Center City retail scene on fire

Is Neiman Marcus looking to put one of its Last Call stores in Center City?

That’s the buzz but a spokeswoman at the Dallas retailer said it doesn’t have Philadelphia on its list of new store openings.

That’s not stopping retail brokers from being convinced that it is interested in Center City and has zeroed in on about 30,000 square feet on the second level of the Shops at Liberty Place at 1625 Chestnut St. It would occupy space long vacant that had once had Warner Brothers as a tenant.

If Last Call does go there, it would round out the retail scene at that end of Chestnut Street, which is experiencing increased attention from retailers.

For example, Nordstrom Rack is scheduled to open a 39,000-square-foot store in the former Daffy’s space at 1700 Chestnut St.; Forever 21 is reportedly moving into about 30,000 square feet in the old Dress Barn space at 1708 Chestnut; American Eagle Outfitters took 8,000 square feet at 1721 Chestnut; and Uniqlo will occupy space at 1608 Chestnut St.

Beyond Chestnut and Walnut Street, Philadelphia's top retail corridor, there’s the 100,000-square-foot lease with Century 21 at the former Strawbridge’s space at 801 Market Street and Macy’s is reportedly seeking another 50,000 square feet of space for its furniture and home goods products. A Macy’s spokeswoman couldn’t be reached for comment.

The activity is unlike any Center City has seen since perhaps its glory days of Strawbridge’s, Wanamaker’s and Gimbels.

“It’s a new day here,” said Larry Steinberg, a retail broker with CBRE/Fameco. “You can’t underestimate what has happened in the last six months. It’s a paradigm shift where you have the big and medium-sized box retailers coming in and it’s soft goods. Soft goods are usually the last to show up. That shows the strength of the market. When retailers come en masse, that shows the market has depth.”

One of the reasons Chestnut is receiving a lot attention is many of the buildings on the street offer larger floor plates that these stores need, Steinberg said.

Steinberg was part of a panel of retail experts that spoke yesterday at an event held by the Central Philadelphia Development Corp. at the Union League. The overall theme was that while there’s still a lot of room for more retailers in Center City, activity has picked up and is strengthening.

“I think we’ve reach the point where we’ve crossed over the tipping point,” said Paul Levy, executive director at CPDC, noting that areas of Center City that typically never received attention from retailers or real estate investors are now on their radar. The shifting demographics of Center City, where the population has grown with millennials and empty nesters, is fueling more retailers to open up stores in Philadelphia and that is expected to continue.

“The market for retail has never been stronger,” Steinberg said.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal