PHILADELPHIA | East Market | 284 & 248 FT | 24 & 20 FLOORS

[summersm343]

Update from Building Philly





More photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/BuildingPhilly

[Urbanthusiat]

Those are great windows! Can't wait to see how they treat the pedestrian level.

[eaglesfanone]

I really hope the stores or restaurants that are in the ground floor keep those diagonal steel cross beams visible....that would create an amazing aesthetic

[shadowbat2]

084 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

086 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

087 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

088 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

089 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

090 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

Old elevator shafts being reused???
091 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

Old staircase still preserved....
092 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

095 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

097 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

A last look at PSFS....
098 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

099 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

100 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

I'm assuming there will be another bay extended to the market Street sidewalk....
101 by tehshadowbat, on Flickr

[1487]

34 S. 11th street looks so much better it's not even funny.

[PhilliesPhan]

This project, along with 1100 Chestnut, are symbols of the birth and revitalization of Market East. This project, however, has the greatest impact since people exit from the El and Regional Rail lines onto Market Street. Let's hope that the section of S. 11th Street between Market and Chestnut will be revitalized, as well. Currently, it is a wasteland of cash-for-gold stores. I have confidence that it will be revitalized in the way that S. 13th Street was revitalized.

[1487]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan

This project, along with 1100 Chestnut, are symbols of the birth and revitalization of Market East. This project, however, has the greatest impact since people exit from the El and Regional Rail lines onto Market Street. Let's hope that the section of S. 11th Street between Market and Chestnut will be revitalized, as well. Currently, it is a wasteland of cash-for-gold stores. I have confidence that it will be revitalized in the way that S. 13th Street was revitalized.

There are not a lot of cash for gold stores in that stretch. Maybe 2. The bigger issue is the building at 11th and market that houses CVS and the charter school. The 11th street side of that building is a total mess and apparently the owners don't care. The Steele building is a dead spot but that wont be the case for long. If those two buildings get better you will see some progress on that stretch. The new organic market will help once it opens.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan

This project, however, has the greatest impact since people exit from the El and Regional Rail lines onto Market Street.

Forget the trains - this will now be the front door to the Convention Center and the city's largest Hotel. For tens of thousands of tourists and conventioneers this project will be one of their first impressions of Philadelphia - a dramatic improvement over the Girard estates disaster.

[1487]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Forget the trains - this will now be the front door to the Convention Center and the city's largest Hotel. For tens of thousands of tourists and conventioneers this project will be one of their first impressions of Philadelphia - a dramatic improvement over the Girard estates disaster.

true

[PhilliesPhan]

Originally Posted by 1487

There are not a lot of cash for gold stores in that stretch. Maybe 2. The bigger issue is the building at 11th and market that houses CVS and the charter school. The 11th street side of that building is a total mess and apparently the owners don't care. The Steele building is a dead spot but that wont be the case for long. If those two buildings get better you will see some progress on that stretch. The new organic market will help once it opens.

I was wrong about the number of cash-for-gold (I attend college in the Lehigh Valley, so I'm not in Philly as often), but that stretch of S. 11th Street could use some improvement. I'm aware of the Steele Building project, and I am glad it is happening in conjunction with East Market. Progress is definitely on the way for that stretch though.

[PhilliesPhan]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Forget the trains - this will now be the front door to the Convention Center and the city's largest Hotel. For tens of thousands of tourists and conventioneers this project will be one of their first impressions of Philadelphia - a dramatic improvement over the Girard estates disaster.

Excuse me, I have the tendency to think as a suburbanite sometimes (I take the Media/Elwyn Line from Elwyn to CC usually).

I absolutely agree with you! The Loews and Marriott Hotels are right there. Plus, there will be an inevitable increase in foot traffic along Market. Watching Market East transform will be exciting to watch over the next few years! Hopefully, I will be able to rent an apartment in Market East after I finish at Temple in 2020.

[PhillyPhlyr]

[IMG]IMG_4718.JPG by PhillyPhlyr, on Flickr[/IMG]

[summersm343]

5/17/16

[Yurkek]

East Market project progress

[3rd&Brown]

I think this project is gonna eat PREIT's lunch and they're going to have an empty Gallery on their hands in a few years.

They must literally, have, the most incompetent set of leaders for any REIT anywhere. It literally must be stuffed chock full of old white guys from, like, exurban Berks County, who have no 'effing clue what is happening in cities right now.

