With all of the recent action taking place over on Market St., the folks who are looking to transform the equally downtrodden (and parallel) stretch of Chestnut St. want you to know that change is on the way. And by "folks", we generally mean Brickstone Realty, who has been busy in recent years buying up just about every available property around the East Market project. The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that they've just added to their plentiful portfolio by snapping up the 5-story "shell" at 15-21 S. 11th St. and recently closed on the former Baum's building at 106 S. 11th St. The break-neck pace of the conversion of Market East into East Market/Midtown Village continues to just roll on. While the East Market project is a more in-your-face development on a large scale, these recent (and many) Brickstone developments are no small potatoes, either.
Brickstone's plans for the area seem to include a mix of ground floor retail, office/creative space and, of course, high-end apartments. Baum's, for example, has the store built right in. And so, the upper floors will simply be converted into what we assume will be 12 larger apartments in the heart of Center City. It is a 15,000 square-foot building.
The building a 15-21 S. 11th is intriguing, given the "shell" category placed upon it. The rendering shows Brickstone's plan to clean it up the the 30,000 square-foot building and give it some new life. From the Philadelphia Business Journal:
"Brickstone's plans call for spending roughly $13 million converting the first floor into retail space and the remainder into creative office space." Straying off of 11th St. to nearby Chestnut St. is where the rest of Brickstone's foothold lies in the area (aside from, you know, Lit Bros). The massive mixed-use complex stretching from 1118 to 1128 Chestnut is another Brickstone project, which aims to bring 112 apartments and 95,000 square-feet of retail to the area. They're also in the middle of converting the former Coward Shoe Store at 1021 Chestnut St., designed by Louis Kahn and Oscar Storonov, into a co-working space. 1108 Chestnut St., another Brickstone property, used to be the home of Armand's Records. Soon, it will be yet another creative office space, although this time it will also have loft apartments, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. In short: Brickstone is busy and the stretch of seedy and rundown Philly on Market and Chestnut St. between 10th and 12th St. will soon look very different. Combined with the recent groundbreaking at the East Market project, the time is now to prepare yourself for a completely different Market East experience.
· Brickstone buys two more properties in Center City [Philadelphia Business Journal]
· The Other Shoe Drops On Modernist Landmark [Hidden City]
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