Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes

Category: Commercial Real Estate

  • Good government fix or a demolition derby? Historic preservation bill is provoking debate in Philly.

    Good government fix or a demolition derby? Historic preservation bill is provoking debate in Philly.

    Historic preservation advocates are sounding the alarm about legislation from Councilmember Mark Squilla, which they argue would weaken existing protections in Philadelphia.

    The bill, introduced Nov. 20, would institute changes to the city’s Historical Commission, which regulates properties on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and ensures that they cannot be demolished or their exteriors substantially altered.

    “This is the first time the [preservation] ordinance has been proposed for amendment in decades,” said Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. “This is a developer-driven proposal that does not reflect any of the priorities of the preservation community.”

    Proponents of the bill argue that it is simply meant to give more notice and power to property owners before their buildings are considered by the Historical Commission.

    “The bill does nothing to decrease the power of the Historical Commission to protect important historic resources,” said Matthew McClure, who served as co-chair of the regulatory committee of Mayor Jim Kenney’s preservation task force.

    “It is a modest good government piece of legislation,” said McClure, a prominent zoning attorney with Ballard Spahr. He emphasized that he was not speaking on behalf of a client.

    The bill was introduced too late in this year’s Council session to receive a hearing. Squilla says it will be considered next year.

    Currently, the interest group most supportive of the bill is the development industry. But even some preservation opponents are displeased with Squilla’s effort, arguing that it does too little for homeowners.

    “Everybody’s talking, and I think they all agree to move forward with continued conversations to maybe tweak the language a little bit so everybody feels comfortable with it,” Squilla said.

    At least one more stakeholder meeting will be held in December.

    Tensions over preservation

    Squilla’s proposal comes in the midst of heightened debate around preservation in Philadelphia, where the majority of buildings were constructed before 1960.

    Over the last decade, the number of historically protected properties doubled, although well below 5% of the city’s buildings are covered. Preservationists oppose what they see as a demolition-first approach to development in the United States’ only World Heritage City.

    Recently large new historic districts have been created to cover neighborhoods like Powelton Village, parts of Spruce Hill, and 1,441 properties in Washington Square West.

    These have provoked backlash among some homeowner groups and pro-development advocacy organizations, which see these regulations as increasing housing costs.

    Members of the Philadelphians for Rational Preservation gathered at Seger Park in the Washington Square West neighborhood on July 27 to talk about their opposition to the Washington Square West Historic District.

    Some property owners have grievances against the way the local nomination process works.

    In Philadelphia, citizens are empowered to nominate buildings to the local register — giving buildings protection from demolition or exterior changes — without input from the property owner until the Historical Commission considers the case.

    This practice persistently causes controversy, especially because there are few local incentives for homeowners whose properties get protected.

    In some localities, preservation protections are promulgated exclusively by planners. In others, owner consent is required.

    “The current historic nomination process is most often dictated by nongovernmental actors who operate without notice to property owners,” McClure said. “The administration’s bill is aimed at increasing transparency and basic fairness during the nomination process.”

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration did not respond to a request for comment.

    What’s in the bill

    Squilla’s bill is thick with new provisions to the local historic ordinance. A key aspect of the legislation gives property owners at least 30 days before a pending nomination of their building is considered by the commission and protections kick in.

    While homeowners probably would not have time to radically alter the exterior of their house — and presumably wouldn’t demolish it — preservationists fear that developers will use the extra time to begin razing historic buildings.

    “No one likes the notice provision the way it’s written; that’s freaking people out,” Steinke said. “We made clear why we think that’s a problem, and we were heard. Of course, the development community would love it to be the way it’s currently expressed in the bill.”

    A Victorian home in the Spruce Hill historic district. Recently large new historic districts have been created to cover neighborhoods like Powelton Village, parts of Spruce Hill, and 1,441 properties in Washington Square West.

    The delayed provision particularly worries preservationists in combination with a proposed requirement that the commission approve permits — including demolition or exterior design work — if “material commitments” were made to plans before the attempt to protect the historic building.

    Other provisions include language to make it more difficult to protect land because it may house archaeological remains. It also limits the ability to consider a property for protection due to its relation to a landscape architect (as opposed to, say, a building designer).

    Why some preservation critics dislike the bill

    One critic of Squilla’s bill is a new group of residents angry at the costs of preservation protections to homeowners following the creation of the Washington Square West historic district.

    Despite their animus toward existing preservation rules in the city, groups like 5th Square and Philadelphians for Rational Preservation called the legislation a sop to those who least need help.

    “While this bill is a boon to developers, it doesn’t help ordinary Philadelphians,” said Jonathan Hessney of Philadelphians for Rational Preservation.

    He argues that Squilla isn’t curbing historic districts that burden homeowners, “while at the same time risks allowing genuinely historic properties to be destroyed in the new 30-day race to demolish or deface it creates.”

    A possible reform that some critics of the bill would like to see are flexible, tiered historic districts, where only a select group of buildings would be fully regulated. Demolition protections would still exist for many buildings, but most would not be subjected to oversight for changes like replacing a door or window.

    “That was discussed as something that the preservation community would like to see that was mentioned in the original draft and then stripped out,” Steinke said.

    Squilla said the pushback surprised him, given that negotiations have been held since June. He’s confident a compromise can be reached.

    Beyond the Preservation Alliance — the advocacy group with the most funding and pull in City Hall — the bill has caused alarm among historic activists.

    “It was a blindside to the progress that many stakeholders in the preservation community felt they were reaching with him,” said Arielle Harris, an advocate. “Squilla understands the preservation climate in the city — given that he was on the preservation task force — so this is out of left field.”

  • How Chestnut Hill’s main street is staying relevant in the Amazon era

    How Chestnut Hill’s main street is staying relevant in the Amazon era

    At lunchtime on a Thursday, a week before Thanksgiving, Chestnut Hill was buzzing.

    Inside the newly expanded Matines Café, almost every table was full. People sipped warm drinks from large mugs and ate Parisian croissants and quiche. Bottles of prosecco sat on ice by one large table adorned with Happy Birthday balloons.

