PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread IX

[UPenn18]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Still receiving emails about Bloomingdale's searching for locations within Center City.

I have to believe SLC is actively pursuing Bloomingdale's. It really is the perfect location for them. Rittenhouse Square is the most upscale part of Philly, and that stretch of walnut street has many other upscale retailers. It's visited by locals and tourists alike. Bloomingdale's can exactly what they want in that location. SLC has to know this. If they don't get Bloomingdale's here I'll be disappointed.... only so much as I can be with a 500+ ft tower

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by UPenn18

I have to believe SLC is actively pursuing Bloomingdale's. It really is the perfect location for them. Rittenhouse Square is the most upscale part of Philly, and that stretch of walnut street has many other upscale retailers. It's visited by locals and tourists alike. Bloomingdale's can exactly what they want in that location. SLC has to know this. If they don't get Bloomingdale's here I'll be disappointed.... only so much as I can be with a 500+ ft tower

I agree wholeheartly. Someone in the (commercial) real estate business drop SLC an email at the 1911walnut.com website telling them that Blommies is looking for lots of space including street level frontage.

[boxbot]

Originally Posted by UPenn18

I have to believe SLC is actively pursuing Bloomingdale's. It really is the perfect location for them. Rittenhouse Square is the most upscale part of Philly, and that stretch of walnut street has many other upscale retailers. It's visited by locals and tourists alike. Bloomingdale's can exactly what they want in that location. SLC has to know this. If they don't get Bloomingdale's here I'll be disappointed.... only so much as I can be with a 500+ ft tower

NIMBYs will flip their lids if SLC attempted to put a department store on Rittenhouse Square.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan

I just turned 20, so I'm glad that I will at least get to see it in my lifetime. It will be a long wait, but well worth it once it comes around!

I'll be 90

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by boxbot

NIMBYs will flip their lids if SLC attempted to put a department store on Rittenhouse Square.

I don't think it belongs there.

And Bloomingdales isn't that upscale folks. It's not like it's Barneys or Neimans.

In the Fashion Industry, even Nordstrom is more respected.

I think it should go in Market East or somewhere on Chestnut to spur more follow on development wherever it goes.

We don't need all of that traffic right on Rittenhouse Square.

[Cro Burnham]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I don't think it belongs there.

And Bloomingdales isn't that upscale folks. It's not like it's Barneys or Neimans.

In the Fashion Industry, even Nordstrom is more respected.

I think it should go in Market East or somewhere on Chestnut to spur more follow on development wherever it goes.

We don't need all of that traffic right on Rittenhouse Square.

I'd imagine if they open anywhere downtown, it'd be at East Market so they get more tourists and conventioneers. Rittenhouse Sq may be too remote from visitors, whom I'd think Bloomingdale's would need to be successful.

[Jawnadelphia]

Thanks Summers for posting the Phila Biz Journal article about Chemours. For those of you who might not know - Wilmington is a shit show with crime and has been for quite some time. There was a stabbing/murder in Rodney Sq just the other night at 9:30PM which has now led to New Castle County Police to "police" the Rodney Square area on horses! This is like if City Hall Philly needed mounted patrols ... for normal people to work, normal business activity to take place.

Needless to say, I highly doubt Chemours is staying in Wilmington. Whether the company is shitty or not - I don't know, but .... its going to land somewhere.

From the article below,

"Cummings said the effort is to try to reassure businesses and their employees that police are working to make the downtown more safe. Earlier this year, key leaders in the business community said the city had much work to do to ensure their employees felt safe downtown, or they would consider relocating.

“Right now we have a few of our businesses that are looking to re-evaluate their status in the city,” Cummings said. “So we wanted to provide some reassurance.”

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news...e-deployed-downtown-wilmington/72362722/

Mounted police! ...might as well bring in the National Guard.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Photo Gallery: Divine Lorraine Groundbreaking Ceremony



http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2015/0...rraine-hotel-groundbreaking-ceremony.php

Is anyone else s bit skeptical of the quality of the work at the $44million price point? Bart is spendng half of that to construct his single family home on the square. Blumenfeld, a look-at-me narcissistic charlatan, will bring his press over craftsmanship develoment approach...it all leaves me worried that this masterpiece will get half assed, and he'll get more photo ops.

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Is anyone else s bit skeptical of the quality of the work at the $44million price point? Bart is spendng half of that to construct his single family home on the square. Blumenfeld, a look-at-me narcissistic charlatan, will bring his press over craftsmanship develoment approach...it all leaves me worried that this masterpiece will get half assed, and he'll get more photo ops.

The project is getting historic tax credits so at the very least he will be using decent windows and will clean up the outside. It will look good to people driving on broad.

