Cruising along Delaware Avenue away or towards Fishtown, you'll (likely) notice a construction crane splicing up into the sky next to the Sugarhouse Casino. Workers broke ground last summer and according to a Sugarhouse spokesperson, construction is proceeding as expected. Last week, we spied a new parking garage laying its shadow across the Delaware River. The $164M expansion, all to the north of the original structure, will more than double the square footage of the casino. A temporary poker room has been in operation for awhile, but a permanent one is coming once the construction is over.
Directly across the street, Core Realty's plans for a mega entertainment complex where Frankford Avenue hits Delaware Ave. is progressing. The music venue aspect of the project, the Fillmore Philadelphia, has booked Hall & Oates for their grand opening celebration on October 1st. It looks like quite a bit needs to happen between now and then.
Core has at least two other projects in the queue nearby. As we told you back in April, the developers want to demolish the old Edward Corner building and replace it with a twelve-story building with 180 apartments and 12 townhomes. Core also proposed a six-story building with ground-floor retail and office space on the 1200 block of N. Delaware Avenue. The Fishtown Neighbors Association voted down both proposals a couple of months ago, so the developers will likely work their way through the community process to find a project that makes financial sense and satisfies neighborhood concerns. For a lenthy conversation on some of those concerns, click here.
Assuming Core Realty is able to come up with a plan that works for all parties, additional development here will dovetail nicely with the commercial development coming soon down the street and the residential happenings in the neighborhood. This one will bear watching in the months to come, and will hopefully include the reuse of the Edward Corner building which has some sweet bones and some wonderful history. While we wait, perhaps we'll sidle up to a craps table.
We've heard that Philly loves a winner. Or something like that.