In the summer of 2013, I got the chance to interview Ken
Goldenberg about Goldenberg Group's ambitions to put a casino at 8th and Market
streets in Philadelphia.
"You can hardly identify a location that's crying
out for development like this," he told me. "There's nothing else
like it in Philadelphia or the country."
The property, now a surface parking lot, has been long on
ambitions that have gone nowhere. It seems we're back there again now that the
second and final gambling license for the city has landed in South
Philadelphia.
It's too bad. Without the license to anchor the
development and essentially financially support its supplementary uses, Goldenberg
was certain developing the site would be difficult at best. That's in spite of
its prime location near Philadelphia's historic area and across from Jefferson
Station.
"Do I think over time, something will happen
there?" he said in that earlier interview. "Yes, but it might be 10,
15 or 20 years from now."
I couldn't talk to Goldenberg to get a detailed update on
his thoughts about the future of 8th and Market but through a spokeswomen, he
relayed: "We're evaluating all options."
That's what Bart Blatstein is also doing with his North
Broad Street assemblage that was also shunned by the Pennsylvania Gaming
Control Board for the casino license.
I'm hopeful the momentum underway in Center City and
picking up along East Market Street will mean Goldenberg will find a feasible
project at 8th and Market and finally fill in one of the big development gaps
in Center City and that Blatstein will tap his creative juices to make
something as big as his Provence idea happen on North Broad.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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