    McNally’s Tavern was bustling, too, with regulars sitting at the bar and at tables inside the cozy, nearly 125-year-old establishment atop the hill. Multiple generations gathered — a son taking a father out to lunch, a mother with a baby in a stroller, and two sisters, Anne and Meg McNally, running the place.

    Behind the storefronts along Germantown Avenue’s main drag, some people perused the boutiques, while others typed away on laptops in coffee shops.

    In the northwest Philadelphia neighborhood known for its wealth and postcard-picturesque aesthetic, the small-town charm of longstanding establishments — four are more than 100 years old — is now complemented by the shine of some newer shops and restaurants. Several Chestnut Hill business owners said the variety has helped both old and new spots succeed despite broader economic challenges, including inflation and tariffs, and the loss of a few restaurants.

    A view down Germantown Avenue from the Chestnut Hill SEPTA Regional Rail station.
    The closed Iron Hill Brewery is shown in downtown Chestnut Hill on Nov. 19.

    As the owner of Kilian Hardware, which has been in business for 112 years, Russell Goudy Jr. has watched the avenue change. Fifty years ago, he said it was “basically like a shopping mall,” a one-stop shop for everyday needs.

    In recent years, however, the neighborhood has focused on attracting and retaining unique food and beverage businesses, “quaint, specialty shops,” and service-oriented businesses, which Goudy said offer experiences Amazon and other e-commerce platforms can’t replicate.

    “If you’re not giving people an experience in today’s economy, it’s very tough to compete,” said Nicole Beltz, co-owner of Serendipity Shops, which for a decade has had an expansive store on Germantown Avenue. And providing a memorable experience is never more important than during the lucrative last few months of the year.

    “When you come to Chestnut Hill over the holidays, you get what you came for,” Beltz said. “You get that charming feeling of being somewhere special for the holiday.”

    People walk by holiday decor outside Robertson’s Flowers & Events in Chestnut Hill earlier this month.

    ‘New vitality’ coming to the Chestnut Hill restaurant scene

    During the holidays and all year long, Chestnut Hill business owners said they’re grateful that the neighborhood has held onto its charm despite recent challenges.

    During the pandemic, “it definitely felt a little grim and dark,” said Ann Nevel, retail advocate for the Chestnut Hill Business District. “The impressive thing is the old-timers, the iconic businesses, and some of the newer restaurants … pretty much all were agile enough to tough it out.”

    And a slew of other businesses have moved into the community since then. In the last four years, 20 retail shops, 20 service businesses, and 10 food and beverage spots opened in Chestnut Hill, Nevel said, while several existing establishments expanded.

    Among them was Matines Café, which opened a small spot on Bethlehem Pike in 2022 and expanded this fall to a second, much larger location on Highland Avenue. The café serves 500 people or more on weekdays, according to its owners, and even more on weekends.

    Sitting inside their original location, which is now a cozy children’s café, Paris natives Amanda and Arthur de Bruc recalled that they originally thought they’d open a café in Center City, where they lived at time. Then, they visited Chestnut Hill and fell in love, despite “a lot of empty spots” there around 2022, Amanda de Bruc said.

    A colorful storefront along Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill.

    “We liked the idea of living in the suburbs, which technically Chestnut Hill is not the suburbs, because it’s still Philly,” she said. But “we were looking for something that we were more used to, like Paris. There are so many boutiques in such a small area,” and everything is walkable.

    The opening of shops and cafés like Matines became a “catalyst for this new vitality, a new, more contemporary energy that has taken hold in Chestnut Hill,” Nevel said. Soon, “we’re going to see that new vitality in the restaurant scene,” including in some long-vacant storefronts.

    In 2026, former Four Seasons sommelier Damien Graef is set to open a wine bar, retail store, and fine-dining spot called Lovat Square off Germantown Avenue, Nevel said. On the avenue, a café-diner-pub concept called the Blue Warbler is under construction and also slated to open sometime next year.

    Kilian Hardware in Chestnut Hill has been in business for 112 years.

    In downtown Chestnut Hill, there are still a few empty spots, including those left by Campbell’s Place, a popular restaurant that closed this summer; Diamond Spa, which closed this fall; Iron Hill Brewery, which closed in September (right before the regional chain filed for bankruptcy); and Fiesta Pizza III, which closed last year.

    Kismet Bagels, a popular local chain, was set to fill one of the spots this summer, but its deal fell through, co-owner Jacob Cohen said in a statement. He said they could “revisit the Chestnut Hill neighborhood” in the future.

    While the future of Iron Hill will be dictated by bankruptcy proceedings — which include an auction of assets set for next month — stakeholders say conversations are ongoing about some of the other vacancies.

    Shuttered Iron Hill breweries sit empty across the Philly area. What will become of them?

    Steve Jeffries, who is selling the Campbell’s building for $1.5 million, said he’s gotten a lot of interest from people who want to revive the nearly 3,000-square-foot space as a neighborhood pub, but one that is “more cutting edge.” Perhaps, he said, one that is not focused on craft beer, which has decreased in popularity, especially among younger generations.

    “The town is just screaming for other opportunities for nightlife and sports bars,” said Jeffries, executive vice president of Equity CRE. “There has been a connotation in the market that Chestnut Hill was kind of older, stuffy, that it wasn’t a nightlife town.”

    But that’s changing, Jeffries said.

    Char & Stave, an all-day coffee and cocktail bar, has done great business since moving into Chestnut Hill, its owner, Jared Adkins, said.

    Just ask Jared Adkins, owner of Char & Stave, an all-day coffee and cocktail bar at the corner of Germantown and Highland Avenues.

    After Nevel visited Ardmore and saw the success of Adkins’ original Char & Stave, she recruited him to open a Chestnut Hill location. It started as a holiday pop-up in 2022, then became a permanent presence the next year. Since he moved into town, Adkins said, business has been booming.

    “We’re really just busy all day long,” said Adkins. The café is open until 11 p.m. during the week, midnight on the weekends, and it often brings in musicians and hosts events.

    Adkins describes Char & Stave as a place where drinkers and nondrinkers alike can spend time together, and where people can get work done with coffee or a cocktail beside them: “It’s really a gathering place that fills a niche of a nice cocktail place.”

    More changes to come for Chestnut Hill

    Businesses along Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill are decorated for the holidays.

    Chestnut Hill business leaders and community members say they’re optimistic about the neighborhood’s continued evolution.

    As Brien Tilley, a longtime resident and community volunteer, ate lunch inside Cosimo’s Pizza Cafe, he said the community is doing well. But, he added, “it could always do better. It’s always in transition.”

    Nevel noted that restaurants require more capital to open than other businesses, so it can take awhile to fill those larger holes downtown.

    “The economy is tough,” said Anne McNally, a fourth-generation owner of McNally’s, as she sat by the tavern’s front window overlooking Germantown Avenue. But in Chestnut Hill, she gets the vibe that the community “wants us to be successful.”

    McNally and Goudy, of Kilian’s, both noted that their families bought their buildings decades ago. That has contributed to their longevity, both said, as has evolving with the customer base.

    For the McNally family, that meant transitioning from a “bar-bar,” with no clock or phone, to a bar-restaurant that closes at 10 p.m. For Goudy, it meant soliciting online orders and walk-in business from out-of-town and even out-of-state customers whose older homes require unique hardware.

    “Everything is changing,” Goudy said. “It’s important to keep changing and not to try to go back to where you were before.”

  • Robert A.M. Stern, renowned architect whose designs included the Comcast Center and the Museum of the American Revolution, has died at 86

    Robert A.M. Stern, renowned architect whose designs included the Comcast Center and the Museum of the American Revolution, has died at 86

    Robert A.M. Stern, 86, a leading architect over the past six decades who left his imprint on Philadelphia by designing the Comcast Center and the Museum of the American Revolution among other notable buildings, died Thursday, Nov. 27, at home in Manhattan after a brief pulmonary illness, his family said.

    Mr. Stern also wrote respected architectural histories, taught at Columbia and Yale universities, and was dean of Yale’s School of Architecture from 1998 to 2016.

    “Bob had a great sensitivity to urbanism in design. You can see that in Philadelphia, where his work certainly sits well where it is placed,” said developer John Gattuso, who worked closely with Mr. Stern on the Comcast Center, completed in 2008, the redevelopment of the Navy Yard, and other projects.

    “He was less concerned with theatrical architecture, the gymnastics, and understood how buildings contribute to a sense of place that resonates with people,” he said. For that reason, Gattuso said, “he tended to be underappreciated.”

    Stern and his firm designed the 975-foot Comcast Center, the headquarters for the cable and telecommunications giant, completed in 2008.

    The 975-foot-tall shimmering Comcast Center, the company’s original skyscraper on JFK Boulevard, straddles the tracks and concourse of Suburban Station, a commuter gateway to the city. An airy 120-foot glass atrium connects the building to the station, providing for a dramatic arrival from below, and overlooks a public plaza.

    “The Comcast Center may be his finest work in Philadelphia,” said architecture critic Inga Saffron, who writes for The Inquirer. “The scale is right. It’s not fat. It’s tapered.”

    Classical indentations in the 58-story building draw the eye upward, she said. “It’s a good dignified skyscraper … Buildings like this are embedded in the city.”

    Mr. Stern’s firm was also known for luxury apartment towers. In Manhattan they include 15 Central Park West, a limestone-clad condominium at the southwest corner of Central Park that was internationally hailed.

    The firm’s work also includes university buildings, including the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia; Weill Hall at the University of Michigan; and Miller Hall at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., among many others.

    In Philadelphia, Mr. Stern’s firm prepared the master plan for the Navy Yard, and designed buildings on Crescent Drive in that development and the 10 Rittenhouse condominium, as well as the American Water tower on the Camden Waterfront — and the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University.

    Robert A.M. Stern designed the former U.S. headquarters for GSK at Five Crescent Drive in the Navy Yard, Philadelphia. He and his associates put together the master plan for the redevelopment of the massive property.

    Mr. Stern was a proponent of post-modernism, a style of architecture that incorporated classical elements. He moved further in that direction as his career went on.

    Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution was built in a Georgian style. But to Saffron, it was perhaps too much, and more out of place to the city.

    “He embraces classicism more and more,” Saffron said. In the case of the museum, “It’s a schlocky classicism,” in contrast to the relatively modest scale of the historic buildings in Old City.

    “It’s like Independence Hall on steroids,” Saffron said.

    The latest Robert A.M. Stern Architects design in Philadelphia is nearing completion, a massive life sciences research building at Drexel University, on Cuthbert Street, by Gattuso Development Partners.

    In an interview with the New York Times when he was 84, Mr. Stern said he still wasn’t using a computer and drew “everything by hand.”

    Born in Brooklyn on May 23, 1939, Mr. Stern earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia and a master’s in architecture from Yale. In 1966, he married photographer Lynn Gimbel Solinger, a granddaughter of Bernard Gimbel, the department store magnate. They had a son, Nicholas, and later divorced.

    Mr. Stern is survived by his son, three grandchildren, and other relatives.

    The Washington Post contributed to this article.

  • Is a vacant lot better than a decrepit building? Inside Philly’s latest debate over aging buildings

    Is a vacant lot better than a decrepit building? Inside Philly’s latest debate over aging buildings

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker unveiled her planning process for the future of Market East earlier this month to a room packed with many of the city’s top developers, lobbyists, and business leaders.

    Her news conference followed the announcement that the alliance between the Philadelphia 76ers and Comcast had plans to demolish buildings on the 1000 block of Market Street, without saying what they plan to do with the soon-to-be vacant space.

    A Comcast executive’s promise to “turbocharge” development on the beleaguered corridor did not quiet dissent in the packed room from a group of historic preservationists who stood solemnly holding signs reading “No More Holes On Market Street” and “No Plan, No Demo.”

    The moment captured a recurring dynamic in modern Philadelphia, a city where over 70% of buildings reportedly date to before 1960 but only 4.4% of them have a degree of protection from demolition by the Historical Commission.

