Development of two historic office buildings into residential living downtown received approval from Harrisburg’s Planning Commission and Zoning Hearing Board in April, but for the century old Barto Building, there remains two more steps in the process.
Because it’s in the historic district, Barto, at 231 State St. on the southwest corner of 3rd and State, needs final approval from the planning commission and approval from the Harrisburg Architectural Review Board. Hearings are May 2 and 7, respectively.
Once approval is granted, work should commence soon after on transforming the eight-story Barto into 50, one to two-bedroom condominiums and the four-story William Seel office building at 319 Market St. into 25 multi-family apartments.
The buildings, both about a century old, are under contract for purchase by Dan Deitchman, president of Brickbox Development Ltd. He has become one of the premier developers in the city for restoring historic buildings into residential living.
Deitchman said he also is considering the old Moose Lodge at 3rd and Boas streets, which had been the Ron H. Brown Charter School.
The 45,440-square-foot Barto Building, eyed for years by other developers as a potential hotel, was constructed in 1911 as a Masonic Temple and has been vacant for several years. The asking price is $1.5 million, according to the listing by NAI/CIR.
The 10,200-square-foot Seel building, directly across from the Market Street entrance to Strawberry Square, is a narrow brownstone built in 1912-13. It’s on the market for $755,000, according NAI/CIR’s listing.
The Seel building currently houses the headquarters of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, owner of the Seel and Barto buildings. Jim Deegan, union spokesman, said if the deals go through the AFL-CIO plans to relocate near the state Capitol building.
“We’re staying in the city,” Deegan said.
The Harrisburg Planning Commission gave unanimous consent to both projects on April 4. Only the Seel building needed to go before the Zoning Hearing Board, which granted approval on April 16.
Deitchman is bullish on the city’s commercial and residential prospects. Last year, he converted the old Governor’s Hotel at 4th and Market, renamed Residence on Market, into student housing for Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.
Currently, he’s converting the 98-year-old, nine-story office building at 301 Market St. (formerly the Kunkel Building renamed Market View Place) into 40 to 50 market-rate apartments. Harrisburg University signed a 10-year lease on that building.
Deitchman said he is in negotiations with the university on leasing the Seel building for student housing.
In Midtown, Deitchman, along with GreenWorks Development, is converting the 1908 Beaux Arts Furlow Building, on 3rd Street across from the Broad Street Market, into 20 to 24 one-bedroom apartments with commercial space on the first floor. The developers are matching $2.5 million in public money for the project.
In 2009, Deitchman finished restoring Riverview Manor along the riverfront at Harris and Front streets, a 76-unit apartment building designed by renowned architect Clayton J. Lappley and built in 1927.
