Corner Rebirth
October to mark new era for Downtown intersection
ANDY MEEK | The Daily News
Thompson & Co. is about five months away from moving into new digs at the corner of Main Street and Union Avenue. “We’ll be in the new space Oct. 1,” said Michael Thompson, the founder of the advertising agency that’s moving from 50 Peabody Place to 85 Union Ave. The Center City Development Corp. awarded the agency a $15,000 grant last week to pay for improvements at its new space, paving the way for Thompson & Co. to move into the property once home to Smooth Moves.
A development team is pouring $1.6 million into upgrading the site, with construction starting in May and wrapping up in October. Thompson said his agency decided the possibilities in that new space and the opportunity to have a say in its design were too good to pass up. And while the move represents a new chapter for the 33-year-old agency, it was important to the company’s founder to remain Downtown.
The company’s current 15-year lease expires in December. Thompson said relocating to the new space will save a few hundred thousand dollars in the long run. Money from the Center City Commission’s affiliate board is what clinched the deal. The CCDC also approved a $200,000 development loan for the team bringing the long-vacant space at Main and Union back to life.
“I went to look at a great space out east. I’m not going to say where, but it was very cool,” Thompson said. “It was something I had to consider. “The thing about it is what the CCDC is doing is bringing new people and keeping people (Downtown). And it was the loan to the developer that made it work.” That pair of financial incentives – Thompson & Co.’s $15,000, plus the development team’s $200,000 – will also help revive a key Downtown intersection that has endured vacancies at all four corners for years.
The ad agency’s relocation will follow the opening in a few more months at 66 S. Main St. of an upscale grocery – City Market – that adds another boost to that centrally located juncture. Owners of the grocery are still plugging away on construction details. And they’re using a Facebook page as one way to build interest in the store, which is going in on the ground floor of Radio Center Flats. Last week they began soliciting ideas from followers of the page for items on the store’s breakfast menu.
“I think that corner is getting ready to wake up,” Thompson said. The agency’s new space will have a roof deck where employees can work on laptops. The space will be lit at night with the help of “gobo” lighting. The term is a contraction of “go between” and often refers to an object placed in front of a light source. Playhouse on the Square’s new facility in Midtown has used gobo lighting at night, where images and various messages have been beamed onto one of the building’s outer walls. “Fifteen years is a long time to be in one space,” Thompson said. “We really needed a new space to invigorate everybody and start a new era.”