How Dow You Do, Stephen Starr?

The partnership group that bought the Dow building has announced a restaurant is part of its plans.

Photo: Sandy Smith

Photo: Sandy Smith

This summer we wrote, “Paging Stephen Starr: Great Restaurant Space Up for Grabs on Independence Mall.” We were talking about the Dow Chemical Building, listed on the National Register, which had just come on the market. At the time, the listings agent, Robert Fahey of CBRE, was highlighting the 10,000 square feet already equipped for food service.

Keystone Property Group, Mack-Cali Realty Corp. and Parkway Corp. purchased the building in October, and have announced their plans for it — and those plans do, indeed, include a ground-floor restaurant.

Here’s what they have revealed thus far, as reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal:

– A parking garage with 120 – 130 spaces.
– A “dynamic outdoor space” on Sixth Street (using the outdoor terrace that already exists, pictured below, we’re guessing).
– A 3,000-square-foot restaurant at Sixth and Market.

Other than the restaurant, the tenancy isn’t likely to change much: Dow Chemical dominates the office space inside.

So now the question is: Who will take the restaurant space? Though it’s unlikely that Stephen Starr would actually move into such a venue — dominated, as it will be, by businesspeople and tourist traffic during the day — we wouldn’t hazard a guess either way. We’ll leave that to Foobooz.

Below, some photos of the building when it was for sale.

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