    Good government fix or a demolition derby? Historic preservation bill is provoking debate in Philly.

    Preservationists have long called for stronger protections against demolition, and neighborhood groups have condemned developers for leaving vacant lots in their midst when projects fail, as Toll Brothers did on Jewelers Row.

    Now two bills in City Council would require property owners to get a building permit for a new structure before they move forward with demolition.

    “This bill is about putting commonsense guardrails in place,” said Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young, who represents much of North Philadelphia and part of Center City.

    His bill, which covers his entire district, requires a building permit before a property owner can demolish a structure, with exceptions for dangerous buildings.

    “It ensures property owners are prepared to move forward responsibly and that residents aren’t stuck living beside another empty lot with no timeline or plan,” Young said in a statement.

    “This isn’t about slowing down development; it’s about preventing speculative demolition that destabilize blocks. This is about preserving communities,” Young said.

    Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s bill would enact similar rules for parts of University City, where higher education institutions are dominant, as part of a larger package of land-use regulations.

    Builder and developer advocacy groups say the legislation is a potential new burden on a key economic sector that’s been flagging in recent years.

    The Building Industry Association (BIA), the trade association for residential developers, cautioned that new regulations were especially unwelcome in a time of higher interest rates and high construction material prices, especially as Parker makes housing a centerpiece of her agenda.

    “I’m not sure why Council would create more barriers for delivering new homes,” said Sarina Rose, president of the BIA and an executive with the Post Brothers development firm. “It’s a really bad time to do that. Unfortunately, some old buildings simply are not good fits for adaptive reuse.”

    The BIA and its allies are backing legislation that would make it easier to demolish some older buildings for new construction.

    Councilmember Mark Squilla introduced legislation the week before Thanksgiving that would weaken protections for structures nominated to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

    At the same time, Parker promises to pursue legislation in the next year to prompt adaptive reuse or demolition of underused buildings by offering a 20-year property tax abatement.

    Demolition policy in other cities

    In a city as old as Philadelphia, razing buildings is often a fraught process.

    Currently the only safeguards against demolition come with a successful nomination to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, and in the handful of neighborhoods protected by conservation zoning overlays, property owners have to get building permits before demolition (a template for Gauthier and Young’s bills).

    But given the city’s economic and demographic doldrums in the second half of the 20th century, municipal government enacted most of the demolitions of unsafe and abandoned buildings, usually in lower-income neighborhoods.

    Mayor John F. Street’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, the centerpiece of his administration, spent half its $300 million (in George W. Bush-era dollars) on demolishing thousands of buildings in the early 2000s.

    That dynamic changed in the last decade, as low interest rates and a surge of new residents juiced real estate development to levels not seen in the city for generations. The private sector began to regularly outpace city government in demolition permits, as developers cleared the way for new projects.

    Preservationists pushed back. Under Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration (2016-24), the movement demanded new policies such as a demolition review requirement. Before an applicable building could be razed, municipal authorities reviewed its historic merits and adaptive potential.

    Similar policies of varying strength exist in cities from Santa Monica, Calif., to Chicago. In the latter case, it applies to buildings from before 1940 that were included in a citywide survey of historic places.

    Demolition of New Light Beulah Baptist Church at 17th and Bainbridge Streets, a block below South Street.

    During Kenney’s administration, a preservation task force called for a survey and demolition delay as in Chicago, but no elected officials championed the ideas.

    Laws like the ones Gauthier and Young are proposing are less common but are used in municipalities like Spokane, Wash., and Pasadena, Calif. Similar regulations exist for properties in Philadelphia’s conservation districts.

    In Spokane, the regulations apply to buildings in the downtown core, those along commercial corridors and buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, which is more of an honorary designation that affords protections.

    “You have to have that building permit in hand, plus you have to show us that you have the financial backing to build that replacement building,” said Megan Duvall, Spokane’s historic preservation officer. “If you also can’t show us that you have the construction loan in hand, we won’t allow you to demolish that building.”

    Why City Council is acting now

    The sudden renewal of interest in demolition policy began when St. Joseph’s University sold much of its West Philadelphia campus, acquired through a merger with University of the Sciences in 2022, to a charter school operator founded by student housing mogul Michael Karp.

    After the sale, Gauthier proposed placing controls on the sprawling higher education footprint in her district.

    As higher education comes under acute financial and demographic pressure, she fears that building sales by struggling universities could result in demolition and resale of newly vacant lots to developers without the wherewithal to complete projects or speculators with no desire to build quickly.

    “The safety and quality-of-life in our neighborhoods should not be disrupted by incomplete or uncertain projects,” Gauthier said in a statement. “I believe requiring responsible development practices is a commonsense approach in today’s uncertain development market.”

    Jeffery “Jay” Young outside Independence Hall.

    Young’s bill covering much of North Philadelphia and parts of Center City followed the introduction of Gauthier’s legislation. Neither bill has been passed by City Council.

    According to the Philadelphia Planning Commission, from January 2022 through November 2025 approximately 580 demolition permits were issued in Young’s district. The Department of Licenses and Inspections said that with a few tweaks, his proposed bill would be enforceable.

    Young says his legislation was inspired by frequent calls from constituents who hate the vacant lots that dot their neighborhoods and are frustrated with promised development that never comes to fruition. Both bills exempt buildings in poor condition that are considered dangerous.

    While welcoming this spate of demolition regulation, preservationists would prefer citywide policies, not district by district.

    “These bills are important first steps, and this is the moment to build them into a modern, citywide framework consistent with approaches already used in several peer cities,” said RePoint, the preservation advocacy group that protested the mayor’s Market East announcement, in an unsigned statement.

    Real estate industry backlash

    At the same time, Philadelphia’s development industry is embarking on its own campaign to ease existing preservation rules and to push back against these new bills. Both Gauthier’s and Young’s bills have been critiqued by business groups and by the zoning lawyers who often represent developers.

    “This is one-tenth of the city of Philadelphia, just based upon a political subdivision [that] changes every 10 years,” Matthew McClure, a prominent zoning attorney, said in testimony about Young’s bill before the Planning Commission. “It’s the exact opposite of planning.”

