Foxwood plan approved, lease pending
Friday, August 28th, 2009
The plan to build the Foxwoods casino in the old home of Strawbridges on Market Street appears to be in play.
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Philadelphia City Council has approved a plan for Foxwoods to locate its casino at 8th and Market Street, but a deal to lease the space has not be finalized. Joe Coradino is President of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which controls part of the Strawbridges building. He says negotiations are continuing.
Coradino: There is a counter-proposal in their hands that was delivered about three weeks ago based on the fact that the economic conditions have changed for them and for us and we are currently awaiting a response.
Coradino says he's not worried about complaints from the owners of the upper floors of the building about the casino lease.
A spokesperson for Foxwoods is not commenting on the negotiations, but a real-estate expert says with all the vacancies in Center City, the casino developers have a distinct advantage when it comes to cutting a favorable deal.