Rumor Mill: Has the Interior Concepts building been sold for $2.3 million?
Last week we told you that Interior Concepts at 1701 E. Passyunk Ave. is planning to close. While some were skeptical about about the validity of the “store closing” signs, some sources tell us that the building has been sold.
According to Interior Concepts’ owner, Mark Leon, the building was sold about two months ago and that he plans to close in May. So how much did this prime location on East Passyunk Avenue sell for?
This building was previously listed on the market for $2.9 million in 2014, and real estate records show it was pulled off the market in January after a final listing of $2.2 million. According to one of our sources, it is rumored to have sold for about $2.3 million. The 3 building package next to Interior Concepts, including the dollar store and the recently-opened sneaker boutique, sold for $765,000 back in May.
Leon didn’t have much information about the plans for the space. When we wrote about the listing last year, the listing tried to make a case for what seemed like a pretty high price:
Situated in the best possible location in East Passyunk, this building sits on a lot that is 6,716 sq. ft. and is zoned CMX-2.5 allowing for building heights of 55 feet. The current building has over 57 feet of window frontage on this bustling section of Passyunk Ave. spanning over three addresses and also has a depth of 116’ feet on Morris St.
The listing said you could have four 2,700 square foot houses on the lot, plus plenty of room for an apartment building with retail spaces and rentals facing the corner.
The city’s property records have not been updated to reflect a purchase, so we don’t have too much additional information at this time. We’ll keep you posted.
Now on to that other prime corner building at 12th and Passyunk: A Man’s Image, which went on the market for a rental in January. That store plans to relocate once they find a tenant.
Trader Joes !!!!!
…and then we’ll all flap our arms and fly to the Moon.
How about a link to the listing?
It expired in January so it doesn’t go to anywhere
$2.3 mill?! That’s WEGMAN”S money!!!
Please don’t make it into just an apartment building. Use the commercial space for something that’s needed for the neighborhood. Something like a Trader Joe’s or food coop (I know, too much money for them).
On a serious note, Nodding Head, Nodding Head, Nodding Head.
Thinking the same exact thing. That place is prime real estate for a small brew pub
gross gross gross beer!
Tired Hands anyone?
Nodding Head brews a world class berlinerweisse (and have been brewing it since well before it was a trendy style), amongst other standouts. It was more their space that was gross gross gross IMO.
yeah, I love a glass of mud…. get back to me when Jean learns how to clarify his beer.
Whatever is becomes must have astonishing window displays. Interior Concepts was the Macy’s of South Philly.
There’s no deed yet recorded which would be strange if a sale occurred two months ago.
It will be apartments. Nothing else is making the kind of money to make the purchase worth it. Wegmans? Is there any wegmans in a city? No. Food coop. Trader Joes, not big enough. There is an acme a block away. Brew pub would be great. But again, to make money, something needs to go above. How long did the rite aid sit until the crazy idea of a lost in the 80s come along. A decade? More? And it is still an eye sore. King of jeans is a hole in the ground. Maybe a parking garage.
I didn’t even think of a parking garage. Depending on how high they’d be allowed to build up, you could actually make a killing with that idea. They could rent out some permanent spots per month and then charge for hourly/daily rates for visitors. Just doing some simple estimated calculations, the payment period could potentially only be several years. Now is a parking garage even allowed to be there? No idea of the zoning. And would it be an eye sore to the community?
Not even remotely big enough for a parking garage.
is escape the 80’s still open?
Yes, it is.
A parking garage is really needed in that area. What are you going to put there, another restaurant? More apartments? It is in the perfect location and as a resident of the area I would even pay the monthly fee to have a permanent spot where I could actually leave my house at night again without having to drive around for two hours when I come home and then park a mile away.
A parking garage hahahabahahahahaha. Seriously a apartment building with ground floor retail please.
This neighborhood is seriously overcrowded as it is with all the apartments along the Avenue plus the residential area. It will also be gaining new apartments from the construction at 12th and Morris Building and the hole at the former King of Jeans if that ever gets up and running. Along with all these new tenants will be more cars. I know parking is a very sore subject but even South Street has parking garages. It is a necessity and something that is going to be needed with the continued commercial and residential growth of the area. It’s a potential solution to a major problem plus it would be a money maker for the owner of the building if there will be permanent parking spots with monthly fees.
@LTR, except your basic premise is incorrect. There are LESS people in South Philly than there has been for about 75-100 years.
There may be fewer people but are there more cars?
However, I doubt there would be a parking garage there simply because they are trying to make that intersection more usable not less. I don’t see the city okaying a building that would complicate traffic there.
This is before even getting into the aesthetics of parking garage right there. Passyunk should be looking to continue making the Ave more attractive not building a huge ugly concrete building right in the middle of it.
Not big enough for a reasonable garage, the interior turning dimensions would be insane. I also doubt they could get the streets department to sign off on curb cuts (definitely not on Passyunk and probably not on Morris).
I agree a parking garage would be useful for the area, but its VERY unlikely that it would end up anywhere in the interior of the neighborhood, the traffic would just overwhelm whatever street you put it on.
One place that you could likely see a garage is either on the City Superblock (between 12th-11th, wharton-reed) or on the acme lot.
Everything on the market should be purchased and turned into parking. We need more parking!
I suppose this is some kind of quarter-to-half-baked conceptual art: “Maybe if I litter the message board with absurdist whining about parking, people will stop whining about parking. Therefor, because there is too much whining about parking, we need more whining about parking. Step 1: Whine incessantly about parking. Step 3: Profit.”
NEST in South Philly, please! There are thousands of parents in a three block radius waiting for something like that.
Has the South Philly Co-Op looked at this building? It seems to fit their needs and it’s one of the few large retail spaces on the Avenue.
This is not a good fit for the coop. They want something right around 5000 sqft, this space is almost 7000 on the ground floor. There is also no access for deliveries/loading.
@Nem, are you kidding?? The place has a friggin’ freight elevator access on Morris Street. How do think all that crappy furniture got delivered??
The coop people said they want nothing bigger than 5000 sqft and they want dedicated parking. So they would not be interested in this space. I think it would work great and the location is perfect.