Remember, just a few years ago, it seemed like Wawa didn’t love us anymore? The iconic local convenience store/spiritual experience closed multiple downtown locations, and it seemed like Wawa was focused on growing their presence in the ‘burbs with supersized locations that included gas stations. The last few years we’ve seen a major pivot, as Wawa has come back to Center City in a big way. They’ve opened a new location on Broad Street. Additional locations are coming soon at 13th & Chestnut and 22nd & South. And there are surely some others that aren’t springing to mind.
Today, we got word of yet another Wawa location that’s coming soon, at the corner of 12th & Market. The Wawa will fill the corner space in the 2nd apartment tower of East Market, a project which has been rising over the bones of the zombified Snellenburg’s department store for the last couple years. We last updated you on this project a couple months ago, when developer National Real Estate Development officially secured financing for this next phase of the project. Construction has progressed well since then, but we’re too excited to snap a new photo right now. So we’ll just share the image we got a couple months back:
And now, please check out the Wawa in waiting, in all its curvy LED hoagie glory.
Will the office and convention crowds eschew Reading Terminal for Wawa? We couldn’t tell ya, but we suspect there will be enough business for everybody, especially with the hundreds of new residents that will soon flood this area. As a reminder, the first apartment tower includes 322 apartments, while the second tower will have another 240 units. Other tenants that have already signed on for East Market include Iron Hill Brewery, MOM’s Organic Market, architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and the Design Center. And as we’ve told you previously, assuming all goes well on Market Street, future phases of the project should include additional development on the north side of the 1100 block of Chestnut Street. And just think, soon all those construction workers (and everybody else) will be flooding into the newest Wawa in town at 12th & Market. Who are we kidding, it’s just nice to feel loved again.