Posted Feb 9, 2016, 10:07 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 208
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Excellent question, Larry King. The lack of any major announcements does not exactly jive with the periodic buzz pieces from the retail world stating that "retailers are dying to be in Center City, but we just don't have adequately sized spaces for them." All three of these major Market East projects (Brickstone, East Market, and the Gallery) have a wide range of space sizes and types available, many on the larger side (10,000 - 25,000 and up). So...where's the avalanche? One answer is that retailers are lemmings, and you need the risk takers to sign on before the stampede follows.
Thus far, we've confirmed a Target and PLCB store (the swanky kind) at the Brickstone project. These apparently fill the groundfloor spaces, but they built basement and second floor retail space into that project, on the assumption that stores would want multi-level space or be willing to take an off street space for co-tenancy with the likes of Target. I think Bed Bath or Best Buy would fit well into spaces of this nature and size, but Brickstone's been mum as to whether CBRE's been able to bring any compelling tenants into these less visible spaces.
At East Market, we have MOM's Organic Market on the 11th side of the project, and not a peep about the two major two-story retail podiums on the Market Street side. Marketing materials imply they're hoping for larger footprint, international brands fronting Market, segueing into a more eclectic and smaller foot print mix back on the pedestrianized streets and Cuthbert. I know it's an "untested" market over there, but spaces on Market facing the convention center seem reasonably appealing to me, particularly either for major apparel brands or convention-friendly eateries. And I'd like to think that the healthy crop of local retailers (La Colombe, Sweetgreen, Turney/Safran, etc) will happily buy into the concept as far as the food and beverage side of things goes.
And then we have The Gallery. Agreed that PREIT is a mess (I mean, how often do you hear the two partners working on the same deal saying different things about delivery dates. Macerich: better wait til 2019. PREIT: nah, we'll probably have something ready earlier than that maybe). The article strangely provides tenant attraction as a reason for the delay, but then the quote from PREIT implies that they were waiting to start in earnest until they had a better tenant mix, which would imply they now feel comfortable with the initial crop of folks that have signed on. The truth lies...well, who knows where. I will say that my personal view is that as long as they nail the street presence with a major brand or two and periodic restaurants/bars to create street life, I think the project will be a success at least from the perspective of a Market Street pedestrian. Whether they can sign on nearly 800,000 sf of quality tenants for all the interior spaces is another question.
As for Century 21, they seem to do great every time I'm in there, but you'd think PREIT could at least move forward with a tenant for the rest of the Strawbridge space since it's wholly disconnected from the rest of the Gallery project. If Eataly was indeed at any point a viable possibility for the corner of 8th and Market, they'd be smart to reopen those conversations stat. Century 21 and Eataly side by side could support one another indefinitely no matter how long the rest takes. Then again, Eataly may be dead or have moved onto an entirely different candidate site.
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