“Fergie’s Beach” to Make Way for “Fergie’s Tower” in July?
1213-1219 Walnut Street | Photo: James Jennings
Remember how excited you were to read this Foobooz post last week about the return of “Fergie’s Beach,” a pop-up wonderland of beer, food and fun next to the timeless Fergie’s Pub near 12th and Sansom in Midtown Village? Well, imagine how interested we were to read that they kind of non-chalantly spilled the beans about the construction of the long-planned tower project in that huge surface parking lot surrounding the the popular public house:
“The “60-seat beer garden and asphalt paradise” will return on Wednesday, May 20th and will run until construction of the so-called “Fergie’s Tower” begins. That’s expected to be sometime in mid-July.”
The site at 1213-1219 Walnut Street is actually owned by the 1213 Walnut Associates L.P./Goldenberg Group, which purchased it in November for $8.2 million, according to city records. Maureen Garrity, spokesperson for the Goldenberg Group, told us in an email, “We are working diligently on the 1213 Walnut Project, and are expecting to break ground later this year. We look forward to sharing details with you as they become available.”
While specifics are not currently available, a publicist for the Goldenberg Group told Property a year ago that, “The Goldenberg Group has been working on a multi-family high-rise development at this location, but it’s premature to release any details.” Natalie Kostelni of the Philadelphia Business Journal reported in December that a tower still looked to be in the plans:
Goldenberg is expected to construct a 26-story apartment building that will have about 300 apartments and retail space at the ground level. Goldenberg is reportedly doing the $100 million-plus project in partnership with Hines, a Houston-based development company.
Fergie’s Pub, located at 1214 Sansom Street (hence the nickname), is surrounded by the property at 1213-1219 Walnut Street and city records show the building is owned by David Singer of Michael Singer Real Estate. Neither Singer nor anyone from Fergie’s could be reached for comment about the neighboring development at this time. For a brief history of the controversial tower proposal, which dates all the way back to 2007, head here.
When or if construction does occur on whatever project is going to inhabit the parking lot, we’ll count it alongside a bunch of big-time projects in the area east of Broad Street. That list is steadily growing by the month and includes (among others): East Market, The Gallery/Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia, the massive Brickstone projects on and around the 1100 block of Chestnut Street, the proposed apartment tower at 709 Chestnut Street, Brandywine’s takeover of the parking garage at 7th and Market and the revamp of the Curtis Center.
