Parkway Unveils Exclusive Residences … With Automated Parking

December, 2008

Parkway Corp. and partner Scannapieco Development Corp. recently unveiled plans for what they call Philadelphia’s most exclusive residential condominium – 1706 Rittenhouse Square Street – at a celebratory groundbreaking at The Rittenhouse Hotel.
The developers, joined by more than 250 Philadelphians and dignitaries – including Mayor Michael Nutter, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, State House Majority Leader Dwight Evans and City Council President Anna Verna – shared details of the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood’s newest luxury offering.
The condominium high-rise will offer the region’s first high-tech, fully automated underground parking system, which will provide convenient access to vehicles while mitigating the need for a street-level parking garage or valet.
With a swipe of a resident’s ID card, a car will be identified, mechanically moved and parked underground without anyone ever touching the vehicle. Likewise, when the vehicle is retrieved, the car will be presented in the proper direction so that the resident will need only to get in and drive out.
“The European-designed parking system will automatically lower your car on lifts, move it along rails and store it in the below-grade automobile storage area,” the developers said. “When you want your car again, the automated retrieval process is initiated by you as you enter the passenger elevator. As you exit the elevator, your car is waiting, as if by magic.
“There are no attendants, no mysterious dings or dents, and no one ever enters or drives your car except you. Finally, the perfect urban parking solution.”
Currently under construction and expected to be ready for occupancy in spring 2010, 1706 Rittenhouse Square Street will house 29 residences in a 31-story building. All condos will maintain oversized window walls and expansive terraces; have unobstructed skyline panoramic views; and offer owners the option to fully customize floor plans.
Prices start at $4 million, and to date, 40% of all units are sold.
“I dreamed of building something exquisite on this site ever since we bought it and turned it into a parking lot in the 1950s,” said Joe Zuritsky, Parkway CEO, at the celebratory groundbreaking. “I’m thrilled to be here today showing the next great development coming to Rittenhouse Square and Center City Philadelphia.”
Parkway and Scannapieco hired Gerald Cope and David Ertz of internationally acclaimed Cope Linder Architects as architects of record. The firm is renowned for its work on upscale high-rise developments. Construction is being managed by L.F. Driscoll Co., with whom the developers have had a long and successful relationship.