Union Trust to become catering venue
Finley Catering Co. last week signed a lease for the building at 715-717 Chestnut St., which for many years was Kellmer Jewelers.
Union Trust - the white-elephant steakhouse that filed for bankruptcy two years after its 2009 opening and later foreclosed - will become a catering venue.
Finley Catering Co. last week signed a lease for the building at 715-717 Chestnut St., which for many years was Kellmer Jewelers.
Finley now books the Crystal Tea Room near City Hall, the nearby Ballroom at the Ben, and the Clothier Room in Wynnewood.
Owner Tom Finley says he's calling the venue Union Trust Events, and expects to host the first event in September. Though the deal - rumored at PhillyChitChat last month - was not signed till last week, owners had allowed Finley to show it off to prospective clients.
"Of the 20 couples we showed it to, 18 of them booked," Finley told me.
Finley is leveling the first floor, moving the first-floor bar to the front (where a raw bar was) and adding restrooms. The joint will accommodate 200 for weddings, and 600 to 700 for cocktails.
Union Trust - taking advantage of the century-old building's 65-foot vaulted ceilings - cost $12 million to build from a shell. It closed in late 2012.
The area - a block from Independence Mall - is a catering magnet. Joe Volpe of Cescaphe Events books both the Curtis Center and Down Town Club, on Sixth Street.
Jacob Cooper, vice president of Michael Salove Co., represented the landlord, Parkway Corp., on this transaction, and Chris Egan of Rittenhouse Realty Advisors represented Finley.