Retail coming to Philadelphia (Bellevue: playground, sound, express)

[rowhomecity]

I am just curious where you heard Uniqlo was closing. It currently is still open and the store performs quite well from what I have been told.

Perhaps Zara will take over that space, as it is much larger than their former store on Walnut St.

[PHLondoner]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

I am just curious where you heard Uniqlo was closing. It currently is still open and the store performs quite well from what I have been told.

Perhaps Zara will take over that space, as it is much larger than their former store on Walnut St.

Yeah, was going to ask the same thing. Was just there today, it was bumping, and no signs (literally and figuratively) of closing?

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

I am just curious where you heard Uniqlo was closing. It currently is still open and the store performs quite well from what I have been told.

Perhaps Zara will take over that space, as it is much larger than their former store on Walnut St.

Originally Posted by PHLondoner

Yeah, was going to ask the same thing. Was just there today, it was bumping, and no signs (literally and figuratively) of closing?

From a friend who is an insider with the brand told me the Philadelphia location is planning to close this year... No mention of relocation at this time. I will follow up with details.

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by cpomp

From a friend who is an insider with the brand told me the Philadelphia location is planning to close this year... No mention of relocation at this time. I will follow up with details.

Interesting. I know the store performs well, so I am curious to the reasoning?

If it is in fact the case this space would be perfect to market towards Zara.

Zara's reasoning for closing had nothing to do with store performance and more about finding the space to expand into their larger store format and design.

The Uniqlo space would certainly meet that.

[Redddog]

That space is 3 floors, yeah?

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by Redddog

That space is 3 floors, yeah?

Yep. I want to say around 15,000 square feet.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

Interesting. I know the store performs well, so I am curious to the reasoning?

If it is in fact the case this space would be perfect to market towards Zara.

Zara's reasoning for closing had nothing to do with store performance and more about finding the space to expand into their larger store format and design.

The Uniqlo space would certainly meet that.

Since you're such an "insider", find out what Fast Retailer's strategy is going forward.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Redddog

That space is 3 floors, yeah?

Yes, it's huge. It was a Filene's Basement for a while and part of the Art Institute before that.

And, originally a local specialty clothing store, Jackson Moyer. It was the kind of store that cpomp would have loved.
The only local store left in CC from those days is Boyd's.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by cpomp

And that massive building on Chestnut Street across from the new Target and Petsmart is slated for demolition, huge development opportunity there.

Cpomp, you have any more info on this?

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Redddog

Cpomp, you have any more info on this?

That will be the third phase of National Real Estate Development's East Market project. Work on the project, which will comprise six buildings (two of them already standing at the time the project was announced), reached the halfway point last fall.

The entire block bounded by 11th, 12th, Market and Chestnut streets is owned by the Estate of Stephen Girard, which is in turn managed by the Board of City Trusts. Income from this block and other property owned by the estate supports the operation of Girard College on the southern edge of Sharswood.

NRED's parent, National Real Estate Advisors (a real estate investment firm owned by the pension fund jointly controlled by the National Electrical Contractors Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers), inked a 99-year lease on the block, known as "Girard Square," back in 2012 or thereabouts. The first building to be "completed" was the former Snellenburg's department store annex (later the first home of the Community College of Philadelphia, then Philadephia Family Court) at 34 S. 11th St. MOM's Organic Market occupies its street floor, and the upper floors house several interior design showrooms and the local office of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects.

The second phase includes the two apartment towers on Market Street. (If you look at the renderings in the 2015 article I've linked above, you may note that the western tower is absent from them, so the plans have been tweaked as NRED has gone along.)

The third project, now underway, is the conversion of the Stephen Girard Building (1891) at 21 S. 12th into a hotel.

After that, and most likely while work on the hotel continues, NRED will demolish the Snellenburg's parking garage (1939) that takes up the north side of the 1100 block of Chestnut. (The retail stores that filled its street floor are mostly vacant now; four stragglers remain at the east end, and one of those is relocating soon.) Plans call for two buildings combining retail, office and residential uses, laid out similarly to those on the Market Street side of the block (the rump Snellenburg department store was razed to make way for them). When those two buildings are finished, there will also be a mid-block pedestrian promenade stretching from Market to Chestnut streets, with a slight jog in its path in the middle section between Ludlow and Clover streets.

The project is running a little behind the timeline laid out in that 2015 article, but I see that as no cause for alarm: NRED has the resources to see this thing through.