Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown Center City

Cambria Hotels staged its Philadelphia debut on 21 June 2018 with this 223-room, 15-story tower at 219 South Broad Street. Pearl Properties developed it with Concord Hospitality Enterprises, and Philadelphia's DAS Architects designed it. Choice Hotels franchises the brand. Trade coverage reported the hotel open from late April 2018, so the June date marks the formal grand opening rather than the first night of service.

The place

The address sits on the Avenue of the Arts, the stretch of South Broad Street that holds the Kimmel Center and the theater district. City Hall, Reading Terminal Market and the Pennsylvania Convention Center are all within walking distance.

Rittenhouse Square is also close on foot. The brand's own release adds that the Comcast and Aramark headquarters are nearby, which explains the weekday business clientele alongside theatergoers. Independence Hall is further east and needs a short ride.

The concept

Nothing was converted here. Pearl Properties built the tower from the ground up, which at the time made it the newest hotel on Broad Street. Jim Pearlstein, the developer's president, said at the opening that the property breaks the mold on historic Broad Street.

The design leans on Philadelphia's music history. The hotel describes a 1970s Philly Soul theme, with musical motifs in the public areas, and the brand commissioned art from Philadelphia illustrator Hawk Krall.

Rooms come with two queen beds or one king, pillow-top mattresses, charging ports and laptop-size safes. Bathrooms are styled as spa bathrooms with Bluetooth-enabled mirrors. Room sizes are not published on the hotel's site. Accessible versions exist for each bed type, and the building is smoke-free throughout, with no pets allowed.

Other facilities are a fitness center, a business center, a 24-hour grab-and-go market and valet parking. The hotel lists 2,808 square feet of meeting space, a figure higher than the 2,500 square feet quoted in the 2018 opening release, probably because of later reconfiguration. Hyper-local draft beers were part of the original food-and-drink pitch.

Dining & wellness

Attico is the rooftop restaurant and bar, about 3,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. The hotel describes specialty cocktails, small plates and skyline views. At the 2018 opening, Choice Hotels' Janis Cannon called it the only rooftop bar and restaurant on the street.

Treble & Bass, a second-floor restaurant and bar, serves casual American food. It is the hotel's current main dining room.

Del Frisco's Grille was announced in 2018 as the ground-floor tenant, with an October 2018 start. The hotel's website no longer lists it among its venues, so check before planning a dinner around it.