The Harper tops off mixed-use residential project

Philadelphia — The Harman Group (THG), a firm specializing in structural engineering and parking planning and design, announced that The Harper, a 275,000-square-foot, 25-story, mixed-use residential building in Philadelphia, will celebrate its topping off milestone on Aug. 10, 2018. Located at the site of the former Boyd Theater, The Harper will feature 183 apartments and two floors of retail.

The Harman Group provided structural engineering services for The Harper, in partnership with developer, Pearl Properties, architect, DAS Architects and construction manager, Wellcraft Construction Company.

To accommodate for the retail spaces located on the ground floor and first floor, The Harman Group needed to create more open space. Using five trusses and two plate girders as transfer members, The Harman Group was able to eliminate nine columns from the retail and amenities floor plans.

“The Harman Group worked closely with Pearl Properties and DAS Architects to create a Class A luxury apartment tower in the heart of Center City,” said Christopher Gottschall, Senior Project Engineer at The Harman Group. “In order to reduce the number of columns and therefore allow for longer spans in the retail spaces, we elected to use trusses at the base of the tower to take on the load from the column transfers.”

Amenities at The Harper will include premier retail space, creative office space, an outdoor park and an underground garage. Named after James Harper, Rittenhouse Square’s first developer and a Pennsylvania congressman, The Harper is slated for completion in summer 2019.