Bok introduces new tenants, pop-up art installation
Since the former Bok Technical School was sold to Lindsey Scannapieco at Scout Ltd. after the great school sale of 2014, the large East Passyunk Crossing structure has seen quite a bit of transformation.
To add to the list of recent additions to the building including a boxing gym, a hairdresser and more, new tenants have been announced, along with a pop-up art installation that will be open at the school through the end of July.
According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, the new tenants for the building include the Garces Foundation, Top Banana Printing, Revival Letterpress, and Milder Office. This puts the building at “just over 10 percent occupancy of its approximately 216,000 square feet of leasable space.”
This new art installation is from the Klip Collective uses projection lighting and technology to tell the school’s story. At this exhibit, you’ll see an installation that utilizes items from over the years at Bok, including things like old school desks, instruments, year books and more. The art installation also makes use of some of the stories recorded about the school by StoryCorps thanks to the Knight Foundation grant the school received last year.
Here’s a description of the exhibit from the Klip Collective on Facebook:
Vacant America is the vision of Klip Collective artists to create a series of video installations uncovering physical memories and visual residues from America’s forgotten and changing spaces. At Bok, we are exploring interpretive storytelling through immersive media, such as installation art and virtual reality. With the first installment in the former Girls’ Gymnasium, this project seeks to capture the history and tangible memories contained in the former school.
The Streets Dept. has some more cool photos of the exhibit worth checking out.
You can head to Bok to check out this free exhibit on Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., starting Friday, June 3.
10% occupancy. only 90% more to go!! Don’t know how the bills are getting paid.
Oh no. I can’t believe that only 10% is already leased. They should have just left it a vacant shell…
That 10% is made up of some big/trendy names. I think they are doing it the right way.
The owner is from a very successful family of developers with very deep pockets, so they can operate at a loss almost indefinitely. I feel honored that they chose my neighborhood as we can use the improvements. Perhaps long-term there will be some jobs created too.
Pretty sure the rooftop bar/restaurant they ran last summer was wildly profitable (every time i went there were hundreds of people there). They paid practically nothing for the building and there’s a lot of neighborhood interest/support. They’ll do just fine my naysayer friend.
That’s 10% more than the School District of Philadelphia was paying. I believe at the moment the bulk of the return is made from the popular LeBok Fin until more tenants and uses are on board.
What happened to Le Bok Fin?
It was a pop-up.
There are plans for a permanent restaurant, but they take much longer to develop than pop-ups do.