Add $325 Million To Price For Philadelphia Gallery Makeover

The Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust and the Macerich Co. say it will take $325 million in new investment to transform the Gallery at Market East into what they are calling Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia.

That is on top of the $250 million already spent by PREIT to assemble what had been privately owned property in the project area, bringing the total development cost to about $575 million.

The rest of the area still owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority will be conveyed to the developers as part of the revitalization plan being reviewed by City Council.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150529_Add__325_million_to_price_for_Gallery_makeover.html#F7QlJvyP5ed6ECxM.99

Has Philadelphia’s Market East’s Time Finally Come?

If Philadelphia were a basketball court, Market Street East would be that inexplicable dead spot on the floor, the place where the ball just doesn’t bounce.

The eight-block corridor has four Dunkin’ Donuts and two Subway sandwich shops — but no outdoor cafe. A McDonald’s sits in what used to be a porn emporium.

The mid-street shopping selection on what should be a glittery avenue ranges from drug store to cut-rate clothing to cash-for-gold. Addicts come and go from a methadone clinic. The homeless own the corners, and the constant, rolling wall of buses fouls the air.

For years, when people like Paul Levy pitched the route’s potential to developers, they answered, “Yeah, I get it, but nobody goes to Market Street.”

Read more:  http://www.philly.com/philly/business/Mall_to_the_Hall.html

For Colony Of Merchants, Gallery Makeover Is Painful

Every day, Miss Anna comes to the Gallery – and on Tuesday, she was particularly elegant, in a long purple sweater, fashionable hairstyle, her eyebrows etched in darkly, perfectly arched.

“Her brother died two years ago,” said George Thomas, who owns the Creative Silver jewelry kiosk on the ground floor. “She was crushed. If I don’t see Miss Anna for two days, I worry. I call her.”

Who will worry about Anna Mazella, an Aramark retiree in her 80s, when Thomas closes his business – not by choice – at the end of the month?

In November, the Gallery’s owners, the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust and the Macerich Co., began to tell dozens of merchants that they would have deadlines to leave – some by the end of December, others at the end of January or February.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150121_For_colony_of_merchants__Gallery_makeover_is_painful.html#SEk4SQJIJbQS6D4o.99

Philadelphia’s Market East Set For Extreme Makeover

Image via Wikipedia

Market East, the shopping district stretching from City Hall to Independence Mall, is best known for its hodgepodge of discount clothing emporiums, “we buy gold” shops and vacant buildings, all set to the soundtrack of the music blaring from storefront speakers. Over the years, there have been many attempts to gentrify this neighborhood — and so far, all have failed. But now, a makeover seems imminent.

After years of false starts, change is now coming fast. Last month, The Inquirer and Daily News announced they will relocate to the vacant Strawbridge & Clothier department store at Eighth and Market (with $2.9 million in city financing). This summer, Nutter signed a bill (introduced by outgoing City Councilman and billboard enthusiast Frank DiCicco) to create an outdoor advertising district in Market East to replace the grit with Times Square-style glitter. Philadelphia Real Estate Investment Trust is planning to renovate and upgrade the Gallery Mall, and a 2009 city plan — now finally coming to fruition — calls for the redevelopment of the south side of the street’s 1100 block. The rumor is it will be anchored by a Target.

Read more: http://www.citypaper.net/news/2011-12-08-market-east-development-project-philadelphia.html