Last summer, we told you about plans to convert the northwest corner of 5th & Bainbridge, the former home of John C Paul and Sons Paper Company, into a boutique hotel. We'd had our eye on this corner since a year prior, when the long-term operator closed its doors. And while we were sad to see this institution shut down, we were very excited by the possibility of a new and interesting fate for the collection of properties that had probably been underused as the neighborhood has changed.
Back in August, the property owners got their variance from the ZBA for this project, and the other day a reader gave us a shout that a rendering for the new hotel complex had been posted to the property, which is looking for retail tenants.
The owner of the property, as we told you before, is Zaken Realty Trust. We are still of the opinion that this refers to Shimi Zaken of Atrium Developments and Atrium Design, an architect that we most recently covered when discussing a Northern Liberties residential project. The look of the buildings in the rendering would seem to suggest the same.
As you can see, this will be a mixed-use project with several retail operations on the first floor and the hotel up above. We'll be interested to see what kind of tenants they're able to recruit for this desirable location, and will likewise will want to see first hand how they're able to modify the interior floorplans of an existing collection of buildings to make them feel like one structure.
Once this project is done, it will represent another change for this intersection, which last year saw Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant Supply, another long-operating business, replaced by Painting With a Twist. Out with the old, in with the new, ya know?
Yes folks, we live in an ever-changing city. Businesses come and businesses go. Some stick around for a long time in the middle but eventually they all meet the same fate. Except for maybe Comcast. Those guys could be around forever.