Some 'Hub' apartments to open this summer

Construction is proceeding smoothly on a development that will add a large amount of living space to the area near 40th and Chestnut streets.

Project officials expect the new "Hub" apartment complex to have 70 new apartments available by August.

The $23 million complex will house seven floors of apartments above three floors of retail space, Assistant Project Manager Esaul Sanchez said.

The building will have 101 apartment units available for lease by October, according to Bob Hoe, a member of Teres Holdings LLC, the developer for project.

Studio apartment leases are available starting at $595 per month, with one-bedroom apartment leases starting at $875 and two-bedroom leases starting at $1,225.

Teres Holdings is currently in talks with a number of restaurants to fill unleased retail space in the building. Hoe said that he would like to bring "international flavor" to the location with a Mexican, Spanish, Italian or Chinese restaurant.

"We have chosen our name as 'the Hub' to signify something -- we hope that this will really be a hub of activity and destination along 40th Street," Hoe said. "We hope that we'll be able to connect our residential tenants to the retailers in our building and to the other community retailers that are out there."

Sanchez said that the University's decision to lease the land to an outside developer rather than develop it itself let Penn increase living space near campus without spending its own money.

"Using other people to develop real estate is a very smart way to keep academic dollars in the University," Sanchez said. "Teres Holdings also benefits because they operate the building for, say, 50 years, and they will make a profit from running the building."

Penn Director of Real Estate Development Paul Sehnert said that Teres Holdings was able to obtain a tax break from the federal government, which the University would not have been able to get had it developed the project on its own.

Hoe estimated that the tax credit has cut the cost of construction by $4 million.

Teres Holdings also benefits from the leasing agreement, he said, because it would not otherwise have had access to land so close to Penn's campus.

"If we had to buy the property, we might have had to buy land six or seven blocks away, since the University bought most of the land [surrounding the campus] several years ago," he said.

Sanchez added that the apartment complex is part of the University's "master plan" to return the housing between 40th and 43rd streets and Baltimore and Chestnut streets from Penn students to single families.

Local organizations are excited about the project.

"I think it's just what we need in that area," said Matt Wolfe, a member of the Friends of 40th Street Steering Committee, which oversees the development of real estate on 40th Street. "We need to upgrade the retail."

An open house will be held at the Hub in April.

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