rittenhouse square

Another luxury condo project could be headed for foreclosure. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the senior lender for the 10 Rittenhouse Square condo project is seeking to foreclose on it and put it in receivership. The 33-story project has 135 condominiums priced from $600,000 to $15 million as well as retail and restaurants space. So far a total of 41 units have either been sold or are under contract with another five currently in negotiation. The luxury building has a 24-hour doorman service, a concierge, indoor pool, fitness center, garden area, guest suite and other amenities. The units have massive windows with city views, high ceilings, hardwood floors, and private balconies and terraces.

Istar Tara L.L.C., of New York originally had about $251 million in two loans but with recent sales that number is closer to $190 million. The project's mezzanine lender, Delaware Valley Real Estate Investment Fund, which has $57 million invested in the project, sued Istar back in July and its subsidiary, Rittenhouse Pension Investors L.L.C., assumed management of 10 Rittenhouse from developer ARCWheeler Inc. Istar Tara appears to be in major trouble and might see bankruptcy protection. It has a total of $8.6 billion in debt.

Istar also was the senior lender for another Philadelphia-area project, Aria, which then went into receivership, but eventually was revived when a new investor GoldOller Aria Associates of Philadelphia bought the unsold units and commercial space at a sheriff's sale in November.

A few weeks ago I mentioned the rise in luxury condominiums in Philadelphia. One of the most lavish is 1706 Rittenhouse Square. This new 32-story glass tower has 29 full floor units, wide open apartments with floor to ceiling windows, 10 ft. ceilings and two terraces for each unit. Each unit has over 4100 square feet of customizable space. Amenities include a fitness center with sauna, massage rooms, endless pool, private boardroom and garden. The unit price also includes an onsite parking space in the fully automated underground garage that will store cars underground on a rock system, and retrieve cars by swiping a card reader in the passenger elevator. Unit prices vary based on floor level with unit #2901 listed at $6,849,085 while unit #4 is listed at $4,180,850.