    Groups including the Building Industry Association are backing a new bill from Squilla that the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia fears will stoke more demolitions.

    It would require a new 30- to 60-day window before a building nominated to the local register of historic places could be given protection, which critics believe will incentivize owners to tear down empty buildings quickly.

    The mayor’s proposed 20-year property tax abatement proposal for adaptive reuse projects also allows room for demolition if buildings are considered unadaptable, which preservationists fear will bring back the wrecking ball-forward incentives of the city’s earlier abatement policies.

    In the last week, groups like the Preservation Alliance have pivoted from thinking about new demolition regulations to playing defense.

    “We’re still trying to wrap our heads around it all,” said Paul Steinke, the Preservation Alliance’s executive director. “It’s a lot to take in, and it’s happening after a decade or so of a building boom where we lost a chunk of the historic fabric.”

  • How is Center City retail doing? It depends what street you’re on.

    How is Center City retail doing? It depends what street you’re on.

    Center City was resilient this year, reporting slight increases in foot traffic and overall retail occupancy despite high-profile closures along Market Street.

    About 84% of Center City storefronts were occupied as of October, up one percentage point from the same time last year, according to the Center City District’s annual survey of business owners. Occupancy has hovered around that point since at least 2023 and has yet to recover to its pre-pandemic level of 89% in 2019.

    So far in 2025, an average of 343,540 people walked through Center City each day, an increase of more than 3% from last year, the survey found. Each section of Center City, from the beleaguered Market East to the thriving Rittenhouse Square area, saw at least a 1% bump in average daily foot traffic, according to the survey.

    Some retail corridors, however, are looking more vibrant than others.

    window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});

    Market Street continues to struggle on both sides of Broad Street.

    As of October, the office-centric western side of Market had the lowest occupancy in Center City at 62%.

    Market East, the future of which continues to be debated by city stakeholders, had a 72% occupancy rate. It has been impacted by a slew of recent closures, including Macy’s, Rite Aid, Iron Hill Brewery, and Giant Heirloom supermarket. The Center City District calculates occupancy rates by number of storefronts, not total square footage.

    Market East stakeholders weigh revitalization plans after Sixers and Comcast announce building demolitions

    On Chestnut Street, the eastern and western sections have vastly different occupancies. The eastern side recorded a 71% occupancy rate in October, according to the survey, while 81% of stores on the western side were occupied.

    Walnut Street continues to be the district’s shining star, with 86% occupancy in both the eastern and western sections, according to the survey. In the report, the Center City District highlighted several new additions, including the luxury women’s fashion company Aritzia and North America’s first Nike Jordan World of Flight store.

    The report once again highlighted the success of the Open Streets program, during which roads are closed to car traffic and become pedestrian walkways for shopping and dining. There have been 21 Open Streets events since its inception in September 2024, with more planned for December and next year.

    The events bring out more than 10,000 people on average, according to the report, and typically result in a 65% boost in businesses’ foot traffic and a 39% bump in sales volume.

    An Open Streets in April. There have been 21 Open Streets events since its inception in September 2024, with more planned for December and next year.

    Looking to the future, the district surveyed 700 Philadelphia renters to ask what types of retailers they’d like to see more of in Center City.

    “Downtown residents seek convenient access to everyday goods, full-service grocery stores and home furnishing options — all within walking distance,” district executives wrote in the report, noting that these types of businesses could fill vacancies in office buildings or in the concourse around Suburban Station.

    “CCD looks forward to convening office district stakeholders in 2026 to discuss a coordinated retail attraction strategy that could reposition the office district as a place to accommodate many of the retailers Center City is currently missing.”

    Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included an incorrect comparison between 2025 and 2024 for occupancy on Market Street.

  • 20-year tax abatement to help turn schools and offices into homes may soon be legal in Philly

    20-year tax abatement to help turn schools and offices into homes may soon be legal in Philly

    Philadelphia developers may soon benefit from a 20-year property tax abatement to convert large, underutilized properties into residences.

    Buried among the litany of provisions in the state budget and fiscal code in Harrisburg, which both passed last week, new language was included that allows Philadelphia to exempt “improvements that convert deteriorated property into residential housing units” from property taxes for up to 20 years.

    If a building is deemed too difficult to convert to housing, the new legal language will allow a developer to demolish a building and still get the abatement.

    The legislation defines “deteriorated property” as “any industrial, commercial or other business property, or property previously used for government purposes, including a school” that is located in what the legislation calls “a deteriorating area.”

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration has been eyeing such legislation as a means to incentivize new housing — a key priority for the mayor — and to find new uses for underutilized office and school buildings.

    It is now up to City Council and Parker’s administration to craft a local law within the confines of what the state government newly allows. According to state law, local officials must also define what geographic areas under their purview qualify as “a deteriorating area.” Council President Kenyatta Johnson says he supports the 20-year abatement.

    The abatements would “ensure that there are no vacant office buildings here in the city, and … incentivize the building of affordable housing,” said Parker in an interview. “That’s where I think it’s going to matter the most.”

    Shuttered schools and the Roundhouse

    Currently, the city has a 10-year abatement that applies to all residential properties for renovations — which includes conversions — and a half-strength abatement for new construction that begins with a 100% break on a project’s property taxes and then tapers by 10% annually over a 10-year period.

    Parker said that her administration worked with State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Philadelphia), State Rep. Jordan Harris (D., Philadelphia), and State Sen. Joe Picozzi (R., Philadelphia) to get the new language into the contentious Harrisburg budget.

    The administration is now working on crafting legislation to present to Council early next year. She sees it as a crucial incentive in her H.O.M.E. effort to build or preserve 30,000 units of housing.

    Parker emphasized that while the new legislation is meant to help solve the office market crisis in Center City, she is most excited for it to be applied to shuttered public schools and other large, underused buildings in outlying neighborhoods.

    “We have a menu of options, and this tool, this puts our efforts on steroids to build affordable housing in the city of Philadelphia,” Parker said. It is a “public good [that is] underproduced and has to be incentivized, and not just in Center City.”

