Waterfront Square

Creating a Community

A new, upscale residential development is under way on the banks of the Delaware River near downtown Philadelphia. The first development in the area, Waterfront Square is setting the tone for future development.

When developer Koby Sufrin first visited the future site of his $250 million Waterfront Square residential development along the banks of the Delaware River, he overlooked the area's desolate nature and dilapidated buildings and saw great potential.

Waterfront Square's design aims to add another new look to the towers looming over Philadelphia's pseudo-historical, conservative architecture.

Apparently, people in Philadelphia share Sufrin's vision. Two-hundred and ninety-four of the first phase's 305 condominium units have been sold, and the buildings are barely out of the ground.

Located at the eastern edge of the Northern Liberties neighborhood and the northern edge of Penn's Landing, the development will include five residential towers with 800 to 900 units when fully built out in 2009.

Sitework and pile driving is currently under way on the first phase - a $100 million, two-tower development that includes a private landscaped park, parking garage and clubhouse with semi-Olympic swimming pool, gymnasium, sauna and massage rooms. The two towers - one 25 stories and the other 29 - will be completed in spring 2006 and are expected to trigger additional activity in an area unaccustomed to construction.

"In Philadelphia, there's not much waterfront development and no condominiums on the water," said Sufrin, whose development company, BSR Engineering and Development of Tel Aviv, Israel, has joined with Philadelphia's GSR Development to form the development firm, Isle of Capri, for this project. "We thought this was a great opportunity."

Breaking with Tradition

Since Waterfront Square is the first new building project in the area, architects were able to take great liberties defining its design and essentially setting the tone for future development.

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"Philadelphia, for the longest time, has had comfortable, pseudo-historical architecture that's fairly conservative," said Gil Rosenthal, principal in charge with the project's design firm, Wallace Roberts and Todd of Philadelphia. "We're just finally breaking out of that. This is sensitive to history but doesn't mimic it."

The towers are clad in a combination of window wall, cast-in-place concrete and precast panel systems. The structures are stepped back at intervals, creating a number of units that feature large terraces overlooking the water. A parking garage between the first two towers is topped with a landscaped park that is connected to the clubhouse via a skybridge.

Waterfront Square's riverfront location means it has no back side, which required architects to specifically address both the urban and waterfront elements of the site. The development's urban edge facing Penn Street features brick-colored precast at the ground level, consistent with the historic street. As the towers rise, however, the style becomes more modern.

On the side toward the water, the towers feature more glass windows to take advantage of river views.

Designers also sought to make the raw materials of the construction process define the buildings' architecture.

"Rather than try and imitate other buildings by adding cornices and ornamentation, we're taking advantage of the different construction issues," Rosenthal said.

Despite its close proximity to the water's edge, Waterfront Square's developers are seeking no zoning variances. All setbacks, building heights and open-space relationships meet the city's original code requirements.

"A lot of projects in Philadelphia are held up by owners trying to get variances," Rosenthal said. "There was just no need to put obstacles in our way."

Sitework Started

Work at the 9.5-acre site began in May with dynamic compaction to minimize future settlement. The site is a series of old piers that were connected with fill long ago. Beneath the surface are old concrete pier walls, dredged material from the river and pier foundations of metal "baskets" filled with stone and sunk into the river's bottom. Extensive soils and structural engineering studies were required to identify bearing and nonbearing areas for supports.

Workers conduct a piles load test on the Waterfront Square site.

Engineers suggested first drilling every pile location to the bedrock, then driving pipe piles into the drilled holes. This method is more costly and time consuming upfront but allows the construction manager to determine a finite price from the pile driver and minimize surprises.

Shoemaker Construction Co. of West Conshohocken, Pa., the construction manager as constructor, joined the project team the same time as the architect and had plenty of opportunity for input.

"We all sat down and thought through the design before the architect put too much down on paper," said John Bremner, executive vice president of Shoemaker.
This allowed builders considerable participation in the design process, and more important, the ability to offer value engineering and constructability input well before drawings were created.

For example, Shoemaker crews were able to meet the owner's request for an extensive window system but tailor that system to still be affordable, Bremner said.

Shoemaker brought window-wall subcontractors into the early discussions to brainstorm window sizes and systems. The architect also used input from the manufacturer before designing the windows.

What resulted was a system built in components and delivered to the site preglazed - meeting the owner's wishes and the architects' design intent while keeping costs down.

Getting to Know You

Waterfront Square is the Israeli owner's first venture in the United States. While BSR has been a successful developer in Tel Aviv for 40 years and has developed projects throughout central and eastern Europe, the American business world offers newcomers its own set of challenges.

"We had to go through a 'getting to know you' period," Bremner said of Shoemaker's early interactions with the Israeli developers. A known and respected developer on its home turf, BSR was used to being able to negotiate lump-sum contracts with its builders and subcontractors with early designs. Not so in the United States.

"We told them they'd have a tough time negotiating with some subs on a lump-sum basis," Bremner added. "Most trades are just not used to negotiating a lump-sum deal without seeing final drawings."

It didn't take long for the Israeli firm's leaders to become familiar with American construction practices.

"We have a very good team that makes my work easy," said Sufrin, himself an engineer. "We're very happy with our choice of design team and contractor. They give us the feeling that everything is going smoothly."

When complete, 80 percent of Waterfront Square's units will have water views. The upscale, gated community will offer its residents valet services and shuttles to nearby downtown Philadelphia. Waterfront Square's condominium homes range from $253,000 for a one-bedroom unit to more than $1.6 million for a 2,642-sq.-ft. penthouse suite.

Project Team
Owner: Isle of Capri, Philadelphia
Architect: Wallace Roberts and Todd, Philadelphia
Construction Manager as Constructor: Shoemaker Construction Co., West Conshohocken, Pa.