160,000 Square Feet of New Retail Coming to Market Street

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Demo is set to begin this summer for East Market, a proposed $500 million redevelopment project that will (fingers crossed) rejuvenate the not-so-pretty Center City block bordered by 11th and 12th streets and Market and Chestnut streets.

On the docket for phase one of the project? A complete overhaul of the existing building that faces Market. In its place, a 17-story tower will be constructed, complete with 322 apartment units and, on its first two floors, 160,000 square feet of retail space. Investors are still in the process of wooing retailers, but the Inquirer reports that the building will host "two-story clothing stores behind large, glowing second-floor signs." Around the corner on the narrower Ludlow Street, shoppers will find a more "intimate," neighborhood-y feel with apartment balconies and a smaller-scale grocery store a la Trader Joe's.

What do you think? Will the East Market project, in conjunction with the redesign of The Gallery down the street, be enough to breathe new life into this section of Market? Sound off below!
· Developers of East Market unveil plans [Inquirer]
· A New Market East: Developers Unveil $230M Project [NBC 10]
· The Gallery to Become 'Fashion Destination,' Public Skeptical [Racked Philly]
· More About Century 21 Department Store Coming The Gallery This Fall [Racked Philly]