600 North Broad Street
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| Work continues on the EB Realty Superblock. |
Eric Blumenfeld, the rich-ass developer with titanium balls, is finally making good on his 2006 plan to rebuild the old Wilkie dealership at 600 North Broad Street. Back in 2006 the plan was to have a supermarket on the first floor and parking garage/condos on top. It seems now things have changed... the first floor will now be home to the biggest rich-ass restaurateur orgy ever imagined. Stephen Starr, Mark Vetri, and caterer Joe Volpe all plan hipster-targeted food troughs within this space.
Philly's chief Orange-American Stephen Starr will open seafood spot Route 6, which is a dumbass name because it will be located on Route 611. Call it Route 611, dummy. Mark Vetri is looking to take advantage of the beer snobbery fad by opening his place, Birreria 600. Another fucking goofy-ass name. What is it, a Pizzeria for beer? At least he got the number right. Joe Volpe's catering place doesn't have a name yet but rumor has it that it will be called Fuck This Shit.
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| Big fancy-ass factory-style windows have replaced the old factory-style windows. This spot used to have a big curling ramp on it. |
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| Fancy-ass windows being installed along the side that used to be garage doors and shit. |
I admire Eric Blumenfeld for following through on this project instead of scrapping it and saving himself the money/trouble. I met him at a fundraiser back in 2008 and asked him about this project. He said, "I'm waiting for the economy to get better before I go through with that one." and I didn't believe him. Well, he sure showed me. Too bad his plans for the Divine Lorraine fell through (and too bad the next developer's plan for the DV fell through as well).
No one really knows what this thing's supposed to look like in the end but the renderings from 2006 are BUTT-ASS AWFUL. I remember seeing them way back when but I must have blocked them from my memory until I saw them again on Skyscraper Page. It more or less looks like a suburban housing development plopped on top of the old Wilkie:
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| Future Butt-fugly Building of the Week? |
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| What's the pitch for this? "Experience urban living in a suburban house in the sky!" |
I'm gonna give EB the benefit of the doubt and say that the new plan is probably different from the 2006 rendering. It better fucking be.
That rendering is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Can we take it and build in some city we hate?
ReplyDeleteLast I heard, Vetri backed away from the name Birreria 600 and is now using "Alla Spina." And "Route 6" is out, too, I think, but I'm not sure if a new name has been picked.
I don't know, I kind of thing that Castle in the Sky look is kind of cool. And if there's any place to experiment with it it's at 600 N. Broad. Plus, the setback is enough it will just look like a reused industrial building from the street level. More interesting than a lot of designs out there.
ReplyDeletethis is my new fav blog, please keep it coming! also, i personally LOVE the building on 1900 Delancey...can't help but just STARE at it everytime i walk by hoping someone will open the door and i can take a peak at the inside
ReplyDeleteare they going to open the restaurants and then build the lofts on top of them, or are they going to change the plan and just use the existing building behind the old wilke site for the lofts?
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