Posted Oct 12, 2016, 7:13 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 48
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What I could glean from the HTML source....
** USEFUL TIP FOR PBJ:
1. open/ivew HTML source (CTRL-U in both Chrome/Firefox.. I'm not sure about Safari or IE)
2. Search for "content__segment"..
3. You will find the full article content hidden ;-) !!!
Quote:
The Philadelphia archives, a department now housed in space at 3101 Market St., is nearing a deal to relocate to the former Destination Maternity building in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of the city.
A bill has been introduced that would pave the way for that move to 456 N. 5th St. where the archives would occupy an estimated 70,000 square feet but could grow to as big as 80,000 square feet, according to Mike Dunn, a spokesman for the city. The move is being prompted by the expiration of the department’s lease in August 2017 at its existing location where it occupies 79,900 square feet.
If City Council passes the bill and a lease is signed, the move is anticipated to occur in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 before the existing lease expires, Dunn said.
Rich Previdi, a principal with Alliance Partners HSP, which owns the building, declined to comment on any pending deal for the city archives to move into the property.
The archives department considered locations that could accommodate the size, technical needs and the ability to provide public access, Dunn said. The move is a big one for the department and seeks to accomplish several goals among them improving public access, programming and exhibition space. The new location will also provide ample storage space for inactive records, which are required to be retained, and anticipated to make it easier to manage the records as well as improve accessibility for internal use.
The transaction, if made official, would mean the 225,000-square-foot building that was once a Destination Maternity warehouse would have just about 60,000 square feet remaining to be leased up. Yards Brewing Co. is exploring occupying roughly 85,000 square feet for a manufacturing facility and a restaurant.
Another big lease at the building would also take the property a step further to becoming a mixed-use project that has the potential to jump start more development and investment activity in and around it. In other words, it could be a game changer for that neighborhood.
A mixed-use development wasn’t the original plan for the former warehouse. Alliance Partners HSP of Bryn Mawr, Pa., bought the property at 5th and Spring Garden streets in 2014 and initially thought it would spend $60 million to convert it into edgy, creative office space. It was being branded as SoNo.
“The market didn’t want that,” Previdi said. “We wanted this to be market driven and to be a success but what became apparent to us is what we clearly had and that was the nicest, best located warehouse close to Center City and Independence Hall.”
So, Previdi and his team decided to go into a different direction. Rather than focus solely on office space, the firm sought to get the property rezoned to allow a mix of uses. Next up was figuring out what the right combination of residential, retail and office uses would work best at the property. Some projects, Pevidi said, are like a “puzzle.”
The remaining 60,000 square feet that is vacant is expected to be a combination of retail and multifamily uses.
You can see it coming together and pretty soon you’ve energized that whole area,” Previdi said.
Natalie Kostelni covers real estate and economic development.
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