Opinion Eyes on the Street

June 10: Real Estate Roundup: Curtis Center sells for $125m | Oxford Mills opens | University City Innovation District | Divine Lorraine Hotel | Shirt/Suit Corner redux | Weinstein bid on Germantown schools

Eyes on the Street

June 10, 2014

Curtis Publishing Company | Michael Klusek — ‘Faded Glory’ | Michael Klusek, EOTS Flickr Group (Michael Klusek, EOTS Flickr Group)

Good morning Streeters. Here’s a real estate news roundup to start your Tuesday right:

The Curtis Center sold for $125 million, and will be converted from all offices to a mixed-use building with luxury apartments and a restaurant at 6th and Walnut overlooking Washington Square and Independence National Historical Park. The Business Journal reports that Keystone Property Group and Mack-Cali Realty purchased the building, which also owns the Dow/ Rohm and Haas building facing Independence Mall.

The conversion of Kensington’s Oxford Mills into a hub for education-related nonprofits and low-cost teacher housing is complete and tenants are moving in. Generocity profiles the project and notes that an official opening will take place June 26.

Philly’s University City is an “innovation district” to watch, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution, NewsWorks reports. Brookings’ Bruce Katz said Philly’s University City “has enormous potential, only a portion of which has been realized.” The challenge, Katz said, will be to “grow better jobs and help upgrade the education and skills of residents in surrounding neighborhoods so they can participate in the growth.”

Will the Divine Lorraine Hotel become a hotel? Curbed Philly dropped a rendering by WRT of the Divine Lorraine as a hotel yesterday and notes that EB Realty Management is flirting seriously with the idea of a hotel instead of apartments.

This spring the former Shirt Corner building was razed and Suit Corner went up in flames. The Business Journal reports Shirt Corner and Suit Corner will reopen at 630 Market Street, thanks to a vacant storefront tip from Jerry Blavat who also rents space in the same building.

Developer Ken Weinstein submitted a bid for the former Germantown High School – for $1 – and Robert Fulton Elementary Schools hoping to reuse both, NewsWorks reports.

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