[mja]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Is anyone else s bit skeptical of the quality of the work at the $44million price point? Bart is spendng half of that to construct his single family home on the square. Blumenfeld, a look-at-me narcissistic charlatan, will bring his press over craftsmanship develoment approach...it all leaves me worried that this masterpiece will get half assed, and he'll get more photo ops.

Why is Eric Blumenfeld a charlatan all of the sudden? I mean, he's actually redeveloped stuff, and well at that. Dude got Mark Vetri to come to N. Broad Street. He may be narcissistic, but that's like the defining character trait of most major developers.

And he looks to actually be getting the Divine Lorraine done. IF he does that, he deserves a freaking medal.

[McBane]

Originally Posted by 1487

Thats a lot of space, not many places where you could get that much in CC unless its at East Market or in some building that doesn't exist yet.

That's what I was saying when I thought/hoped Pearl would combine their properties on the 1500 block of Walnut into one large contiguous space. Perhaps they would need two floors to have made it happen. But they're not combining space, so it's not happening there.

Over in Market East, there's lots of room in perhaps East Market project or maybe the key tenant for a project we haven't heard of at Disneyhole. What about the 8th street side of the building that houses Century21 - perhaps it's too remote? On Broad and Spruce, where the Post Bros are fixing up the Atlantic Building, they could fit a large department store on the ground floor, but again could be too remote.

Knowing now that 1911 is getting retail, I think I'd like to see Bloomingdales go elsewhere. Whereas Rittenhouse is very strong, Bloomies could be a catalyst for other areas that need it more, like South Broad or Market East. People will flock there as long as it's not too inconvenient. Look at Century21...

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I don't think it belongs there.

And Bloomingdales isn't that upscale folks. It's not like it's Barneys or Neimans.

In the Fashion Industry, even Nordstrom is more respected.

I think it should go in Market East or somewhere on Chestnut to spur more follow on development wherever it goes.

We don't need all of that traffic right on Rittenhouse Square.

When was the last time you were in Bloomingdales? It's not Neiman or Barneys (not much is), but it's pretty high end. It would be a big upgrade over the kind of stores they are now talking about at the 'Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia'. I'd be fine with it there. It would be a good anchor and help cement the success of that project and the kind of vibe and demographics they are going for there. The retail at 1911 is probably more likely to be and may be better off as high end specialty shops. Even the footprint, which is large for what it is, probably is not big enough. They can go up as many floors as they want. But department stores usually like a lot of contiguous space on each floor.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by McBane

That's what I was saying when I thought/hoped Pearl would combine their properties on the 1500 block of Walnut into one large contiguous space. Perhaps they would need two floors to have made it happen. But they're not combining space, so it's not happening there.

Over in Market East, there's lots of room in perhaps East Market project or maybe the key tenant for a project we haven't heard of at Disneyhole. What about the 8th street side of the building that houses Century21 - perhaps it's too remote? On Broad and Spruce, where the Post Bros are fixing up the Atlantic Building, they could fit a large department store on the ground floor, but again could be too remote.

Knowing now that 1911 is getting retail, I think I'd like to see Bloomingdales go elsewhere. Whereas Rittenhouse is very strong, Bloomies could be a catalyst for other areas that need it more, like South Broad or Market East. People will flock there as long as it's not too inconvenient. Look at Century21...

If it's not new construction, in which case "Disney Hole's" proximity to tourist attractions would probably be ideal, I thought the Gallery would be a great spot for this. I'd assume that they could convert the Burlington Coat Factory space (former JCPenney). The former "new" Gimbel's is remaining converted office space for Health Partners, as far as I know. The 8th St. Side of Strawbridge's is now the office entrance and probably insufficiently prominent. Bloomie's will want their main entrance on a main street. 1911 Walnut has the right demographics, but it's not like they can build Water Tower Place there.

[1487]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

I don't think it belongs there.

And Bloomingdales isn't that upscale folks. It's not like it's Barneys or Neimans.

In the Fashion Industry, even Nordstrom is more respected.

I think it should go in Market East or somewhere on Chestnut to spur more follow on development wherever it goes.

We don't need all of that traffic right on Rittenhouse Square.

exactly. Dont see this on rittenhouse for several reasons. That location is too far out of the way for most tourists and office workers.

[Outta here]

[QUOTE=McBane;7168159]

Over in Market East, there's lots of room in perhaps East Market project or maybe the key tenant for a project we haven't heard of at Disneyhole. What about the 8th street side of the building that houses Century21 - perhaps it's too remote?



HOLY CRAP ! I get a migraine EVERY time I think of how long this prime location has been
left to fester . It's like several blocks of East Market have been left to " the dark side " and
no " force " has been able to overcome it's decline to a galaxy far , far away .

