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Shopping Centers Today -> December 2000
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Retail revival set for Philadelphia’s 13th Street
By Dave Bodamer
Tony Goldman, the man who helped recreate the once-deteriorated areas that are now Manhattan’s hip Soho district and Miami’s South Beach, has set his sights on Philadelphia this time, particularly a region just east of the city’s historic City Hall.
Goldman’s company, Goldman Properties, has purchased more than 20 sites around that area and will spend an additional $42 million rehabilitating the beaten-down buildings. His vision includes a strip of boutique stores, cafes and restaurants lining the area with new facades and a design geared toward pedestrians.
Goldman said he would like to see Philadelphia achieve its goal of becoming a 24-hour city in the mold of New York City or San Francisco.
The focus for Goldman’s project is 13th Street, which sits just east of Broad Street — one of the city’s main streets — and intersects with Market, Walnut and Locust streets, all of which are lined with newer shops and are often filled with people. The area is part of Philadelphia’s Center City region and sits between the new convention center and the Avenue of the Arts.
Goldman calls this strip a “donut” in the middle of several great walking areas. He said that filling the donut with boutiques, cafes and restaurants will be like inserting the last piece of a puzzle, integrating Philadelphia’s Center City region and creating one of the most pedestrian-friendly downtowns in the United States, if not the world.
“I’m going to create a destination street — small shops, interesting stores and innovative businesses, funky restaurants and coffee shops — that will not be anywhere else,” Goldman said.
The street that is Goldman’s prime target is lined with buildings that are generally between two and five stories tall. They are a bit drab, with many of the facades dirtied and many of the shops dark or closed. The project calls for renovating the interiors and exteriors of the buildings. Some of the specifics still need to be worked out, but in general Goldman will integrate retail and residential, much like he did at Soho, with the upper floors of the purchased buildings featuring loft spaces above street-level stores and restaurants. Some of the buildings will also have office space.
“There is so much architecture in that neighborhood that really defines the city — and the fact that he’s found value in it is incredibly exciting,” said Paul Levy, head of the Center City District. The Center City District is part of the Central Philadelphia Development Corp., one of two nonprofit groups working to revitalize the neighborhood along with the East of Broad Improvement Association.
“We are all here for the common good,” said Ron Caplan, the president of Philadelphia Management, a development company that also owns some buildings in the district Goldman is attempting to revitalize. “I think part of his goal is to create a spin which will help him attract retail tenants. I want him to succeed and make lots of money. We all want to create a 24-hour city.”
At the core of Goldman’s strategy is a reliance on local and regional retailers and restaurants rather than national ones. He said he wants local entrepreneurs with vision and unique products. He told Philadelphia Magazine he is “interested in those who are committed with hip-thrust to being different.”
As part of that plan, Goldman Properties will develop concepts of its own, including a new restaurant that it plans to call Philadelphia Kitchen. The company has already applied for a state liquor license for the restaurant. In October, Goldman also received a permit to demolish two small buildings on Drury Street, where the company will build a temporary parking lot that will eventually be replaced with a mixed-use retail and residential project.
Goldman fought to get the district established as a tax-incremental financing (TIF) zone, but some controversy surrounded that request. Goldman eventually convinced the city to offer a TIF package not just for his project, but also as a fund that other developers could pull from as well for any projects they do in the same neighborhood. In other cities, this sort of TIF structuring has been done before, but Philadelphia has never offered TIFs in this way. The City Council approved the package, with about $9 million going to Goldman’s project.
Some of the buzz around the project has died down in recent months after a blitz of publicity surrounded Goldman’s acquisitions in Philadelphia last year. Observers who are eagerly watching to see if the venture succeeds have grown impatient. But Goldman responds to his critics by saying that one of the keys to the project’s success will be the simultaneous opening of about a dozen retailers.
Goldman said he believes this approach will be best in order to create the impact needed to change people’s perceptions of the neighborhood. However, Goldman also realizes that the turnaround will not happen overnight, and the overall transformation will take place in several phases. In some cases, he has to wait until leases on certain “low rent’’ properties expire so he can re-lease the locations to more desirable tenants. Moreover, while the group has purchased dozens of sites, there are other parts of the strip that are not under his control at all.
Goldman has struck gold before with his work in Soho and South Beach. Only time will tell if his latest risk will reap rewards. “We’re very supportive of these plans. It’s very positive for Center City. That street is poised for positive development,” Center City District Director of Communications Elise Vider said.
“We’ll be very excited to see these plans come to fruition.”
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