The Alexander
1601 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA

Bringing Communities Together

Acting as a bridge between Center City and North Philadelphia, the 1601 Vine Street Mixed Use Development adjacent to the new Mormon Temple is a 483,000 square foot multi-unit residential complex with a 31-story residential cast in place concrete tower over a three-story podium and three levels of underground parking. The tower features 264 rental apartments ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. The podium includes 13 three-story townhouses and ground level retail space. Amenities include an indoor swimming pool, six green roofs, an observation deck and amenities terrace; fitness and business centers; and three levels of underground parking totaling 140,000 square feet.

A new mid-block street through the site between the Meetinghouse and the residential building allows access to the residential tower, provides important service functions for the meetinghouse and creates a pedestrian-friendly environment.

Structural challenges included designing the basement levels as a bathtub construction with rock anchors due to hydrostatic pressures from a shallow ground water table. Sloping columns, 5 ½-foot-deep transfer girders and 20 to 36” transfer slabs were used to align different column grids between the stacked residential, amenities, retail and parking layouts.  Post-tensioning was utilized in parking level slabs for additional durability and tower floors at the slab edges to stiffen for heavy loading due to pre-cast façade elements.

The Harman Group was the structural engineer and parking consultant on this project.

 

 

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