The Walnut-Locust Retail Corridor (Phila)

2632 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by WashingtonianNPhilly, Jun 6, 2005

wanderer34

Discussion Starter · May 20, 2005

I think a high-end retail corridor would be beneficial for the Avenue of the Arts, Rittenhouse and Washington Squares, and eventually CC Phila. The corridor would start from Rittenhouse Sq. and end in Washington Sq. It would be like Fifth Ave in NYC, Michigan Ave in Chicago, Newbury and Boylston Sts in Boston, and Rodeo Dr in LA, as far as having boutiques is concerned. I don't think Market and Chestnut would be the high-end retail center because that part is for the common man. We're gonna need some equivalent for high-end, just like the Mall at Penn's Landing at the last post, and the Walnut-Locust has much potential.

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Cruces1

· #2 · May 21, 2005

King of Prussia and the Mainline have a stranglehood on high end retail in Philly. KOP by itself, houses 400 of the highest high end stores in the country.If Center City/University City continue to evolve and modernize the high end stores will gradually work their way back to the Rittenhouse area. The area has great potential.

Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital block the continuation along Walnut St. but there is no reason that in the next 10 years Walnut + Chestnut west of Broad should not improve dramatically, especially Chestnut.

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volguus zildrohar

· #3 · May 21, 2005

Walnut Street is already the Fifth Avenue of Philadelphia and the stretch of Rittenhouse Row will remain that way because the Rittenhouse Row Association wants it that way. I remember reading that the organization lobbies City Council to zone Walnut from Broad to Rittenhouse Square basically for the types of businesses that are there now. The Wawa Express that used to sit at 16th & Walnut is now a Cole Haan shoestore - Wawa was forced out because the landlord increased the rent to a level unreasonable for a convenience store to maintain.

Locust Street is already full of either apartments or restaurants.

wanderer, if there's one thing anyone could say about you - you're not a pessimist.

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wanderer34

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 21, 2005

the hospital

I believe that it's Wills Eye Hospital that blocking my corridor between 9th and 10th Sts, not Jefferson Hospital. I still don't think that it should stop development between the two squares because we have a hospital in between the corridor. It's just another obstacle Phila has to face in order to attract boutiques like Gucci, Fendi, Hermes, Cartier, Rolex,and etc. My proposed mall will be similar to KOP in terms of the shops in that mall, but it will have a Nordstrom's, and a Neiman Marcus. The hospital can be a part of the corridor. You look at the development at Washington Square with the St James and the Dilworth House, and pretty soon that square will have it's own identity like Rittenhouse, Logan, and Penn Squares. All we need to do is to do something with Franklin Square, develop Penn's Landing into a world-class waterfront (no casinos), and get an extension between Fairmount Park and Schuylkill River Park, and we're good.

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volguus zildrohar

· #5 · May 21, 2005

But here's the thing - the area around Washington Square already has an identity - it's a residential neighborhood. It's a few short blocks to Jeweler's Row and shopping on Market Street as well as South Street. You can't inject something new into something that's is already alive.

Walnut Street has two hospitals and two theaters on the blocks between 8th & 12th. From 12th to Broad it already has boutiques and restaurants - not quite the expensive caliber of Rittenhouse Row but just fine nonetheless.

What you're calling for would be more appropriate in an area that already needs development.

I'd prefer to see this type of development coming onto Chestnut Street, where there are already storefronts and many underoccupied buildings east of Broad. On Walnut, there's no place to do it.

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WashingtonianNPhilly

· #6 · Jun 6, 2005

Cruces1 said:
King of Prussia and the Mainline have a stranglehood on high end retail in Philly. KOP by itself, houses 400 of the highest high end stores in the country.If Center City/University City continue to evolve and modernize the high end stores will gradually work their way back to the Rittenhouse area. The area has great potential.

Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital block the continuation along Walnut St. but there is no reason that in the next 10 years Walnut + Chestnut west of Broad should not improve dramatically, especially Chestnut.

King of Prussia and the Main Line are suburbs. Chicago, New York and even smaller cities have high end retail hubs and swanky malls in the suburbs but also a hot shopping district downtown. Walnut Street could easily turn into something along the lines of Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. It practically is. And we're even seeing a little spill over onto Chestnut Street with The Continental and Hamburger Mary's. I think the saddest retail attempt in the city seems to be the Gallery area and that part of Market and Chestnut Street. Isn't there a new shopping plaza going there with a Target or something?

Also with regards to shopping, has anyone ever thought of developing the massive subway concourse that stretches from Suburban Station to Spruce Street out to the Patco lines on Walnut and Chestnut Streets and up to Reading Terminal. I think it goes up to North Broad as well. That whole underground area is huge and really, really gross. Maybe if the city leased it out to a retail development company it wouldn't smell like pi$$ all the time.

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