December 4: Development Roundup: Paseo Verde | Avenue Place | YWCA Annex | Pearl Arts and Crafts | The Gallery

Good morning, Streeters. Here’s a development roundup to start off your Wednesday:

Officials cut the ribbon on Paseo Verde yesterday, the Inquirer reports. Paseo Verde is a transit-oriented mixed-income development at North 9th and Berks, adjacent to SEPTA’s Temple University Regional Rail Station, developed by the Jonathan Rose Company and Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM). The $42 million project earned LEED-ND platinum rating for its sustainable design features, the first in the country with such a designation.

Last week Carl Dranoff gave Washington Square West neighbors a bit more detail on Avenue Place, a 40-story tower he’s planning to build at South Broad and Spruce streets. Philadelphia Real Estate Blog notes that Kohn Pederson Fox Architects is working on a design that would feature a glassy tower on an 8-story masonry podium that will house parking and commercial space. The new building’s anchor tenant will be SLS Hotels. Dranoff will need approvals to strike Cypress Street off the map in order to make the building work.

The YWCA Annex on Chestnut Street will soon be demolished and replaced by a 12-story residential building with ground floor commercial space by Aquinas Realty Partners. Naked Philly has a project update.

The former Pearl Arts and Crafts building on South Street could be converted into artist studios and a gallery space, Passyunk Post reports. There are fussy renderings for a renovated exterior and rooftop lounge, but no word yet as to the local force behind the redevelopment might be.

PREIT keeps dropping hints about their redevelopment plans for The Gallery mall. The Inquirer reports that PREIT will be pursuing a “tenant-driven” approach that could go one of two ways: PREIT CEO Joseph Coradino said, “One is a high-fashion anchor center utilizing one of the four high-fashion department stores. Another possible alternative is what we call ‘fast fashion and food,’ if you will, and that is to redevelop [the area] more consistent with some of the more trendy suburban mall tenants – like the Forever 21, the H&M, the Uniqlo.” The promise: the anchor tenants will be new to the Philadelphia market. “One of the keys to being able to execute a plan is Kmart vacating their space,” he said. “Their lease doesn’t expire until August.” 

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