When the
Tasty Baking Company finally closed its
historic Hunting Park facility in June 2010, and completed the transition of its headquarters into a LEED-certified building at the Navy Yard, the Nicetown and Hunting Park communities had one less area landmark to be proud of. But this past Friday, March 25, the
Metro Development Company broke ground on a new project at the site, which is now being referred to as
Bakers Square.
Metro is developing the site into a 220,000-square-foot shopping center that will soon be packed with retail stores and restaurants. And while the majority of the spaces have yet to be rented, Metro's leasing agent,
US Realty Associates, has already inked a deal with Brown's
ShopRite, which is building a 71,000-square-foot supermarket that will act as the shopping center's anchor tenant. "We're one of the only grocery-anchored shopping centers that's currently under construction in the metro Philadelphia market," says US Realty's Greg Bianchi. "And that's pretty compelling in today's economic environment."
Indeed. And perhaps equally compelling is the fact that the original six-story Tasty Baking plant won't be demolished to make way for new construction. Instead, says Bianchi, the building will be retained and retrofitted; US Realty hopes to see it used as office, institutional, or retail space.
Job creation, however, may very well become the biggest story surrounding Bakers Square, which is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2012. After all, 250 new jobs will be created for the ShopRite alone, says Bianchi. "We're also going to have 500 construction jobs," he adds. "And when we're done leasing the center, there will probably be upwards of 600 or 700 (permanent) jobs. And that's what things are about today. It's all about job creation."
Source: Greg Bianchi, US Realty Associates, Inc.
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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