One of Philadelphia’s oldest high rise buildings, the Witherspoon at 1321 Walnut St., will soon operate for the first time as a traditional apartment building with 186 units.
The 11-story building dates to 1896, when it was built as offices for the Presbyterian Church. For most of its history it was an office building, then in 2019 owner SSH Real Estate worked with hospitality group Sonder Corp. to transform the building into short-term rentals.
Sonder was performing strongly at the property, according to SSH, but the company declared bankruptcy last year, and guests were unceremoniously booted out of the building.
SSH decided to move away from the short-term rental business and pivot to year-to-year residential rentals. Leasing is underway, and move-ins begin the first week of April.
“The apartment market is very strong, but the hotel market fluctuates,” said Pete Soens, founding partner of SSH Real Estate. “I’m sure it’s going to be a strong year this year for hotels [with the Semiquincentennial and World Cup in Philly], but having apartments is a much better long term plan for us.”
SSH is largely an office building owner, including the neighboring 123 South Broad St., so the company has hired Jenkintown-based Scully Company to handle leasing and day-to-day management.
Most of the units in the Witherspoon have one bedroom. There are 18 studio apartments, and nine two-bedroom units that are at the corners of the building.
The 158 one-bedroom units will be priced at around $2,500 per month, with the two-bedrooms ranging from $3,500 to $4,000 per month. While the project does not include parking, it is in one of the most walkable and transit-rich areas of Philadelphia.
The Witherspoon has two storefronts, with one filled by a brick-and-glass design studio. Another 2,000-square-foot space is empty, but SSH hopes to fill it with a coffee shop or another business that tenants might find useful.
Soens says he anticipates pricing to be competitive with newly built apartments in the area, which will have higher rents.
Apartment vacancy in Center City is at 7.5%, according to real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. That is leading developers to start building again following a lull in recent years after interest rates soared and the COVID-era building boom made it hard to charge profitable rents.
“There hasn’t been a large amount of new [construction] in the last few years, and you can tell by the vacancy rates timing is going to be pretty good for us,” said Soens.
As of the end of last year, Cushman & Wakefield found that 208 units were under construction in Center City. Since the start of 2026, several additional major new projects have been granted permits, and the partial conversion of the Centre Square office towers into apartments was announced.
“We’re going to be priced below some of the newer, bigger-unit, super luxury apartments,” said Soens. “But for a newly renovated building, it’s going to be a good niche.”
The Witherspoon’s transformation into a traditional apartment building will coincide with major changes in the South Broad Street area, like Temple University’s new Center City campus in one of the old University of the Arts buildings and the reincarnation of the Bellevue by developer Lubert-Adler.
Most of the other former Sonder locations in Philadelphia — including in Callowhill, Queen Village, and Fishtown — have been repurposed as hotels or other short-term rental businesses.
At least four others still sit vacant or are being turned into apartments, along with another Fishtown property originally slated for Sonder.
“This was their flagship, their biggest location in the city,” said Soens. “Some of the other Sonder locations were smaller, on the periphery of Center City and set up so that it was maybe a quick pivot to keep it [as hotel space].”