The Disney hole SCREAMS for development ...... and yet ..... nothing .
Something in the 550' to 650' range would be perfect .... and yet ...... NOTHING !

[br323206]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

If it's not new construction, in which case "Disney Hole's" proximity to tourist attractions would probably be ideal, I thought the Gallery would be a great spot for this. I'd assume that they could convert the Burlington Coat Factory space (former JCPenney). The former "new" Gimbel's is remaining converted office space for Health Partners, as far as I know. The 8th St. Side of Strawbridge's is now the office entrance and probably insufficiently prominent. Bloomie's will want their main entrance on a main street. 1911 Walnut has the right demographics, but it's not like they can build Water Tower Place there.

There was some heavy machinery doing work at the Disney Hole yesterday evening. I think they are just shoring up the sinkhole in the middle of the parking lot, which has gotten considerably worse over the past couple of years.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by McBane

Knowing now that 1911 is getting retail, I think I'd like to see Bloomingdales go elsewhere. Whereas Rittenhouse is very strong, Bloomies could be a catalyst for other areas that need it more, like South Broad or Market East. People will flock there as long as it's not too inconvenient. Look at Century21...

This is sound logic, but to play devil's advocate - our premier shopping street by international standards is woefully abrupt - basically 4 blocks from Broad to 18th. North Walnut along the square has Barney and Barnes/Noble but the rest of it, for some evil, ungodly reason are horrible banks (more Banks front Rittenhouse than restaurants - drives me crazy). Therefore terminating the shopping district. A Bloomingdales at 19th could be a catalyst to drive brands on the other side of the square - keep the shopping district rolling all the way to the river - may be even prompt the Zuritsky's to stop squatting on their 20th and Walnut maximum use surface parking lot.

[Larry King]

Originally Posted by Londonee

This is sound logic, but to play devil's advocate - our premier shopping street by international standards is woefully abrupt - basically 4 blocks from Broad to 18th. North Walnut along the square has Barney and Barnes/Noble but the rest of it, for some evil, ungodly reason are horrible banks (more Banks front Rittenhouse than restaurants - drives me crazy). Therefore terminating the shopping district. A Bloomingdales at 19th could be a catalyst to drive brands on the other side of the square - keep the shopping district rolling all the way to the river - may be even prompt the Zuritsky's to stop squatting on their 20th and Walnut maximum use surface parking lot.

From what I hear, the plan is to eventually move those banks and further activate the street with restaurants and outdoor seating. Starting with suquehanna bank and then PNC.

Though with domb just getting elected to council, it's possible he'll be too busy to focus on this.

[PhillySteaks]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Is anyone else s bit skeptical of the quality of the work at the $44million price point? Bart is spendng half of that to construct his single family home on the square. Blumenfeld, a look-at-me narcissistic charlatan, will bring his press over craftsmanship develoment approach...it all leaves me worried that this masterpiece will get half assed, and he'll get more photo ops.

While you may or may not like Blumenfeld based on his character alone, he has done a number of projects that are quite decent. The main reason behind this is because he is mostly a RE-developer. He finds very old buildings with great bones that have tested time and survived. He doesn't do much ground up.

Blatstein on the other hand does a lot of ground up. Including his rittenhouse home. The only thing original about that building will be the facade. The rest was demo'd. Anyway, Blatstein is also the proud developer of the Edge (which talk to any student is TERRIBLE), and the Piazza with it's paper thin walls. I could only imagine what the luxurious "Provence" would have been like. Thank god that's DOA

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

When was the last time you were in Bloomingdales? It's not Neiman or Barneys (not much is), but it's pretty high end. It would be a big upgrade over the kind of stores they are now talking about at the 'Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia'. I'd be fine with it there. It would be a good anchor and help cement the success of that project and the kind of vibe and demographics they are going for there. The retail at 1911 is probably more likely to be and may be better off as high end specialty shops. Even the footprint, which is large for what it is, probably is not big enough. They can go up as many floors as they want. But department stores usually like a lot of contiguous space on each floor.

Ha ha. Thanks for the explanation macguyver.

I work in Operations for a major fashion company that sells to all the big department stores...so yeah...I've been in a lot of department stores.

Among fashion industry folks, Bloomingdales doesn't have the cache it does for the public. They're not particularly effective at moving through product and they're struggling right now.

I can tell you this is fact. For every item X that a fashion company Y makes, Nordstrom is likely to sell it 2X as fast, if not more. At the end of the day, that's all anyone who makes and sells product cares about. So you can get your hard on about Bloomingdales but it's not that great of a company. They don't command the primo location people are suggesting nor do they have the primo clientelle you think they do. These days, they operate more like an upscale Macy's. It's the special touch of being a part of the Federated chain of stores, hq'd out of Ohio.