Constitution Court is Too Tall, Construction Put On Hold

Constitution Court, the large residential project on the corner of 3rd and Reed Sts., has exceeded the height variance. Construction has ceased until the structure is in compliance with original height. Basically, it's too tall and needs to be under forty-four feet tall.

After the first corner unit had seemingly been built in the blink of an eye, people in the neighborhood have been wondering why the construction at Constitution Court had stopped. It's especially noticeable since the two larger projects on 2nd Street have been steaming ahead as planned. L&I issued stop work order in October due to exceeding the maximum height listed in the original zoning variance.

Here are the renderings of what Constitution Court is supposed to look like:

Corner of 3rd and Reed Sts. (via The Philadelphia Real Estate Blog)

Here is what it currently looks like:

From Moyamensing on Reed Street (Photo by Tug Haines)

Foundations Poured on Reed Street (Photo by Tug Haines)

You may remember that this is the former site of Saint John the Evangelist, an Episcopal Church dating back to 1867. A lengthy demolition started in May and continued throughout the summer. Neighbors and preservationists lamented the fact that the church couldn't part of an adaptive re-use project that incorporated nearly 150 year old building. Apparently, Harman Deutsch looked in to it.

From The Philadelphia Real Estate Blog:

"The townhouses will go up at the site of a beloved community church. Harman Deutsch Architecture, which designed this development, did look into saving the church, but determined it would be far too expensive to do so. This included structural issues with the south wall and an antiquated interior."

Whether because of human error or Divine Intervention, Constitution Court sits until the height requirement is met once again. We'll keep you posted whenever more information becomes available.

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Shout out to Tug Haines for snapping these pictures -- great work!

Also, thanks to both the tipsters and inquiring minds for the information on this story. I hope you found this information helpful.

Lastly, Hidden City took a look inside Saint John's the Evangelist in May - it's worth a look if you have a minute, the pictures are incredible.

PS -- Thursday, December 12th is the LAST day to take the "Pennsporter Survey of Awesome" and a chance to win two VIP Passes to Waterfront Winterfest at Penn's Landing. 
Hit the link to take the survey: http://pennsporter.blogspot.com/2013/12/pennsporter-survey-of-awesomewaterfront.html