Just to the south of the Divine Lorraine, the Ridge Avenue Shelter was for many years a crucial resource for members of the city's homeless population. A couple of years ago, according to Philly.com, the shelter's lease was not renewed at 1360 Ridge Ave., due to a change in the way that Philadelphia is dealing with the homeless and also because of an effort from HUD to move away from the model of large shelters. Thanks to a dose of stimulus funds, the Office of Supportive Housing was able to relocate the men living at the shelter to more permanent housing situations.
With the closing of the shelter, a prominent building with frontage on both Ridge Avenue and Broad Street became available. The building, whose Broad Street side has been repainted, has one tenant that we know about so far- Stephen Starr. Starr has opened a commissary in this building, which serves Starr-catered events in the area and also has a private tasting room.
But a sign on the building suggests that the rest of the place is up for grabs. According to the sign from EB Realty Management, 8,000 sqft are available on the first floor and another 22K sqft are available on floors two and three. The sign indicates that a restaurant could work on the ground floor (and we agree) and that a school, a gym, or offices could be ideas for the upper floors.
Will someone rent this space any time soon or will it continue to sit vacant for the foreseeable future? With the rapid redevelopment of North Broad Street in recent years, we're inclined to bet on the former. And if the renovation of the Divine Lorraine ever, uh, happens, this locations will suddenly become all the more valuable. It certainly bears watching, and if anything interesting happens here we'll be sure to follow up.