NREA's Market East

A new rendering for the Girard Trust block - the 1100 block of Market East - has been released by NREA Development Services.

Likely a massing study, it's similar to prior proposals for the block with the addition of two towers.

Although NREA appears to have left the handsome Girard Building as well as an older building on 11th Street untouched, the Market Street façade isn't that much more interesting than the truncated Snellenberg's Department store that stands on the site today.

That's not to say it can't be. The proposal is rough. With a little imagination, this looks a lot like the proposed Essex Crossing in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Manhattan's Proposed Essex Crossing

The Girard Block includes the midcentury retail and parking complex on Chestnut Street. The corner of 11th and Chestnut was recently renovated and it's unclear if that property is included in this proposal, if it's intended to be part of a phased development schedule, or if it will remain untouched.

Times Square South

Whatever happened to Trinity Capital Advisors' grand plan for 12th and Market's Girard Block? It seems the former site of the Snellenburg & Company Department store is destined to stay the stump it is.

It's sad too, because it's an unkempt blight at an otherwise fine corner. It's the impression most tourists receive when they first leave their hotel room, and the last impression they take home with them. Its gloomy exterior, dirty walls, and sprawling uniformity of unorganized retail and office space discourage tourists from exploring Market East by foot. It no doubt deters big business retail or services from occupying the former Champions' location in the Marriot across the street.

TCA has specificed that they want to take their time with the location, to do it right. What they're really doing is what all big developers do with Philadelphia. They aquire property when its cheap, and then sit on it until a better market returns. I've said before, we're not NYC or DC, and although we're lucky they haven't yet bulldozed the entire block (including the Girard Building which is intended to be demolished as part of the master plan) and we're not stuck with another Disney Hole for two decades, with TCA holding the lease and sitting on their hands we will be stuck with the Girard Hole as it is for a long, long time.

Interestingly enough, the Market East corner of 13th once had a similar stump. It didn't span the entire block of Market or 13th and it's rental spaces were better designed and blended better into the existing urban fabric. However, it was demolished for a surface parking lot which seems to show no signs of being developed. So things could be worse.