    Lewis Rosman, the city’s chief deputy solicitor, pointed to the architecturally unique former police headquarters known as the Roundhouse as a property that could possibly benefit from the 20-year abatement as a way to demolish the existing structure and build a new one.

    “If you have a property like the Roundhouse that you can’t directly turn into housing, you got to take it down,” said Rosman, who helped write the state legislation. “It will be a new development, but presumably under enabling legislation from Council that will be implemented, it would be subject to the abatement.”

    Impact on affordable housing?

    Real estate groups in the city hailed the new legislation out of Harrisburg as a tool to fight blight and reactivate historic buildings.

    “For years, [we have] advocated for tools that make it possible to convert blighted, deteriorated properties into vibrant residential communities, and this expanded abatement authority does exactly that,” said Sarah Maginnis, executive director of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association’s (NAIOP) Philadelphia chapter.

    Mayor Parker said she plans to include provisions in the city’s abatement legislation to support affordable homes.

    “This is not a blanket windfall for billionaires,” Parker said.

    Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who chairs City Council’s housing committee and has been a champion of affordable housing, said she also supported the concept of a 20-year property tax abatement for residential conversion with the proviso that the city require some housing for lower-income residents in exchange for the tax incentive.

    “Construction costs are really high right now, and we need more housing, so I’m not against an abatement that would generate more housing,” said Gauthier. “At the same time, if we’re going to incentivize developers through a vehicle like this, it needs to have an affordability component.”

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaking at a press conference on the future of Market East earlier this month. Jessie Lawrence, Philadelphia director of planning and development, is pictured left.

    But developers with expertise in residential conversions warned against adding additional requirements, saying that the incentive is not generous enough to support below-market-rate rents.

    “A 20-year abatement without any strings attached will make a difference in Philadelphia,” said Leo Addimando, managing partner with Alterra Property Group, which has successfully executed many office-to-residential conversions in the city. “But if you attach any strings to it, you neuter it.”

    Addimando said a 20-year tax abatement could make some conversion projects viable by allowing developers to qualify for better financing, lowering their borrowing costs. But he argues those cost savings are not enough to pay for housing that would be affordable to low-income renters.

    Addimando said the subsidy could probably allow for developers to create lower-priced units for households who earn 120% to 80% of area median income — less than $123,000 to $85,000 for a family of three — but he assumed city policy would want to help lower-income families.

    “In that scenario, a 20-year tax abatement is not enough subsidy to move the needle,” said Addimando, who is a partner in the conversion of the Wanamaker building from offices to residential apartments.

  • Sloomoo Institute, an immersive slime playground, is one of King of Prussia Mall’s new stores this holiday season

    Sloomoo Institute, an immersive slime playground, is one of King of Prussia Mall’s new stores this holiday season

    At the King of Prussia Mall, you can add some slime (the fun kind) to your holiday shopping experience this year.

    Fresh off the opening of the first-ever Netflix House, the Montgomery County mall this week welcomed the Sloomoo Institute’s first Philly-area location. The sensory slime experience’s latest outpost is called a Sloomoo MiniMoo, and it’s a scaled-down, 3,000-square-foot version of its flagship stores.

    For between $24 and $26 a person, King of Prussia Sloomoo customers can design their own slime, choosing from different textures, colors, scents, and charms. They can also smush slime onto the wall, send it flying through the air with a slingshot, go elbow-deep in vats of slime, and take slime-making classes.

    Guests can also browse slime toys and other squishy, sensory gifts at the Sloomoo retail store, no ticket required.

    “King of Prussia is a playground for families,” cofounder Sara Schiller said in a statement, “and we’re bringing a world of slime designed to spark curiosity and pure, unfiltered joy.”

    Customers play with slime at another Sloomoo Institute location. The King of Prussia Mall opened a Sloomoo MiniMoo experience this week.

    Sloomoo Institute was founded by Schiller and her friend Karen Robinovitz, who had rediscovered slime as a way to feel joy again after personal losses and hardships.

    They opened their first location in New York in 2019, went viral on TikTok during the pandemic, and then expanded nationwide, opening outposts in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles. A Sloomoo MiniMoo also recently opened in Boston.

    Earlier this year, the founders told CNBC that Sloomoo brings in as much as $4.3 million a month in revenue from ticket sales alone.

    A look inside the King of Prussia Mall’s Sloomoo MiniMoo experience, which opened this week ahead of Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.

    At King of Prussia, Sloomoo MiniMoo welcomed its first customers last weekend, but it will celebrate its grand opening this Saturday, when the first 200 ticketed customers will receive a complimentary hot chocolate and “limited-edition Philly Cheesesteak-themed slime,” according to company officials. The first 100 guests on Saturday will get a bag charm.

    Sloomoo is located next to H&M on the upper level of the Plaza by Eataly, the mall’s new Italian culinary experience.

    Other new stores, restaurants, and experiences at the King of Prussia Mall

    Crowds shopped at the King of Prussia Mall on Black Friday 2022.

    While some other Philly-area malls have struggled or died — and others are trying to reinvent themselves — King of Prussia Mall seems to be thriving.

    Aside from Sloomoo, the mall has welcomed several other new stores, restaurants, and interactive experiences since August. A few retailers, including Lululemon, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Mejuri, have also expanded or relocated.

    As holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, customers can check out the following new additions:

    The “misery-go-round” inside of “Wednesday: Eve of the Outcasts” at the Netflix House, which opened earlier this month at the King of Prussia Mall.

    Stores coming soon to the King of Prussia Mall

    Shoppers sit with their bags at the King of Prussia Mall on Black Friday 2022.

    If you’re doing holiday shopping later in the season, or taking a trip to the mall between Christmas and New Year’s, you might be able to visit the following stores. All of them are set to open their first Philadelphia-area locations this December:

    In early 2026, Adidas and Columbia Sportswear are set to open stores in the King of Prussia Mall. Exact locations for those stores have yet to be announced.

