Please enjoy this week’s edition of Capstone Law’s Philadelphia Real Estate Trends:
- South Jersey will soon be home to the first construction-themed amusement park in the United States. Sahara Sam’s Oasis, the owner of a water park on Route 73 in West Berlin, recently broke ground on “Diggerland Adventure Park” at 100 Pinedge Drive in West Berlin. At Diggerland, visitors will ride full-size construction equipment. This will be the first United States location for this park, which currently operates four locations in the United Kingdom. Sahara Sam’s Oasis will officially unveil the project to the media on January 14th, at which point we hope to discover the projected grand opening date for the new park.
- One of the hallmarks of a great urban neighborhood is an idealic urban park. Can you imagine the Rittenhouse Square, Fitler Square or Washington Square neighborhoods without their namesake parks? Keeping that in mind, in exciting news for the growing Passyunk Square neighborhood, the Community Design Collaborative just released plans to remodel currently downtrodden Columbus Square Park on the entire block bounded by 12th, 13th, Wharton and Reed Streets in South Philadelphia. Plans include a redesigned patio along 13th Street, an upgraded water feature, larger dog runs for both larger and small dogs and a more open and inviting lawn on the Reed Street side. Once completed, the park will be a welcome addition to this rapidly growing family-friendly neighborhood.
- Urban Outfitter’s Anthropologie brand just renewed its lease for its flagship location at the iconic circa-1897 Fell-Van Rensselaer building located at 1801 Walnut Street on Rittenhouse Square. ARC Properties recently listed the building for sale and speculation abounded that the ultimate purchaser would seek stiff terms for Anthropolgie to remain in the epicenter of the Rittenhouse Row retail area when its lease was originally set to expire in May 2016. Prior to the renewal, some analysts speculated that the building would trade for as much as $40 million. Several bidders, including local developer Allan Domb, have already submitted bids for the property.
As always, please check-out Capstone’s website and the “Llenrock Local”, for the latest news from Philadelphia’s busy commercial real estate sector.
Until next time, have a great week!