It takes them 3 years to decide on an Outlet complex (which is stupid, anyway) when they should have focused on entertainment (movies, mega stores like UNIQLO, restaurants). During the time spent pitching the new gallery, which coincides with a time when retailers are constricting Outlet growth, literally EVERY OTHER company in Philadelphia swoops in to take the large format retailers du jour. THEN, they decide, no no. We're going to focus on large format suburban dining chains...in the interim, Cheesecake Factory opens at 15th and Walnut, and I'M SURE, this development.

So now what? They're literally standing around twiddling their thumbs trying to continually redecide what direction to take. When they should just pick a f'ing direction and go with it.

Also, keep your eyes out for a concept called PIRCH. My prediction is that it ends up being an anchor for Market East.

Cheers!

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I think this project is gonna eat PREIT's lunch and they're going to have an empty Gallery on their hands in a few years.

They must literally, have, the most incompetent set of leaders for any REIT anywhere. It literally must be stuffed chock full of old white guys from, like, exurban Berks County, who have no 'effing clue what is happening in cities right now.

I've met some of the "marketing" team here and they literally came out of moth balls. They had to be dusted off for a few minutes before the meeting began. You should see their newly "rehabbed" office space - it looks like something straight out of a 1980s Oliver Stone film. Cheesy marble and oaks wood, lots of shades of greys. It had the lingering smell and stale-ness of cigarette smoke.

They bought up dozens and dozens of malls over the last 30 years and then the phone rang at their office. It was 1984, and it wanted its malls back. So now they are dumping them left and right like day-old hot dogs as the markets and demand have totally shifted in a new direction. The smartest thing these knuckleheads can do is sell the Gallery to a real-life competent developer - then continue buying up some smaller, more manageable Market East properties (like they've done recently). Then, when said-competent-developer actually does something smart and appropriate with the Gallery, they're sitting on a gold-mine of developed spaces on a prime retail corridor.

[Urbanthusiat]

I tend to agree. Other developers are running circles around PREIT, and I guess it's tough for them when they have a building like the Gallery to work with which wasn't built for this era. I wouldn't mind seeing it converted to a theater complex, Center City doesn't have one and the Gallery is the only place big enough that I could imagine fitting several screens. But what do I know? I don't really have a grasp of the physical constraints that PRIET has to work within. I looked up Pirch and I wouldn't mind that either!

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

I tend to agree. Other developers are running circles around PREIT, and I guess it's tough for them when they have a building like the Gallery to work with which wasn't built for this era. I wouldn't mind seeing it converted to a theater complex, Center City doesn't have one and the Gallery is the only place big enough that I could imagine fitting several screens. But what do I know? I don't really have a grasp of the physical constraints that PRIET has to work within. I looked up Pirch and I wouldn't mind that either!

I guess. To me it's simple. Gut the building, divide its SF into large format big box-ish size stores. Divide it up into a Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Container Store, Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrell, a Movie Theater, (maybe a music venue like a House of Blues), then add a few large format, lame chain restaurants like a Bahama Breeze and a P.F. Changs - then mic-drop as the money rolls in.

That suggestion isn't super original, that's basically the exact format/retail offerings of Scottsdale's Desert Ridge mall (very popular/successful).

[1487]

Originally Posted by Londonee

I've met some of the "marketing" team here and they literally came out of moth balls. They had to be dusted off for a few minutes before the meeting began. You should see their newly "rehabbed" office space - it looks like something straight out of a 1980s Oliver Stone film. Cheesy marble and oaks wood, lots of shades of greys. It had the lingering smell and stale-ness of cigarette smoke.

They bought up dozens and dozens of malls over the last 30 years and then the phone rang at their office. It was 1984, and it wanted its malls back. So now they are dumping them left and right like day-old hot dogs as the markets and demand have totally shifted in a new direction. The smartest thing these knuckleheads can do is sell the Gallery to a real-life competent developer - then continue buying up some smaller, more manageable Market East properties (like they've done recently). Then, when said-competent-developer actually does something smart and appropriate with the Gallery, they're sitting on a gold-mine of developed spaces on a prime retail corridor.

well they do have a partner on this project. Perhaps they are leaning on them to get this done and exceed their own track record. They had to have sought out a partner for a reason

[blart]

Wednesday, 5-25