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Letters: Blatstein's towering blunder

I concur with Inga Saffron's assessment of Bart Blatstein's development proposal for the site at Broad Street and Washington Avenue ("Green light likely for hated high-rise," Friday). In Philadelphia, retail anywhere other than at street level is doomed.

Artist's rendering of developer Bart Blatstein's mixed-use project proposed for the intersection of Broad Street and Washington Avenue, seen from the corner of 13th and Carpenter Streets.
Artist's rendering of developer Bart Blatstein's mixed-use project proposed for the intersection of Broad Street and Washington Avenue, seen from the corner of 13th and Carpenter Streets.Read moreCope Linder Architects
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ISSUE | DEVELOPMENT

Blatstein's towering blunder

I concur with Inga Saffron's assessment of Bart Blatstein's development proposal for the site at Broad Street and Washington Avenue ("Green light likely for hated high-rise," Friday). In Philadelphia, retail anywhere other than at street level is doomed.

I have lived in Center City for 39 years and have seen:

  1. NewMarket, which was situated behind street-front buildings on Second Street, fail to match the more authentic experience of front-and-center retail on nearby South Street;

  2. Double-decker retail in the 900 block of South Street fail and be replaced by a successful, street-level Whole Foods.

  3. The Gallery fail to attract shoppers to its upper levels;

  4. The Shops at Liberty Place struggle to retain tenants on its upper level.

To place retail on the upper level of a gargantuan parking garage at the edge of Center City is folly. Blatstein should look to the development underway in the 1100 block of Market Street for an example of a potentially successful urban shopping experience. I hope the zoning board sees the pitfalls of Blatstein's proposal and asks him to make adjustments.

Jim Siegel, Philadelphia