Ardmore Township OKs Dranoff Properties’ $56 Million Luxury Project

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

The first phase of a challenging revitalization effort in Ardmore is now closer to fruition as the developer, Dranoff Properties, unveiled the project’s official name: One Ardmore Place.

Originally unveiled in 2008 as the Cricket Lot or the Ardmore Station, the project was downsized from a $180 million, three-phase investment with 335 apartment units and 120,000 square feet of office and retail space. According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Dranoff Properties was forced to resize the original project because the company failed to secure the federal and SEPTA financial help which included a $25-million TIGER grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Reportedly, the $15.5 million received from the state will be reinvested in the revised project while the developer is investing $44 million.

Conveniently located near the Ardmore train station, the $56 million One Ardmore Place will transform the township-owned Cricket Avenue parking lot into 121 high-end rental units with state-of-the-art amenities and a 24/7 concierge, 10,500 square feet of street-level retail space, as well as a public/private ample parking component with either one, two or three decks with more than 200 parking spaces.

As Main Line Media News previously reported, the project is estimated to create 900 construction jobs and 80 permanent retail jobs and generate around $40 million in annual revenue once construction is completed.

Rendering of One Ardmore Place courtesy of Danoff Properties

Fishtown Neighbors Association Approves Wynn Resorts’ $925M Casino Proposal

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

The Fishtown Neighbors Association on April 8 voted in favor of a casino / resort development project that was pitched by representatives of Wynn Resorts Ltd., one of the six casino operators and developers that applied for a gaming license in Philadelphia. The Paradise, NV-based developer wants to put a 60-acre underutilized Delaware riverfront property to a much better and lucrative use: a resort and casino three times larger than Penn’s Landing.

According to PlanPhilly.com, the Wynn Resorts’ proposal includes: a 300-room hotel with an average 900 square feet per room, a 22-acre green park and River Walk, a parking garage with 2,800 spaces and a green roof, several restaurants, a 10,000-square-foot nightclub and a 20,000-square-foot entertainment facility including a high-end spa and a potential ice skating rink. The proposal calls for a separate gaming component that will include a 150,000-square-foot casino with 2,500 slot machines and 100 table games.

If the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board grants Wynn Resorts’ a gaming license in the city, the $925 million resort and casino tentatively called Wynn Philadelphia will be the largest private project ever constructed in the state. The Philadelphia Real Estate Blog notes that the venture will take two to three years to complete and will create 3,600 construction jobs. Another 3,300 permanent and supplier jobs will be generated once the complex is open.

Rendering of Wynn Philadelphia via PlanPhilly.com

Developer Plans Mixed-Use Complex on Vacant Brownfield in South Kensington

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

A 2.5-acre vacant site in Philadelphia’s South Kensington that once housed the Absco Inc. steel plant could be redeveloped into an energy efficient mixed-use community. The development proposal comes from Canus Corporation, a local company that has already invested over $8 million in cleaning and decontaminating the site located at 2^nd and Thompson Streets.

According to PlanPhilly.com, the developer started working on a redevelopment plan for this site in 2007 but the project had to be put on hold because of the recession. Reportedly, the original plan called Viridian included 160 condos and 16 artist studios. Now Canus is proposing a revised plan with a denser complex designed by BartonPartners that would also feature retail spaces, ground level parking and green areas and plazas accessible to the public.

The proposed 320-unit complex would break down to 2 percent live-work units, 12 percent studios of roughly 450 square feet each, 63 percent one-bedroom units and 23 percent two-bedroom units. According to PlanPhilly.com, the zoning committee suggested an increase in square footage per unit, which would lead to fewer residential units but would address the neighborhood’s main concern—that the area not become overpopulated.

If approved by the South Kensington Community Partners planning and zoning committee, Phase I of the Soko Lofts project could start in late fall with an estimated completion time of 12 months. During Phase I Canus will break ground on a four-story, L-shaped building along 2^nd Street and a similar building at the corner of 2^nd and Thompson Streets. A third building of up to seven stories will follow on American Street during Phase II. This structure will include a large lobby, street level commercial space and 50 covered parking spaces.

Rendering of Soko Lofts courtesy of PlanPhilly.com

Camden City to Get First Supermarket in 30 Years

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

A joint venture between the Ravitz Family, which owns Supermarkets of Cherry Hill, Inc., and the Goldenberg Group, headquartered in Blue Bell, PA, is set to develop the first full-service supermarket in Camden in more than three decades. The newly announced investment—which will also feature the first-ever ShopRite in the area, as well as several restaurants and smaller retail businesses—will occupy a city-owned, 20-acre vacant site at the corner of South 17^th Street and Admiral Wilson Boulevard.

Scheduled to open in 2015, the 150,000-square-foot Admiral Wilson Plaza will be managed by Jason, Shawn and Brett Ravitz, the fourth generation of the Ravitz family which has been operating five other ShopRite stores in the New Jersey area for over 40 years.

“My brothers and I are proud to be bringing a ShopRite store to Camden. We recognize that there is a great need for a full-service supermarket in the city and have been trying for years to find the best location to serve the community,” said Jason Ravitz, vice president, retail operations for Supermarkets of Cherry Hill, Inc.

The $40 million Admiral Wilson Plaza is expected to create around 400 construction jobs and 320 part-time and permanent jobs. Though the project is still in the early stages of land acquisition and permitting, the developers are confident that the new supermarket will offset the lack of shopping venues in the area and improve the quality of life for residents.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Camden City has only a few mid-sized grocery stores serving a population of 77,000 people.

$16 M Carrier Hotel Announced in Wilmington; Investment Group Buys $36 M Industrial Portfolio along I-95 Corridor

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

Private cloud and infrastructure service solution provider IPR International of Wayne, PA, has announced plans to transform its data center in Wilmington, DE, into a $16 million carrier hotel. This huge connectivity hub will be able to bring together a large number of networks and providers and will be dedicated to offering a highly efficient and competitive bandwidth interconnection point to Wilmington’s business district.

McConnell Johnson Real Estate is the owner of the 16-story building located at 1201 N. Market Street, along with dark fiber providers Sunesys, LLC of Warrington and Fibertech Networks based in Rochester, N.Y.

According to an interview with the Philadelphia Business Journal, the company’s financial effort will be backed by a grant of $3.8 million for Delaware’s New Jobs Infrastructure Fund.

With the new Wilmington Carrier Hotel Project the investors hope to create innovative business opportunities that can trigger economic growth in the area and throughout the state of Delaware.

In further regional news, TA Real Estate of Boston sold an industrial portfolio along the I-95 Corridor for $36 million to Hayden Real Estate Investment and Miller Investment Management. As reported by the same source, the 1 million square foot portfolio consists of four office buildings and an 18-acre parcel of land already zoned for industrial development in the I-95 Campus Industrial Park in Aston.