Developer Bart Blatstein has an idea.
Like a lot of developers, ideas abound but this one has a
twist. Blatstein wants to take what he did at the Piazza in Northern Liberties
and roll it up into a condensed, vertical version on a site as big as a block
at South Broad Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia.
“This is not your standard building,” said Blatstein, who
runs Tower Investments Inc. “I want to take everything I’ve done in Northern
Liberties that is spread over several blocks and put it in one place. It’s a
self-contained community where you will never want to leave. Every amenity
known to mankind is here. For those of us with [attention deficit disorder],
this will be the perfect place.”
A rough sketch that Blatstein made of his plan (see photo)
detailed all the services he wants to put into the project: a dog park, a pool,
a running park, a private garden, fire pits, grilling areas, outdoor movies,
and tennis courts that convert into volleyball pits. All of the outdoor
activities would take place on the roof in an area roughly the same size as the
Piazza. Aside from retail and restaurants, the interior would offer a game and
a gaming room, a rock wall, basketball court, tech and bicycle shop, doggy day
care and then some.
All of this would be housed in a 30-story building that
would total a tad less than 1 million square feet. It would have 800 rental
residential units, which would create a critical mass to afford all of those
amenities, Blatstein said.
Blatstein decline to disclose how much the project might
cost but those familiar with these type of projects estimate it could come in
at more than $150 million.
It’s a different project than what Blatstein had initially
envisioned for the site, which has gone undeveloped for decades though some
developers have taken a stab at it only to walk away.
About six months ago, Blatstein put the 4.5-acre property
under contract for an amount he also declined to divulge. Hudson Capital
controls it. Blatstein initially thought a multi-tenanted retail center
totaling more than 400,000 square feet would be the best use for the site. It
would have had a movie theater, grocery store and other retailers and fill a
void for Center City’s burgeoning residential population, he said. As it is
now, residents can venture to Oregon Avenue or Delaware Avenue to pick up necessities.
“It’s very under retailed and it takes time to get
crosstown,” Blatstein said.
As those plans marinated and Blatstein took them to
neighborhood group, it became apparent to him the property’s potential lied in
marrying that general retail concept with a residential tower that catered to
just about every whim a renter could have as well as serve a wider downtown
population.
While Blatstein is trying to replicate aspects of the Piazza
— its sense of community, destination and place making — the vision for this
project may well be easier to execute and take less time.
For one, the Avenue of the Arts — as South Broad is referred
to — has become an established residential and entertainment district compared
with Northern Liberties 15 years ago, which was essentially a no-man’s land.
“Carl [Dranoff] has done a great job creating South Broad as
a residential destination and I’m piggy-backing on Carl and all of the other
developers who have done development around there,” Blatstein said. “It’s a lot
easier to do this rather than 2nd and Girard. That was very, very challenging.”
There, Blatstein assembled more than 100 properties, some
through eminent domain, demolished about a million square feet and put in all
of the infrastructure to lay the foundation for the Piazza and surrounding
development. In contrast, Blatstein is dealing with one very large parcel on
South Broad in a community that has been cautious but generally receptive to
his initial retail plans. That’s not to say this is an automatic go. Blatstein
is still doing an analysis of this revised plan and still has to present this
new idea of putting up a 30-story tower to neighborhood residents and other
city groups.
For Blatstein, who is also working on landing a casino
license at a project called the Provence on North Broad Street, a bold
mixed-use development at Broad and Washington is a no-brainer. There are 10,000
workers down South Broad at the Navy Yard are potential residents. Young people
continue to chose living in urban areas and want a menu of amenities to at
their doorstep, something the developer as well as others constructing new
apartment projects, is trying to provide. Why some believe the multifamily
market could start to overheat, Blatstein shrugs it off.
“That may be the case," he said, "if you’re going
to build the same project everyone else is building but this is a stone-cold
category killer.”
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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