By Paul Schwedelson – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
As the next to-be-built buildings in Schuylkill Yards await the right timing, Brandywine Realty Trust is beefing up the retail offerings at the University City master-planned site.
“Retail is really where we're focused,” said Jeff DeVuono, Brandywine Realty Trust’s managing director of the Pennsylvania region. “That's where we lack. We're just not up to par yet on what that wants to be.”
Brandywine (NYSE: BDN) recently completed construction on 3025 John F. Kennedy Blvd., a $300 million, 28-story building with 200,000 square feet of commercial space for office or lab space along with 326 apartments.
Nearing completion is 3151 Market St., a 472,000-square-foot life sciences building. Three more development sites at 3001 JFK Blvd., 3051 JFK Blvd. and 3101 Market St. are being planned, but Brandywine is waiting to begin construction on them.
In the meantime, the Philadelphia-based developer is adding retail amenities, a way to compete for office users and other tenants continuing their flight to quality.
“What we’ve done is we now took the retail space and that is part of our add-on factor to the building. People want amenities. That’s part of the business now,” DeVuono said at the Philadelphia Business Journal’s recent State of the Mega Project event. “It’s all our capital for the most part but what you want is a quality operator.”
Schuylkill Yards, Brandywine's $3.5 billion, 14-acre development in partnership with Drexel University has been well over a decade in the making. Brandywine was initially slow to incorporate these kinds of elements in their projects, DeVuono said. As Amtrak planned to significantly enhance retail offerings at 30th Street Station, Brandywine waited and didn’t pursue more retail on its own.
Following years of Amtrak delays, Brandywine decided it needed to improve its retail regardless. Renovations at 30th Street Station are now taking place, but it came later than anticipated.
“That's where we really need to build,” DeVuono said. “But it's up to you folks to come into the office, because if you own a restaurant, you can't make a living if you're not there during the week. So please come in.”
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