Divine Lorraine developer anticipates starting $43M conversion in May

E.B. Realty Management, the owner of the Divine Lorraine, is hopeful a proposed $43 million redevelopment of the property will finally begin in May.

Eric Blumenfeld of E.B. Realty and his finance partner, Billy Procida of Procida Funding, said they are scheduled to close on financing by then that will enable the conversion of the grand but dilapidated property.

It will have 126 apartments and, if completed, eliminate a big blemish that has loomed over North Broad.

"The project will redefine North Broad Street," Procida said.

The city is also eager to see the property move forward, though skeptics worry this could be another failed attempt to get a project done. Alan Greenberger, deputy mayor for economic development, is optimistic that the conversion will finally happen.

"I think we're getting there," he said. "We have 10 months to get the Divine Lorraine into construction."

Ten months is a self-imposed deadline Greenberger has set since it's what remains in Mayor Michael Nutter's term and therefore his tenure with the Nutter administration.

The vacant property has had a series of owners throughout the years and just as many proposals for redevelopment that, while filled with hope, never happened. In 2000, now deceased New York real estate entrepreneur Tony Goldman bought the Divine Lorraine for about $2 million.

Three years later, a Blumenfeld partnership bought the historic building and planned to convert it into 135 condominiums with retail space. Construction on that project was supposed to have started that year but never happened.

The Blumenfeld partnership put it up for sale and in 2006, a Netherlands-based company bought the structure. It too was going to launch a residential redevelopment of it. That never happened, the recession hit and, in its latest transaction, sold to Blumenfeld at sheriff sale three years ago.

Blumenfeld, who redeveloped 640 N. Broad and 600 N. Broad, has other projects in the works along the street such as at 667 N. Broad, a project called the Studebaker, and Mural Arts at 523 N. Broad.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal