Work to convert downtown’s nine-story Kunkel Building at 301 Market St. into one- and two-bedroom apartments is anticipated to start sometime this winter, possibly as early as February, said Daniel Deitchman, the developer.
Deitchman, who restored Front Street’s Riverview Manor and is now restoring the Furlow Building in Midtown, won approval last month from the Harrisburg Zoning Hearing Board to build between 40 and 50 market-rate apartments in 38,676-square-foot commercial office building.
In November, the Harrisburg Planning Commission gave its unanimous approval for the project, one of many such conversions of office space in the city recently–but not at the scale Deitchman is proposing–because the commercial market downtown is saturated and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future, Deitchman and other realtors said.
Deitchman cited nearly 100 percent occupancy in his city buildings, including the recently renovated old Governor’s Hotel down the street at 4th and Market that he converted into student housing for Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.
“On the residential side, there’s substantial demand and substantial use,” he said, noting some of his as well as other properties have waiting lists.
The developer also received a special exception request to waive the off-street parking requirement. He has secured a lease for as many as 50 parking spaces in Harrisburg University’s 4th Street parking garage.
Like the planning commission, the zoning board required Deitchman to leave the first floor for retail space, possibly a restaurant, even though he wanted to include some residential units, possibly townhouses, on that level. He said that he will proceed with project regardless.
The Kunkel Building, built in 1913 and expanded to double its size in 1925, spent many years as a bank and a clothing store. Most recently, it housed the Susquehanna Art Museum, which is preparing to break ground on a new home in Midtown Harrisburg.
The building currently is owned by Select Capital Corp. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