    Looking even further ahead, Level99 is set to open a 46,000-square-foot live social-gaming venue on the ground floor of the former JCPenney in 2027.

  • Plymouth Meeting Mall slated to be sold to Philly developer

    Plymouth Meeting Mall slated to be sold to Philly developer

    The Plymouth Meeting Mall may soon change hands.

    The mall’s current owner, PREIT, plans to sell the property to LA Partners, previously known as Lubert Adler Real Estate Funds, PREIT leadership confirmed Thursday, noting that the sale is still pending. PREIT did not disclose the price of the sale.

    PREIT, which is based in Philadelphia, also sold the Exton Square Mall to Abrams Realty & Development in March. PREIT also owns the Cherry Hill and Moorestown Malls.

    LA Partners executive chairman Dean Adler told the Philadelphia Business Journal, which first reported on the pending sale, that he expects to invest over $100 million to redevelop the mall. Early plans include adding residences.

    PREIT CEO Jared Chupaila said in a statement that the sale reflects the company’s “commitment to disciplined balance sheet management and liquidity generation.”

    “We believe LA Partners is uniquely positioned to build on the multipurpose hub we have laid the groundwork for, which has long served as a central part of Plymouth Township and the surrounding communities,” said Chupaila.

    PREIT has faced financial challenges in recent years. The business has filed for bankruptcy twice since 2020, and most recently emerged from bankruptcy as a private company in 2024 helmed by a group of investment firms.

    The Plymouth Meeting Mall, for its part, has tried to undergo a makeover in the last few years, following the 2017 closure of its anchor, a 215,000 square-foot Macy’s. Amid PREIT’s plans to “diversify the tenant mix” at the mall, nearly half the tenants there were either dining or entertainment businesses in 2018.

    Lubert Adler’s other properties include the Bellevue in Center City, which recently underwent extensive renovations, and the Battery, a former power plant in Fishtown redeveloped into a multipurpose complex.

    A spokesperson for LA Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

    Peter Abrams, managing partner for Elkins Park-based Abrams Realty & Development, said the Plymouth Meeting Mall site “is the best-located large parcel of real estate in the Delaware Valley.”

    “There’s a lot of dead and dying malls in this country, and some of us, like myself and Dean Adler, understand the opportunity and aren’t afraid of the challenges, which are many,” said Abrams, who is behind proposed development plans at the Exton Square Mall.

    Boscov’s at Plymouth Meeting Mall on June 6, 2020.

    How did PREIT get here?

    At the time of PREIT’s bankruptcy filing in 2020, the business managed 4.7 million square feet of space in the region as the largest mall owner in the Philadelphia area.

    Consumers had already been shifting toward e-commerce before the pandemic. But as COVID forced nationwide shutdowns in 2020, some of PREIT’s tenants were forced to close, couldn’t pay rent, or didn’t want to, intensifying issues for the mall owner.

    Prior to the pandemic, PREIT sold off malls and tried to transform others by adding supermarkets, movie theaters, and apartments.

    Through the most recent bankruptcy process, PREIT shed $800 million in debt and gave up its stake in the Fashion District in Center City. When it emerged from bankruptcy last year, PREIT owned 13 malls across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.

    It’s a time of struggle and transition for many malls across the country, including several in the region that have survived beyond their heyday. In the Philadelphia suburbs, plans are in the works to redevelop mall sites including the Exton Square Mall and the former Echelon Mall in Voorhees.

  • Bellwether District could soon announce its first tenants

    Bellwether District could soon announce its first tenants

    Officials for the Bellwether District say they are in “late-stage negotiations” with potential tenants to occupy the first of many buildings planned for the 1,300-acre former refinery site in South and Southwest Philadelphia.

    However, Amelia Chassé Alcivar, a spokesperson for HRP Group, the site’s owner, said during an update on the project Tuesday that she would not comment on potential tenants.

    She was responding to a question from environmental advocate Mitch Chanin about whether a data center is a possible use on the site of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery that closed in 2019 after an explosion and fire.

    “I want to emphasize that no official announcements have been made at this time, so I cannot confirm … I cannot deny,” she said, adding that, “I would just generally preach caution if you’re reading anything in the press that is not confirmed by us on the record or by the company on the record.”

    Chassé Alcivar said that there are no plans to build a traditional power plant on site.

    A recent BillyPenn article cited a union official who said a cogeneration plant is being discussed for the site. Cogeneration is considered a nontraditional technology that simultaneously, and efficiently, produces heat and electricity on site.

    Chassé Alcivar said solar installations are being planned for at least some of the six million square feet of rooftops the development will have when fully built out over several phases in years to come.

    “I will share with this group that we are in late-stage negotiations with several prospective tenants,” she said.

    What’s the Bellwether District?

    HRP, which was spun off from its parent company, Hilco, is building two massive commercial campuses on the site of the former refinery.

    window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});

    It plans about 14 buildings for a 750-acre industrial campus with the potential for 10,500 jobs.

    And it plans a series of smaller buildings on a 250-acre innovation campus, originally slated to house mostly life sciences companies, with the potential for 8,500 jobs. The buildings are being designed for uses such as bio-manufacturing, processing, production, and tech.

    In all, HRP plans for about 14 million square feet of buildings across the two campuses.

    The ground of the sprawling site was tainted by 150 years of petroleum-related uses. As a result, it is undergoing a complex environmental remediation.

    In its most recent history, Sunoco sold the refinery to PES in 2012. PES owned it at the time of the explosion and subsequent closure. PES went bankrupt and sold the site to Hilco Redevelopment Partners, now just HRP, in 2020.

    Sunoco is responsible for contamination up to 2012. HRP is responsible for contamination after that. The two companies are coordinating cleanup with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

    Remediation is expected to be ongoing for years. Some of the soil will be capped by buildings and parking lots. Barriers are being installed to prevent vapors from volatile organic compounds in the ground from penetrating work areas in the buildings.

    What’s complete and what’s coming

    HRP says it will invest more than $4 billion into the redevelopment.

    So far, HRP has completed a 326,000-square-foot class A warehouse on its 750-acre industrial campus with poured concrete floors and structural steel column supports off 26th Street.

