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 829 N American 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 8,128 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 37 homes is $7.3M.
What would have to be true
A $8.3M gap before any grant, $6.0M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 39% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $8.3M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 37 homes finishing at $420K rather than the $197K the model assumes — 113% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $169 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $2.2M moves that threshold to $360K a home. That is still above the $197K assumed, leaving $6.0M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 829 N American St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 829 N American St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 39% downto 459 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Conversion cost per square foot | 54% downto $120/sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 83% upto $360K |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 829 N American St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Center City Philadelphia
829 N American St ranks 59th of the 103 buildings screened here, against a median score of 67.
Its floor plate is better lit than 52% of them, and shallower than 49% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 98th 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.
Its nearest match in size: 123 Chestnut St
The screened building closest to 829 N American St in converted floor area is 123 Chestnut St: 43,972 sq ft over 4 stories, against 43,137 sq ft over 3 here.
829 N American St scores 60 to its 73, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 82 out of 100 here, 96 there (88% 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 5,700 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 829 N American St $2.2M, 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 829 N American St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 1,300 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 1033 N 2nd St7 stories · 100% daylit · 40 estimated homes · scores 83/100 (Strong candidate)about 1,300 ft away
- 520 N Christopher Columbus Blvd8 stories · 69% daylit · 131 estimated homes · scores 42/100 (Marginal)about 1,840 ft away
- 461 N 3rd St5 stories · 100% daylit · 53 estimated homes · scores 84/100 (Strong candidate)about 1,950 ft away
- 441 N 5th St4 stories · 73% daylit · 48 estimated homes · scores 46/100 (Marginal)about 2,320 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.