PlanPhilly: Planning Philadelphia's Future

Star: Turning old Tasty site into retail hub

The sign, undoubtedly recognizable to Philadelphians, can still be seen looming high above the Hunting Park Avenue site.

But the business that manufactured tasty treats for city residents and beyond for almost a century will soon vacate the property.

Last month, it was announced that Tasty Baking Co., which is in the midst of transitioning to its new headquarters at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, had sold its manufacturing plant at 2801 Hunting Park Ave., and its corporate offices and distribution center at 3413 Fox St., to Metro Development Co. for $6 million.

Metro Development, a subsidiary of U.S. Realty, plans to develop a retail hub traversing both properties, the large swath envisioned to have a chain supermarket and other retail offerings. The move, company executives say, should be a boon to the local economy, providing jobs and attracting commerce.

"Our interest here has really been committed to all different ... retail (opportunities)," U.S. Realty Vice President Gregory Bianchi said during a visit to the Hunting Park Avenue facility April 29.

Bianchi said it would premature to name the grocery outlet expected to be brought onboard, although he noted other stores that may make the site home could involve sporting goods retailers and apparel-related businesses.

"It's definitely going to be grocery anchored," he said.

Interest in the site coincided with an ongoing strategic planning process undertaken by city officials and other interested parties in the area known as Hunting Park West. In addition to the Tastykake site, the study area includes the former Budd manufacturing plan and other vacant industrial parcels that remain zoned for such a use.

The study also includes the site of the former Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, which currently houses the temporary Youth Study Center as it awaits relocation to its permanent home being constructed in West Philadelphia. The center was previously located in the Art Museum Area, but vacated the property to make way for the incoming Barnes Foundation, being relocated from Merion.

The Tasty Baking Co. site straddles East Falls and Allegheny West, but other neighborhoods and civic groups in and around the site also have taken an interest in its future. Bianchi said his firm has kept abreast of the goings-on involving the site, and the strategic planning process in general, and has interacted with some neighbors.

"It's really a nice mixture of the community that's giving their input," he said. "We've interacted with the community ... but we haven't formally come to the community directly," with detailed plans.

Bianchi said the plan as of now is to keep the existing manufacturing building on Hunting Park Avenue intact, since demolition would have been a costly endeavor. Many developers today are opting to retrofit existing buildings, he noted.

Current plans call for more than 400,000 square feet of retail space between the two sites. Bianchi said his group has received calls from schools and other "educational-related" groups who have also expressed interest in leasing space, but nothing has been set in stone.

One thing that attracted his company to the site, Bianchi said, was the existing traffic light at Hunting Park Avenue and Westmoreland Street, since developers often have to agree to such measures in cases where ingress and egress are integral to a project.

The nearby Fox Street portion of the property also has a convenient traffic setup.

According to a U.S. Realty news release, Metro Development is currently creating a site plan and preliminary land development documents to begin development on the first phase of the 20-acre, $30 million project. The first phase comprises the grocery component. The second phase would involve the construction of big-box stores and related shops.

Construction could begin in late fall pending city approval. A zoning change would need to be sought as part of the planning process.

Bianchi said Metro Development has developed more than 12 million square feet of leasable commercial space in the five-county region, most of it retail-centered.

"We're pretty multi-faceted as a group," he said of the family-run company.

In a Tasty Baking Co. news release, president Charles Pizzi stated his company is pleased to see Metro Development "developing the site into a retail center to serve the surrounding area. We believe this will create jobs and improve the overall quality of life in the community. This transaction will be a win-win for everyone involved and we are very pleased about that."

Matt McClure echoed Pizzi's sentiment. McClure, who chairs the East Falls Development Corporation's board of directors, said he's glad to see some exciting things planned for an area that could use an economic boost.

"It's really a phenomenal opportunity to make something that was once an institutional corridor," into something beneficial to modern-day residents, he said in a phone interview. "You have to laud anyone for investing that sort of money in these times."

McClure, who by day works as an attorney for the Ballard Spahr law firm, said he's particularly attracted to what's planned to be the main draw of the planned retail project.

"I think there is a demonstrated need in East Falls and in Ridge Allegheny-Hunting Park for a supermarket," he said. "Having some sort of a retail use like that in this area is something I think that most folks in the community would definitely support and is important for the economic transformation of the industrial corridor."

On Monday, May 17th, Livable Communities Task Force Members Earl Blumenauer and Allyson Y. Schwartz will join Penn Design School’s Penn Praxis and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia for a panel discussion on how we can ensure that livability is a priority for Philadelphia. The panel will be moderated by Harris M. Steinberg, FAIA of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. 

Panelists:

• Alan Greenberger, Acting Deputy Mayor for Planning, Economic Development, and Director of Commerce, will provide the city's perspective.
• John Gattuso of Liberty Property Trust will offer the perspective of the private developer.
• Shawn McCaney of the William Penn Foundation will provide the philanthropic perspective.
• Tony Sorrentino of the University of Pennsylvania will provide the institutional perspective.

