Earlier this century, builders constructed some truly impressive buildings on South Broad Street. Many have since been demolished, but those that remain are a testament to another age. Take, for example, the former bank building on the northeast corner of Broad & Snyder. A couple of years ago, Beneficial Bank sold the property to developers. Interestingly, it was the Beneficial Saving Fund Society, a previous iteration of the bank, that built the building in 1927. It's amazing to think that the same company occupied the space for 85 years.
We confess, we didn't realize that the bank had sold the building and moved out until a reader brought the property to our attention the other day. There's a sign on the building from Soloff Realty and Development, a company that's built a number of shopping centers around town in recent years. This reader reached out to them, asking about plans for the property, but couldn't get any answers as to whether they've yet found a tenant. The property was listed for lease on Loopnet last year, but it's now "off the market." This suggests to us that they're moving forward with somebody.
The building is quite large, with over 3,800 sqft of usable space between a first floor space, a basement, and a mezzanine. The run of stores immediately to the north isn't exactly a Murderer's Row of retail, with a McDonald's next door, a TMobile store, a Dunkin Donuts, and a Dollar Tree, among others. But the bottom of East Passyunk Avenue is just a block away, and the right tenant could surely attract people from that corridor. Alternately, something more compatible with the stores on the block could appear. Honestly, it doesn't matter to us what opens here, we're just eager to see this building preserved and eventually brought back to life.