Current view of dilapidated warehouses

With the boom of Northern Liberties and Fishtown, and with SugarHouse Casino and the Waterfront Square condos sitting right on the waterfront, it was only a matter of time before someone came forth with plans to develop the jumble of properties between them. That someone will probably be Michael Samshick, owner of Core Realty. According to a recent article in the Philadelphia Business Journal, Samshick plans to develop a 1.5 million sqft complex spanning six blocks, consisting of “retail, entertainment, luxury loft apartments, and a hotel,” across the street from SugarHouse. Local real estate companies have been advertising both the retail and office portions of the project, tentively called Penn Treaty Village, a very fitting name for being so close to the historic spot, where legend says that William Penn and the Lenape Indians met and declared peace (that only lasted about a century) in 1683.

Rendering of what it might look like. Thanks to the helpful reader who sent this along.

Of course, Samschick will have to jump through numerous hoops before we see any serious activity at the site. As with any project of this scale, there’s always a decent chance that it will fall apart completely (Hello Foxwoods, Disney Hole, and Stamper Square), but perhaps this one doesn’t seem so far fetched? However you might feel about Sugarhouse (mixed emotions here), it seems to have a fairly steady stream of people coming through, and if it expands as planned, those numbers should rise. Combining that with the surrounding neighborhoods continuing to grow at a rapid rate despite the down economy, we could see locals and tourists alike visiting this destination if it ever gets off the ground. What kind of stores, restaurants and “entertainment” do we want to see coming to this space that can cater what could be a very wide audience?

Hey Mr. Samschick, with 1.5M sqft available, what are the chances you can give us some laser tag? Or at the very least, a movie theater?