Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York is so much fun, pitting broker against broker in a gladiatorial fight to the death to see who can sell first and best. Top residential broker Ryan Serhant is a natural winner, and he’ll visit Bethlehem at the end of the month to give a public talk about trends and career challenges. Then he’ll mingle with the hoi poloi at a Manhattan-themed cocktail party.
Avenue of the Arts Pop-Up Garden Opens Next Week, Sangria Included [RENDERING]
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) will open another of its pop-up gardens next week across from the Kimmel Center on Broad Street. This year’s garden is a collaborative effort, with input from University of the Arts, Avram Hornik of Four Corners Management, and the landscape design firm Groundswell Design Group, which won an award for its work on Morgan’s Pier. The above rendering is its proposed design for the new the PHS pop-up garden.
The temporary garden will function as an outdoor cafe with craft beer, sangria and food by chef George Sabatino, who’s also in charge of the food at Morgan’s Pier (which opens next week just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge).
PHS uses its pop-up gardens to educate Philadelphia residents about its projects, including City Harvest, which provides fresh food from the city’s community gardens to 1,000 families in need every week. It also makes use of vacant space–last year, the pop-up was in the empty lot on Rittenhouse Square where the old Eric Twin movie theater used to be.
New York Gets an Authentic Philadelphia Hoagie Shop
Last week a brand new eatery called Dave’s Hoagies opened in New York’s financial district (aka FiDi). Dave’s is not a steak shop, and it’s not a deli that makes all kinds of sandwiches. At Dave’s Hoagies the only kind of sandwiches they make are…oh, you must be psychic. They also offer a limited selection of the world’s finest pastries, sometimes known as Tastykakes.
South Jersey (Bridgeton) native Dave Bagan first lived in New York when he was attending Brooklyn Law School. He was a practicing attorney for a few years after graduating, and then spent 11 years as a trader, most recently on the floor at Deutsche Bank on Wall Street, about a two-minute walk from where Bagan opened his shop.
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Mystery Restaurant Business in Society Hill-ish Now Selling for Less Than Most Houses
This 1,750-square-foot deli/restaurant’s business has just been reduced in asking price from $175,000 to $145,000. But where is it? One commercial real estate website lists the address as 601 Walnut Street, but that’s the Curtis Center, so no. The broker’s website has the address as “9th and Walnut Area” and “in the Heart of Society Hill.” Also: “just a few blocks away from Washington Square.” As well as: “conveniently located in the heart of a residential area with tons of foot traffic to local wine and spirit store and supermarkets.” Hmm.
We called the agent, Nick Quinn, who represents the sale of the business, for clarification, but he declined to give the actual address. “We want to protect our client,” he said, very Bond-like.
Wherever the mystery restaurant is (and we won’t pry but maybe Starr or Garces should), we do know it has a license for takeout beer. “This could easily be converted into an amazing BYOB,” says the listing, which we imagine was penned by Quinn-Bond.
Property’s Morning Obsession: Phillies T-Shirt Skirt to Welcome the Season
Like real estate listings copy, Etsy item descriptions can sometimes be a little hyperbolic. Here, the enthusiasm is expressed by the punctuation:
Love baseball?? Philadelphia Phillies?? Then, this skirt has to be in your wardrobe!! You will love wearing it!! Great to wear at the ball games when it is warm out and you stay & look super cool!!!
Also, the “super-cool” is in the eye of the beholder.
Jeffrey Lurie’s New Wife’s Family Store Gets a Parklet Outside
Parklet photo via University City District website.
One of the several businesses owned by the successful Lai family is the Fu Wah Mini Mart, on 47th Street off of Baltimore Avenue in University City, which sells organic dishwashing detergent, Vietnamese hoagies and rolling papers–basically everything the neighborhood residents desire. These days, a lot has changed at Fu Wah. For one thing, it’s unlikely Tina Lai, who just married Jeff Lurie, will be back behind the cash register on a regular basis. Second of all, there’s a parklet outside.
Here’s how the parklet pioneers at University City District describe them:
A parklet is “an innovative temporary seating platform that transforms parallel parking spaces into a place to sit, relax, eat and enjoy street life. Parklets are landscaped with planters and a decorative railing, and furnished with movable café tables and chairs.
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Bart Blatstein Wants to Buy Marketplace Design Center [UPDATED]
An interior shot of the Marketplace Design Center by MikeWebkist via Flickr.
We’ve heard from multiple sources that developer Bart Blatstein is trying to finance the purchase of the Marketplace Design Center, best known as the sprawling interior design center at 24th and Market that has 40 showrooms in more than 350,000 square feet. In actuality, the property for sale also includes an attached six-story building on 23rd Street, whose tenants include the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Human Resources office and the nonprofit MANNA.
In total, the buildings represent more than 470,000 square feet of space. Reports of the price tag have ranged from $40 to $50 million.
Greater Philadelphia’s Top 5 Public Gardens
In the May issue of Philadelphia Magazine–still on newsstands! Print products are great!–Ashley Primis takes readers garden-hopping. ’Tis the season, after all. She chooses five area public gardens that are a must-visit, and it’s hard to disagree with her list. Want to suggest more? Please add them in the comments! 1. THE NEW KID. Chanticleer [...]