Philly’s Family Court to be transformed into luxury hotel

The old Family court building will be transformed into Philadelphia’s newest hotel.

The building on Vine Street just off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will undergo about $90 million in renovations to become a Kimpton Hotel. Developer Don Peebles says transforming the old court will not be easy.

“It creates challenges in terms of room size because you have got exceptionally large windows, and so essentially large bays it will create larger rooms which we see as an asset in driving our revenue, but if it were a blank slate, the rooms would be much smaller,” Peebles said.

Mayor Michael Nutter says the plan was the only one of three plans for the building that did not require significant public dollars.

“We picked a great team that has put forward a plan that does not require any public money that has a pretty straight path to getting done and without any significant alteration to this incredibly historic nationally recognized building,” Nutter said.

If all goes according to plan the project should be complete in two years. Family Court will move to a space at 15th and Arch streets.