Retail coming to Philadelphia (Richfield, Atlantic: hot, student, gasoline)

[asiandudeyo]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Ruth's Chris was there for about 20 years so that at least worked.

Oh OK.
So this is indeed where Ruth's Chris Steak used to be.
I hope they find tenant soon.
A nice restaurant where all the people who watch the shows will be nice.

And yeah the new Ruth's Chris Steak in Sonesta is supposed to open this month I think.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by asiandudeyo

Oh OK.
So this is indeed where Ruth's Chris Steak used to be.
I hope they find tenant soon.
A nice restaurant where all the people who watch the shows will be nice.

And yeah the new Ruth's Chris Steak in Sonesta is supposed to open this month I think.

Weirdly the actual ground floor, SW corner, never worked very long as a restaurant. There've been two in there.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Weirdly the actual ground floor, SW corner, never worked very long as a restaurant. There've been two in there.

Well, the building is being rehabbed for apartments. Add the number of residents there to the residents and guests at the new 47 story SLS hotel/condo building going up catty corner and you'll have a very busy corner. This would appear to be a pretty attractive location for a prospective retailer.

They've been working on the Atlantic building for some time. Wonder when it will be wrapped up?

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by asiandudeyo

Oh OK.
So this is indeed where Ruth's Chris Steak used to be.
I hope they find tenant soon.
A nice restaurant where all the people who watch the shows will be nice.

And yeah the new Ruth's Chris Steak in Sonesta is supposed to open this month I think.

No, the space in question is NOT the former Ruth's Chris location. That's the Atlantic Building, at 260 South Broad - which is also being converted to residential above, commercial on lower two floors.

The building is shown in the photograph accompanying the Business Journal story. The space is in what had been called the Avenue of the Arts Building and is being renamed the Griffin by the developer of the residential portion.

The street-floor portion of the space housed the Olive Garden until this past summer. Floors 2 and 3 are being marketed along with that space.

The interesting thing about this is, the commercial space is owned by someone other than the developer of the rest of the building. By contrast, Post Brothers is redoing all of The Atlantic Building.

Seems we have a crop of former restaurants on the market along the Avenue of the Arts.

Kevin Sbraga, Carl Dranoff's favorite restaurateur, couldn't make a go of Juniper Commons (corner space in Dranoff's Southstar Lofts at Broad and South) and MSC Retail is currently marketing it.

Tashan, the modern Indian eatery in Dranoff's 777 South Broad, also closed this summer after a decent run.

I would love to know what ideas the Pestronks have in mind for the two street-floor spaces at 260 S. Broad.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

Well, the building is being rehabbed for apartments. Add the number of residents there to the residents and guests at the new 47 story SLS hotel/condo building going up catty corner and you'll have a very busy corner. This would appear to be a pretty attractive location for a prospective retailer.

They've been working on the Atlantic building for some time. Wonder when it will be wrapped up?

Do any of you relative newbies to Philly know where the "Atlantic" name comes from?

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Do any of you relative newbies to Philly know where the "Atlantic" name comes from?

I'll wait until some relative newbie attempts an answer before chiming in.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I'll wait until some relative newbie attempts an answer before chiming in.

I'm waiting, too. It could be very interesting. I remember when it had the full name on a brass plaque on the side of the building as you came up from the Broad St concourse.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Do any of you relative newbies to Philly know where the "Atlantic" name comes from?

An oil company?

[Pine to Vine]

There used to be an Atlantic oil company based in Philly and the Richfield oil company out west. They merged in the 1960s to form Atlantic Richfield (ARCO). ARCO carried the Atantic brand of gasoline in the east and the Richfield brand out west. BP took them over in the 90s and the brands disappeared.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

There used to be an Atlantic oil company based in Philly and the Richfield oil company out west. They merged in the 1960s to form Atlantic Richfield (ARCO). ARCO carried the Atantic brand of gasoline in the east and the Richfield brand out west. BP took them over in the 90s and the brands disappeared.

Atlantic Refining and Marketing Company was yet another remnant of the breakup of the Standard Oil trust.

Actually, after the two companies merged to form Atlantic Richfield, the gas stations were soon rebranded ARCO. In this market, the company was one of the first to convert its gas stations from repair shops to convenience stores; they were called AM/PM Mini Markets.

BP, IIRC, acquired only part of the company. Its East Coast gas station network ended up in the hands of Sunoco, which briefly revived the Atlantic name and branded the convenience stores as "A Plus" before converting all the stations to Sunoco outlets.