RSVP here

Location: 
Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Time: 
7:00 to 7:30, reception
7:30 to 9:00, program

Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Portland co-chairs the Livable Communities Task Force. From 1996 to 2007, he served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where he was a strong advocate for federal policies that address transportation alternatives, provide housing choices, support sustainable economies and improve the environment. 

click here for more information on the Livable Communities Task Force

sponsored by Penn Praxis, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer

Inquirer: Tasty Baking to sell Nicetown properties

Tasty Baking Co. announced Tuesday that it is selling two pieces of land in Nicetown - the sites of its bakery and its former corporate offices and distribution center - to a Philadelphia firm that plans to build shopping centers there. The price: $6 million.

Tasty Baking is moving to the Navy Yard, a process that should be complete by the end of spring, said Paul Ridder, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

The two properties, the bakery at 2801 Hunting Park Ave. and Tasty's old corporate offices at 3413 Fox St., total 20 acres. They are separated by a rail line, Ridder said.

The buyer is TKMG Associates, a limited partnership formed by Metro Development Co. Michael Grasso, president of Metro Development, said he planned to raze the Tasty Baking buildings.

He envisions two shopping centers: one with big tenants; the other with a convenience store and drugstore, and possibly a restaurant. Grasso said he is in talks with a grocery chain interested in a 65,000-square-foot space, a home-improvement company, and a women's clothing store.

"We have to make deals with these three tenants to make the whole project work," Grasso said. The project, which could start by year's end, would cost $39 million, he said, and would provide 350 construction jobs and 750 jobs long-term.

Charles Pizzi, president and chief executive officer of Tasty Baking, said the company made the deal after talking with neighborhood leaders and city officials about how they would like the land used.

"I wanted to leave the neighborhood better than I found it 71/2 years ago," Pizzi said.

The sale is contingent on a city zoning change and TKMG's completing due diligence.

Alan Greenberger, acting deputy mayor for planning and development and head of the city planning commission, said the community wants more stores, particularly a grocery store.

Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., whose district includes the Tasty Baking site, has been briefed on the plans and has written an ordinance, to be introduced next week, that would rezone the properties for "area shopping center," Greenberger said.

Jones said he sees the sale as the end of the manufacturing era in his district. He's glad, though, that Tasty Baking didn't leave the community with an empty building. He said he sees signs of a commercial renaissance, with several developers expressing interest.

"A grocery store in an urban area is always welcome, and I can't wait for that to happen," Jones said.

But, he added, he wants more details of the development plan: "I think they need a lot more discussion before we talk champagne."

The agreement includes a provision that could cancel the deal if someone wanted the property for a slots casino. It also would give Tasty Baking a cut of the profits if TKMG sold the property for a gaming facility within two years.

Donald Trump proposed building a casino on the property, but did not win Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approval.

Inquirer: Temple's real gem: Baptist Temple to reopen as cultural arts center

THERE ARE striking surprises inside the renovated Baptist Temple, on Broad Street at Temple University's North Philadelphia campus.

The 119-year-old former church, designed by architect Thomas P. Lonsdale as an example of the Victorian Romanesque-revival style, was originally known as simply "The Temple" when it opened in 1891.

In fact, the university took its name from the church, which had been built to accommodate the large crowds who literally had to wait in shifts to hear the speeches and lectures of Temple's founder, the Rev. Russell H. Conwell.

Conwell taught night classes at The Temple between 1891 and 1894, said James W. Hilty, a Temple professor of history and community and regional planning.

But the congregation pulled up stakes in the early 1970s and built a larger facility in Montgomery County, leaving the the Baptist Temple, as it later became known, to sit empty, deteriorating for more than 30 years.

Now, after a two-year, $29 million renovation, the university is ready to reopen the Baptist Temple on April 14 as a cultural center to anchor the northern section of the city's Avenue of the Arts.

"It's going to be much more than a performing arts center," said Charles Henry Bethea, executive director of the Baptist Temple.

It is planned as a multipurpose cultural and performing-arts center. (The first concert, by Patti LuPone, is scheduled for April 17.)

The new Baptist Temple will be a gathering place for film screenings, lectures, symposia, commencement ceremonies and a space for private events, from corporate meetings to weddings and other events.

The university is restoring the Baptist Temple's role as a cultural landmark that Conwell predicted 119 years ago, said Hilty.

Originally, the Temple could seat as many as 4,600 people, Hilty said. His new book, Temple University: 125 Years of Service to Philadelphia, the Nation and the World, is expected soon in bookstores.

But critics warned Conwell that the building would never succeed "as a religious and educational institution," Hilty wrote.

To that, Conwell replied: "If we don't make it a success as a Temple, we'll turn it into a theater."

Read the full story...

From the Next Great City newsletter:

Things are changing in North Philadelphia.  Spurred by the city's commitment to transit oriented development, low-priced development opportunities, new and improved facilities for Temple University, and the dedication of local individuals and organizations, once blighted areas are showing signs of renewal.  Today's Daily News details some of the new projects that are bringing new life to North Philadelphia. 
The Inquirer shows how revitalization spreads, with a look at the Veggie Kids program, an urban agriculture program run by Urban Tree Connection.  This program, which started in North Philadelphia and has expanded to West Philadelphia, teaches kids and teens about gardening and provides fresh vegetables to underserved communities.

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Inquirer: Temple's president plans for the decade

Daily News: Three stories of development in North Philadelphia