As Hal mentions, Rappaport's Victory Building was part of the problem. I can recall when it was still in use in the early 80s; Gola Electronics, a busy record store, occupied the basement level (not exactly a basement, but a few steps below street level) and was entered from the corner; its display windows ran along the 10th St side. The Victory Club disco, up the main stairway, was on at least the first and maybe 2nd floors. A major Thanksgiving eve fire in 1982 closed both down.

Another detractor from the 1000 block is the former Mercantile Branch of the Free Library. Jane Jacobs cited this branch in passing in her 1961 book as one of 3 branch libraries that was busier than the main library on the parkway. When an asbestos problem was found (late 80s?) it closed permanently; its streetside windows were crudely papered over and trees began to grow from its roof.

So yes, Jeff shouldn't shoulder the full blame for the deadness of that block. Then again, their premature demolition of the one entire side of the 900 block didn't help matters. I don't think you can blame the old Federal Reserve for killing the vitality of the block, with the entire southern side of the block given over to a fenced in surface parking lot.

I thought I recalled hearing murmurings that Jeff would improve their retail in the 1000 block, but the proof will be in the pudding - Real Soon Now (TM), I'm sure. Making for successful retail in block long buildings seems generally to be a special design problem which is rarely well-solved, whether you're talking about a parking garage, an institutional building or a behemoth convention center (is the 11th St retail of the PA Convention Center still as dead as it was last time I looked?). The problem is largely one of visual interest - you must overcome the typical homogenity, the unrelenting blandness of a uniform block long facade.

There may be a financial aspect aspect to the failure of retail shops to take root in these sorts of developments too, but I'm not privy to details to back up this assertion. I'm thinking that the owners of block-sized buildings, where retail is grudgingly embedded in concession to zoning requirements or, at best, secondary to the primary purposes of the building, may try to recover a disproportionate share of their costs through high retail rents, leading to a high turnover and vacancies. Shops move into locations which, at first blush, seem like they should be prime locations, but their failure rate is exacerbated by the overall unattractiveness of the block to shoppers. Regardless, rents will tend to be higher in newer construction, since Mr. Landlord needs to pay off his construction loans, and many of the sorts of shops that add diversity, and thus enhance the overall attractiveness to shoppers, don't produce the revenue to pay the rent.

__________________
Cheers,
Jayfar
--
“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.

I think you're referring to the 11th St. side of the PCC - no, it's still pretty dead, last time I looked.

It also seems to me that the owners of these buildings have trouble putting in shops of a type that there's a demand for. I don't recall ever seeing a store in the street level of a parking garage that really appealed to me.

A block-long development that goes against this model is along 9th St. just south of Race. It houses a number of Asian businesses, including the excellent Ray's Cafe. The shop fronts are reasonably attractive, but presumably these are businesses that are strong with the local community (there's a travel agent that specializes, apparently, in Asian destinations, for example) and therefore the whole development seems to have reasonable staying power. The building isn't a parking garage, but it has that same fairly uniform facade at street level that you get with parking garages. Nevertheless, it seems to be working.

Oops, yes thanks Niel, 11th St it is (now edited above).

__________________
Cheers,
Jayfar
--
“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.

eminent domain...yeah, just start taking stuff. always a good idea to arbitrarily sieze land to make better shopping. shopping is a public good you know. anyways, I believe that the garage on chestnut will have retail on the chestnut side. does anyone know what is going in the victory building?

__________________
"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"

I'm sure most of those owners are just happy they are commanding rents at all seeing as how many of the storefronts were empty. I like what I see. mmm....DiBruno's.

__________________
"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"

I wouldn't be surprised if eminent domain is how the hospital got there in the first place (and I forget if it came into play in the 900 block).

Sometimes, though, I'm just playing devil's advocate to provoke thought outside the box. Determining when this is the case is left as an exercise for the reader. But yes, now that you mention it, I suppose shopping is a public good, your intended sarcasm notwithstanding.

__________________
Cheers,
Jayfar
--
“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.

I think the Victory Building is being rennovated. Some of it will be for apartments: http://www.4wallsinphilly.com/cc/vic...rybuilding.htm

And last time I walked by, a Starbucks sign was outside the corner doors.
I'm glad this building is getting saved and redone, it's a really nice building in my opinion.

the aprtments are already occupied. not sure what, if anything is goign in the first floor space. also, does anyone know anything about the proposed parking garage on teh 1600 block of sansom?

__________________
"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"

Anybody see this
(snip)

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...a/11295780.htm

Yepper:

http://www.phillyblog.com/forum/ftopic9361.html

__________________
Cheers,
Jayfar
--
“I am indeed well aware of the history of Conventional (sic) Hall, both globally and locally, and can assure you that we are carefully exploring avenues for its future.” -- Penn President Amy Gutmann 5 days before demolition began.