Those of you who've lived in Greater Philadelphia for more than six or seven years will almost certainly be able to remember when the Chester County suburb of Phoenixville, which sits about 30 miles northwest of Center City, was anything but hip. The collapse of the steel industry in the mid-1970s, of course, seemed to be the beginning of the end for Phoenixville. But sometime around 2005, the town's main drag, Bridge Street, began sprouting with the signs of economic growth, including a wealth of boutiques, cafes and restaurants and the
revitalized Colonial Theater.
"In six years, (Phoenixville) has gone 180 (degrees)," says Barry Cassidy, a project manager for
The DeMutis Group, which wants to build a seven-acre mixed use development on a portion of the former
Phoenix Steel site. "It went from nobody being down there except the drug dealers and prostitutes, to everybody (being) here. Even the drug dealers and prostitutes!"
According to Cassidy, the project, which is tentatively scheduled for an August groundbreaking, will include a 30,000 square-foot standalone office building, as well as 80,000 square-feet of retail space. Sitting atop the retail, meanwhile, will be 275 apartments. Cassidy also hopes to build an onsite parking garage and a series of condos he's referring to as work-life units, where a glassblower or a painter, for instance, could work in a street-level studio while also living in the back. "We're going to market those to craftsmen and artists," he says.
As for the specific types of businesses that might be occupying the site, Cassidy claims his group has adopted something of an arts and entertainment economic development strategy, and will be actively recruiting galleries, artists and craftsmen. All of them, no doubt, the sorts of businesses that will only serve to improve Phoenixville's artsy, up-and-coming reputation.
"We're like the crown jewel of sustainability here," Cassidy says of his development partners. "We're a lot different than the others."
Source: Barry Cassidy, The DeMutis Group
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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