    It is finishing a second, 727,000-square-foot warehouse adjacent to the first with a planned boulevard leading into the campus for a total of little more than 1 million square feet.

    Last month, Bellwether applied for a permit for a 1.4-million-square-foot building titled DrinkPAK warehouse. California-based DrinkPAK is a large manufacturer of alcoholic and non-alcoholic canned beverages.

    DrinkPAK’s website lists two existing facilities: The first in Santa Clarita, Calif., and a second scheduled to open this year in Fort Worth, Texas. A map shows a third facility projected to open in 2027 in the Northeast with a marker showing an area in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

    Chassé Alcivar did not comment on that project during the meeting.

    Other updates:

    • HRP said it is planning to widen the intersection of 26th Street and Penrose Avenue from three lanes to five. The intersection will have two left turn lanes, one straight lane, and then two dedicated right turn lanes. And a new boulevard entrance at 26th and Hartranft Streets is being created, featuring roughly seven lanes in and out.
    • The company plans to plant 10,000 trees, bring buildings up to LEED standards, and to be solar ready. LEED certification is a system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to verify a building’s sustainable design, construction, operation, and maintenance.
    • Weekly readings of a benzene monitor are being taken as part of the THRIVEair Community Air Monitoring Project (CAMP) in South and Southwest Philadelphia. THRIVEair is a partnership between Drexel University and Philly Thrive, a local environmental justice organization.
    • HRP has launched a new driver education pilot program for students enrolled in construction and automotive career and technical education programs. Lack of a driver’s license has been cited as a barrier of entry to jobs.
  • West Philly affordable housing project could finally advance, almost 6 years after it was proposed

    West Philly affordable housing project could finally advance, almost 6 years after it was proposed

    An affordable housing project slated for a junkyard in Cedar Park took a step forward Wednesday, when a Philadelphia judge rejected a neighbor’s challenge. The courtroom victory brings the 104-unit, two-building project, which was conceived in 2020, closer to reality.

    Common Pleas Court Judge Idee Fox ruled that the new zoning of a triangular group of parcels on Warrington Avenue, which allows for buildings up to seven stories, was legal.

    Melissa Johanningsmeier, who lives next to the planned development, sued the city to stop the project in 2023, arguing that the building was inconsistent with the city’s goal of preserving single-family homes in Cedar Park.

    Johanningsmeier said in court filings she would be harmed by the parking, traffic, and loss of green space if the project were to proceed.

    The homeowner told Fox during a two-day October bench trial that there was widespread discontent with the project in the neighborhood.

    The judge seemed skeptical, as Johanningsmeier’s attorney didn’t provide witnesses or evidence to support claims of widespread backlash to the project that has been promoted by City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.

    It was not for her to decide whether the project was the best idea, Fox said, but whether the zoning was constitutional.

    “If the community is unhappy with what’s being done, they have the right to express their concerns to the councilwoman at the ballot box,” Fox said.

    Junkyard controversy

    The project dates to 2020, when New York affordable housing developer Omni formulated plans to add 174 reasonably priced apartments to the West Philadelphia neighborhood.

    But the developer’s plans for the junkyard at 50th and Warrington met opposition due to the proposed buildings’ height — six stories — and parking spaces for less than a third of the units.

    Omni’s plan required permission from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to move forward, which was more likely to succeed with neighborhood support. So they compromised.

    A new design unveiled in 2021 pushed the buildings back to the edge of the site, to avoid putting neighboring homes in shadow. A surface parking lot would offer 100 spaces for the 104 affordable apartments.

    These concessions appeased almost all of the critical neighbors and community groups. Many of them supported Omni before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which granted the project permission to move forward.

    But Johanningsmeier remained a critic. She lives on the border of the property and challenged the zoning board’s ruling in Common Pleas Court. Judge Anne Marie Coyle ruled in her favor, arguing the new building “would unequivocally tower over the surrounding family homes.”

    In the aftermath, Gauthier passed a bill to allow the project to move forward without permission from the zoning board. Johanningsmeier then sued over that legislation as well.

    Councilmember Jamie Gauthier in City Council in 2024.

    Affordable housing and fruit analogies

    The issue at the heart of the case was whether a zoning change to allow for large multifamily buildings was considered spot zoning on the small parcel, which Johanningsmeier’s lawyer argued was inconsistent with the types on buildings on surrounding properties.

    Just because the “mega apartment buildings” are for residential use doesn’t make the project similar to the surrounding zoning, which mostly allows single-family homes and duplexes, Edward Hayes, a Fox Rothschild attorney representing Johanningsmeier, told Judge Fox on Wednesday.

    “A cranberry and a watermelon are fruit,” Hayes said. “They are not the same.”

    And while affordable housing is a laudable cause, the attorney said, that doesn’t mean that the city should “shove it down the throat of a community” in the form of large buildings that are out of character with the rest of the neighborhood.

    An attorney representing the developer, Evan Lechtman of Blank Rome, told the judge existing buildings of similar height are nearby, across the railroad track in Kingsessing.

    “We are transforming a blighted, dilapidated junkyard into affordable housing,” the developer’s attorney said.

    Johanningsmeier’s lawyer, Hayes, declined to comment after the ruling, which could be appealed.

    Gauthier celebrated the outcome as a victory against gentrification.

    “Lower-income neighbors belong in amenity-rich communities like this one, where they can easily access jobs, healthcare, groceries, and other necessities,” said Gauthier. ”I hope the court’s ruling puts an end to gratuitous delays.”

    Housing advocates note that the years of neighborhood meetings and lawsuits over the project are an example of why housing, and especially affordable units, has become so expensive to build in the United States.

    In the face of determined opposition from even a single foe, projects can incur millions in additional costs.

    “It’s a travesty that one deep-pocketed opponent has been able to block access to housing for over 100 families in my neighborhood for years,” said Will Tung, a neighbor of the project and a volunteer with the urbanist advocacy group 5th Square. “It’s more expensive than ever to rent or buy here, and this project would be a welcome change to its current use as a derelict warehouse.”