As downtown continues to grow at a rapid rate, the needs of its population are increasing by nearly the same amount. However, those needs are being met in the East Village as a new Albertsons opened its doors to the public on Oct. 20 at 14th and Market streets, bringing the number of supermarkets in the neighborhood to two.
One of the most noticeable features of the new grocery store is its building: it is literally the ground floor of a new mixed use project known as Market Street Village, which gives it a distinctly downtown feel. Above the 43,000-square-foot store sit 225 apartments on five more stories.
“We’re extremely excited to have what [is now] downtown’s second full-service grocery store down here,” said Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) spokesman Derek Danziger. “Because as we look at the growing population of downtown, the fact is that our population has nearly doubled in the last five years, from 17,000 residents in 2000 to now 30,000.”
The East Village, in fact, is not only where the majority of construction has recently taken place, but will continue to as downtown’s redevelopment moves eastward after starting near the water more than 20 years ago.
“It’s like they’ve perfectly positioned themselves in a place where they’ll be able to capture that next wave of people that are coming in,” Danziger said of the new store.
The project has been in the works for two and a half years, with construction beginning in September 2004, and the arrival of businesses the real estate industry terms “big box retailers” is a sign of things to come.
“It’s kind of a validation that what’s happening downtown continues to be successful. Downtown, over the last several years, has further legitimized itself as a place where it is becoming a major destination spot “” not just for visitors, but for residents. So I think you had a lot of major retailers waiting in the wings to really see what was going to occur down here,” Danziger said.
With that in mind, Danziger reasoned that downtown can possibly expect more large retailers to follow, with demand increasing for stores like Target, or Crate and Barrel, that serve the needs of homes “” along with more grocery stores, incidentally “” as the neighborhood continues to expand.