Congratulations and best of luck. Mandeville isn't being built on the adjacent lot , if it gets built it will go up between Walnut and Sansom. Eventually something will be built on the parking lot to the west of 2200 Arch but thats probably years away. What goes up on that lot will play a huge role in the value of your unit. There was talk of a Philaldephia company World Acquistions building a mini city all around you, several 60 story towers and an automated walking tramway across the river over to 30th street station. Sounds like a pipedream but sooner or later that lot will develop.

In the short term hopefully the Murano +23 will trigger the exodus of that skid row looking strip of xxx porn theaters on 22nd+Market.

If the builder only knocked 15k off of 500k (3%), then the condo market in CC is still very strong.

It was my understanding that there were multiple interested parties in that particular unit (coulda been bs, though). The price had dropped 30K a month ago. Either way, the builder was willing to walk...my broker even took a reduced fee to make it happen and meet my price ceiling.

Hi Kevin2007

I am buying a place there. I was wondering if you'd be willing to share any information on your experience with the building, Oren Brothers, overall management etc.

I'm excited but anxious.

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Congrats, staffinguru.

I just merged the two threads on Oren Brothers. I hope that doesn't cause any confusion.

I wanted to pull this post back up to the top and I would merge the current 2200 Arch thread in if I knew how, but I don't.

I am curious about your experiences (kevin 2007 and staffinguru and sgriffit) with the building. There has been lots of discussion on the city views and what is going on with the gym and retail space. My questions are more internal I guess, what are your likes and dislikes, how is the security of the building, have the Orens brothers stuck to their timelines of getting stuff done (why has this project taking almost 4 years).




My boyfriend and I are thinking about buying there on the 11th Floor. (do they have the CO yet for that floor?). We like everything we have seen so far, but do feel that there is a risk involved with the retail space and the gym plans not being finalized yet. (Also Jon Orens was mentioned something about Flood Insurance? )

If anyone is out there who chose NOT to buy in 2200 Arch I would appreciate your thoughts as well.


Thanks!

No, they don't have the CO for the 11th floor yet; they are expecting to get the CO for the 10th floor this week. Frankly, they have been running behind schedule, but I have a feeling that that is typical of most new construction. And it is new construction -- the building was gutted down to the concrete so even though it is a historic building all of the interiors are new. I don't know when they began work or why it has taken so long, except that when they began the building was in terrible shape because of having stood empty for decades and been used/abused by many squatters. Quite a bit of time went into simply clearing it out.

Living here for the past six months has been a real pleasure, despite the fact that one is living in an active construction site. The quality of work has been excellent (and the workers have been invariably polite and helpful), though things always seem to happen some weeks after they say they will. Security is strong, considering the number of people on site; there is a doorman in the main lobby who monitors a bank of cameras overlooking the garage and outside of the building among other spots.

Initially I heard that the fitness center was going into the second floor and I wondered how that would work from a security standpoint, since there is only one bank of elevators. Since then I have been told that it will go into the basement which is not accessed via the elevators. The latest word about the ground floor is that they are negotiating with a greek restaurant and Super Fresh.

When we initially applied for our mortgage I received something about needing to get special flood insurance, since the building is technically in a flood plain. My insurance man couldn't understand why I wanted to insure my apartment contents against flood damage, as we will be living on the 11th floor, and when I recently checked with the bank they said that the provision didn't apply to individual owners but perhaps the condo association as a whole would have to have insurance. As my insurance broker pointed out, if we had flood damage all the way to the 11th floor, there would be a lot more to worry about than replacing contents...

On the whole, we wish they were proceeding faster but based on our experience are confident that the final result will be worth the wait.

I was a consultant for an outside firm not associated with Orens, back in Aug 2002 (I believe that was the date)when the project started. The inside of that building was disgusting. I believe it was the major crack house of the area. A dead body was even found in one of the elevator shafts. Pretty rotten stuff with all the pigeons too. You'd be surprised how high the pigeons can pile their "stuff"!

We have been in the building since May. Very happy so far. We had our unit completely upgraded & they did a wonderful job. Very diverse residents. We are more than satisfied up to this point.

I've lived at 2200 since May as well and can't say enough good things about the property, its residents, and the neighborhood (afterall you get Trader Joe's, the Forum, and the Mode 7 complex all within a one block radius. As an earlier poster mentioned, yes we are all living in a construction zone here, but it is worth it. The construction guys even helped me unload the moving truck in May while they were on their lunch break!