Plans to construct a mid-rise apartment building on the western border of Center City have been scrapped and instead, the owner of the site is looking for a retail tenant for the existing single-story building, writes Paul Schwedelson for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
The building on Walnut Street originally housed a Rite Aid that closed in 2022. At the time, Dallas-based Trammell Crow had an agreement to buy the site for the residential project, according to Richard Zeghibe, managing partner of Patriot Development Associates, an entity of the property’s owner Patriot Parking.
The developer submitted plans to Philadelphia’s Civic Design Review Committee that included a 12-story building with 172 units, 8,186 square feet of retail space, 5,000 square feet of public space, and 32 underground parking spots.
The property was under agreement for almost two years until the deal fell through about two months ago.
“Prior to the Feds beginning this series of rate increases Trammell Crow had a couple of potential clients interested in working with them on this project,” said Zeghibe. “Once those interest rates started to rise, they backed away.”
Now, Patriot Development Associates has changed course and plans to lease the existing 10,300-square-foot building to a retail tenant.
Read more about the retail project coming to Center City in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
_____
