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Former Office Building at Broad & Spring Garden Rededicated as Rental Apartments

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A landmark Philadelphia building on North Broad Street has begun its new life.

What had loomed for decades at Broad and Spring Garden Street has been repurposed for another use.

"It was the former State Office Building, a 300,000-square-foot office building," says developer Bart Blatstein (at right in photo below), "and now it is a 204-luxury rental apartment building."

One- and two-bedroom units in the building are renting at about $2 per square foot per month.

clarke+blatstein _ost
(Philadelphia City Council president Darrell Clarke, left, and developer Bart Blatstein. Credit: John Ostapkovich)

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Tower Place, as it's called, is part of Blatstein's more than $1-billion commitment to North Broad Street, which already produced the Shops at Avenue North, near Temple, and includes plans for a new 20-story residential high-rise near Tower Place, and a casino in the former Inquirer building, if he can get the license.

Still, the big plans impress City Council president Darrell Clarke, whose councilmanic district includes that section of North Broad Street.

"North Broad used to be the stepsister, so to speak of South Broad -- you know, the Avenue of the Arts," Clarke said today.  "But North Broad is where it's at."

Blatstein says Tower Place is a transit-oriented development, right on major subway and bus routes.

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