11-10-2006, 02:03 PM
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Cheesesteak GURU! Wiz with
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Souf Street
Posts: 1,951
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Midtown Village?
How ridiculous, especially since the area already has several good names. I prefer "Washington West" or, for simplicity, "the Gayborhood."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/15974842.htm
Quote:
To raise a profile, it takes a...
Midtown Village is the name merchants chose for Center City's 13th Street district.
By Julie Stoiber
Inquirer Staff Writer
The voters have spoken, and their choice is... Midtown Village.
That's the new name for the shopping-eating-living enclave centered at 13th and Sansom Streets, a formerly shady district that now claims high-end restaurants, boutiques and lofts, but lacked the name recognition it needs in its push to become a destination neighborhood.
"This is a unique, charming, colorful area," said James McManaman, a 13th Street gallery owner who led the drive to brand the area. "We have to tell people about it."
Originally dubbed B3 (Blocks Below Broad) by the New York developer who jump-started the renaissance in the late 1990s, the district was renamed on Election Day by members of a newly formed business district, 61 of whom cast ballots that evening at a Center City hotel.
They represented interests ranging from large-scale development to tiny nail salons, with a common goal: to come up with a marketing tag that would pique the interest of the moneyed crowd that frequents such hotbeds as Northern Liberties, Old City and Rittenhouse Row.
It will soon be seen on banners, ads, and even business invoices.
"Midtown Village connotes exactly what you've got here: a midtown location, a village unto itself," said Andre Stephano, who sank $3 million into the area, turning a 1915 Classical Revival office building at 13th and Locust into the Gramercy condos, with prices around $700,000. "It's not just a bunch of individuals pitching their own businesses. You've got a bona fide neighborhood here."
Thirteenth Street business owners began organizing in July at the urging of McManaman, a former hotel industry executive who opened the Absolute Abstract art gallery in March. Since then, the business district has grown to encompass Broad Street to 11th and Market to Locust.
"Walnut and Chestnut east of Broad is the area that's just about ready to take off," McManaman said. "We have to get Philadelphia to come back across Broad Street."
For many years, people avoided the area as an unsavory hangout for hustlers and dealers. Some problems remain, McManaman said, but businesses are working with police to try to curtail them. As people and edgy, independent businesses move in - a clothing store with tattoo themes and a dog boutique are due soon - some of the grittiness has given way, he said.
"It's retained its earthy character, yet at the same time it's adding upscale," said Stephano, the developer. "That's what you want."
Marianne Stone, the owner of Nova Hair Salon, has worked just off 13th Street on Sansom for 30 years, hoping the area would revive.
"We think it's the best thing that ever happened," she said of the new identity. "If you name it, people will come."
Business owners and the Center City District business-improvement organization submitted hundreds of potential names. The list was whittled to eight, and then to a final four. Included was B3, coined by Tony Goldman of Goldman Properties.
The other finalists: New City and District 13.
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No Midtown Village.
