N.J. empty nesters downsize to renovated Philadelphia condos

Mindy and Bill Hauptman had planned to wait to downsize and move to Philadelphia until after they both retired. But the time seemed right.

Both their children were grown and gone. Their center-hall Colonial in Voorhees, with its large yard, needed more work than they wanted to put into it. They were eager to start this next part of their lives in the city they regularly visited for its entertainment and restaurants.

But Bill, 60, and Mindy, 59, couldn’t find a home that satisfied their vision of a large, low-maintenance entertaining space with a big kitchen and room for Bill’s Steinway grand piano — and space for any future grandchildren to play.

So they bought side-by-side condos in the 37-story Academy House on Locust Street in Center City and started on plans to combine the units.

“The ability to create the space for what our needs are is what was appealing to us,” Mindy said. “I feel we can have the best of both worlds” — city life and space.

The endeavor would have been a big undertaking and a radical change at any time. But the Hauptmans bought their condos in February 2020. The couple’s journey from empty nesters in a single-family suburban house to city-dwelling condo owners has lasted the span of the pandemic and highlights trends in the housing market over the last 2½ years.

Early in the pandemic, news articles described people leaving cities for more space in the suburbs. But the Hauptmans became part of the flow of residents moving in the opposite direction. They had already had their taste of suburban life, having moved from Manhattan to Voorhees in the early 1990s.

Bill has since retired from his job as a physician, while Mindy continues to work in market research consulting. Through this process, they’ve been buyers, sellers, landlords, and homeowners. They welcomed an adult child into their space. And, like many property owners during the pandemic, they renovated their home to fit changing needs.

The Hauptmans bought their condos on the 32nd floor of Academy House in an estate sale. From their new corner home, they can see William Penn perched on City Hall and look out over Washington Square Park. They’ve watched the Arthaus condo building go up on Broad Street. They can look east to New Jersey and see fireworks during celebrations and storms rolling in.

The views were major selling points for the couple, so one challenge was how to “keep those views and have different living spaces without completely closing off everything,” said Catharine Lowery, the Hauptmans’ architect and interior designer and senior project manager at Philadelphia-based Toner Architects.

Lowery sent her first designs to the Hauptmans in February 2020. The couple planned for the renovation to start in the spring. Everyone expected the project to take about a year.

When the pandemic hit, the Hauptmans “made the difficult decision” to delay their plans as the country tried to figure out what was happening, construction faced new hurdles — including a work stoppage in Philadelphia — and supplies became harder to get. While they waited to see what the pandemic would do, they rented out their condos to their daughter, now 26, and two of her friends.

By summer 2021, restrictions were easing and Philadelphia was opening back up, so the Hauptmans decided to move forward. Construction began in October 2021, after a delay of a year and a half.

» READ MORE: Coronavirus quiets the boom of Philly construction (From April 2020)

Doing the type of renovation they did “is not for the faint of heart,” Bill said.

“There were times,” Mindy said, “when I thought, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’”

The renovation process is always “a leap of faith” for homeowners, Lowery said. The pandemic emphasized that.

Their floor plan and vision for their space evolved, and they and their team worked around the curves thrown at them. Pipes from the bathroom of the unit above meant they couldn’t open up part of the foyer’s ceiling as high as they had planned. So they created a drop ceiling that adds dimension to the space. Shelves with photos of the couple’s children calmed the sting of not being able to remove a piece of wall.

Then there were the additional challenges that come with renovating a home in a high-rise building — from needing neighbors’ permission to access their units above or below to do work, to workers and materials having to travel by elevator.

Of Academy House’s 551 units, residents have combined more than 20 into double or triple units, so the building was fine with the Hauptmans’ level of renovations and approved their plans. Neighbors didn’t complain about noise or other issues. The homeowners, architecture firm, and contractor worked collaboratively.

“It was suspiciously smooth,” Lowery said, “except for the whole COVID thing.”

Labor and supply chain issues brought delays. Building materials got more expensive and difficult to get. The tile installer got COVID-19 as the tile was ready to go in, so another had to step in.

Construction took six months — two more than expected, said Adam Sherman, owner of the design-build firm Cottage Industries, based in Devon.

» READ MORE: Philly-area home builders continue to struggle even as buyer demand slows

The Hauptmans expanded their bathroom, enlarged the foyer, and created a larger kitchen. They added a closet in their bedroom, converted one bedroom into an office, and gained a laundry room. And they created dedicated spaces for dining, reading, and piano playing.

On March 30, the Hauptmans moved into the home they had bought two years earlier. They’re still waiting for a few pieces of furniture to arrive, the result of continued manufacturing backlogs and a sign of the lasting effects of the pandemic.

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo measures about 2,080 square feet and has plenty of room to host holidays. The couple has welcomed family and friends.

“Everybody,” Bill said, “wants to visit.”

As their condo came together, the Hauptmans entered what was then still a frenzied housing market in January. They listed their Voorhees home, which needed renovations, for sale on a Friday. By Monday, they had eight offers.

Lowery, their architect, had lots of experience combining units in apartment buildings in New York City at her previous firm and has worked with other homeowners who were making the move from suburban to urban environments. Unlike some other clients, she said, she could tell the Hauptmans were “so ready” for the transition from their detached single-family house to a condo.

“Sometimes, some people try to fit that suburban lifestyle into the totally different environment of the city,” Lowery said. That includes trying to stuff belongings into their smaller space. But the Hauptmans embraced the necessary downsizing.

They’re enjoying the more hands-off lifestyle of owning a condo. When they owned a house, Mindy said, “there was always something that had to be done.”

» READ MORE: What aging homeowners should consider when navigating their next move and decades of memories

Their daughter and 29-year-old son gifted them a framed illustration of their Voorhees house that sits among family photos in the foyer. Bill and Mindy brought some touches from their old house, including photographs Bill has taken on their travels and a wooden bed wall they got in the ‘80s.

Now that the renovation is done, the Hauptmans can enjoy life in the city and look forward to their next adventures.

“Our goal,” Bill said, “is to be the cool city grandparents.”

Large populations of empty nesters and retirees, as well as millennials, have driven much of the demand for housing in Center City, according to the Center City District, which promotes the downtown area.

“From here, everything is convenient,” Mindy said.

Bill crisscrosses the city on his bike. He’s gotten to know Fairmount Park, and on a recent trip to the Delaware River waterfront, he listened to a jazz trio and watched jugglers. Mindy found a studio where she does Zumba and delights in taking walks down charming side streets. They’ve been to shows at the Academy of Music and the Wilma Theater. They have a growing list of restaurants they want to try.

» READ MORE: 5 takeaways from a housing report focused on Center City

“We’re constantly blown away by everything the city has to offer,” Bill said.

Their nearly 50-year-old building is home to more than 1,000 people — homeowners and some renters; undergraduate and graduate students; young professionals and retirees. Their neighbors in the building and people they meet around town are “incredibly friendly,” Bill said. When the Hauptmans lived in New York, they didn’t talk to their neighbors. In Voorhees, they didn’t have as many.

“I feel more of a community than I expected to,” Mindy said. “It’s very easy to have my little village in this huge city.”

Bill said they often hear the question: Do you miss your house and your huge, beautiful backyard?

“And we both say in unison: ‘Not one bit.’”