Inside the Most Expensive Home for Sale in Philly

Home buyers who are looking for multi-million dollar homes with jaw-dropping features know to look anywhere other than in the City of Brotherly Love. Manhattan? Of course. Miami, definitely. But Philly real estate? It's not known to be flashy or extravagant—it's affordable.

"When New Yorkers come here, they have reverse sticker shock," says Gary Greenip, who is the vice president of sales for the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton (and is a New York native).

So when Greenip tells potential buyers that the most expensive home for sale in the city—the 48th-floor penthouse at the Residences—is $14 million, it's enough to make them weep.

Of course, that price tag is nothing to scoff at; it's exactly double the amount of the city's second most expensive home on the market in Rittenhouse Square.

A drone view of the 48th-floor penthouse at the Residences.

But consider the amenities alone: Access to a chauffeured Bentley and Escalade; a 7,000-square-foot fitness center that looks out to Dilworth Park at City Hall; a personal chef; a full-service spa; a 24-hour staff; and a private clubhouse that's modeled after the Pantheon (and currently undergoing a $24 million renovation).

In a nutshell, says Greenip, it's like living in a five-star hotel, only you don't have to check out.

Now here's the catch: The 48th-floor penthouse with a $14 million price tag is a completely raw space—a mind-blogging 8,610 square feet of raw space to be exact.

Still, the glass-half-full way of thinking is that it's enough raw space to make any architect create something spectacular. And it'd be hard to design anything short of amazing when there are million dollar views (literally) every where you look.

An exclusive tour of the space revealed two separate terraces with views that stretch down to Delaware, over toward the stadiums in South Philly, and nearly eight miles north. Closer home, City Hall's William Penn statue and the Comcast Building, the tallest tower in the city, felt within reach.

But will the views be enough for someone to make an offer? No doubt it will take an owner who has enough imagination and creativity to the most expensive blank slate in Philly into something truly special.