Eric Blumenfeld, the Divine Lorraine's current (and former) owner, has another massive, hard-to-execute, large scale development plan in the works: he'd like to create a waterfront destination right on the Delaware River. The property he wants to develop is right where Washington Avenue connects to the Delaware, and it's 200 acres. Blumenfeld thinks it could be "an entire city".
Blumenfeld says that his inspiration for the project comes from his father, a prolific developer who died in 2012: "a week before [he] died, all he could really talk about was the waterfront... the idea people spend an hour and a half going to and from work was the past. People should walk to work. They should be in the gym every day." Jack Blumenfeld's vision of a "lifestyle community" has inspired his son to plan something that would include apartment buildings (enough for 1,000 apartments), offices, shops, and waterfront restaurants.
The City Planning Commission says they've heard about Blumenfeld's idea, but haven't seen any plans.
· Riverfront: 'An entire city' at Sheet Metal Workers site [Philly.com]
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