The Great Food Hall Endures

Today I was invited by my clients at Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) to tour the building at 801 Market Street. With camera, pad and pen in hand, I learned all about how the behemoth space is being redeveloped.

The US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) designation is pending with emphasis on historic preservation, sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and environmental quality.

When completed, the rehabilitation project will be certified by the Department of the Interior for its conformance with the federal “Standards for Rehabilitation.”

The majestic shell, with its original 1920s era windows, still has many remnants of what the building once was; Philadelphia’s flagship Strawbridge & Clothier department store. PREIT is actively looking for hot retail and restaurant tenants for the beautiful ground floor shell.

Being inside the Great Food Hall brought back a lot of sweet memories for me. Many moons ago when I lived on the corner of 7th and Addison Streets in the Society Hill section of Philadelphia, Strawbridge & Clothier was my department store.

I used to go there often in the fall of 1992 with my son Max, who just turned 17. The September that he was born was stunning with near perfect weather. Every day there was warm sunshine with a fallsy nip in the air. I bought much of his first clothing in the gargantuan layette department. It looked so cute on his fat little body!

People who know me know that I think I was a housewares buyer in another life. I love to switch out bedding seasonally and to be well stocked with cloth napkins, tablecloths and monogrammed towels, which I also like to update according to the seasons. My love of the category was advanced in the very building I visited today. Armed with coupons on the way in, on the way out I had to layer my trophy finds on top of the baby and cart them home through the City in the carriage.

But the great Strawbridge & Clothier Food Hall was my favorite. There were four types of chocolate covered pretzels at the candy counter. How delightful to have a box filled before your very eyes with fresh ones, often 30 % off. That’s so much better than taking off plastic packaging. You could also buy fresh breads, sandwiches, imported pasta, gourmet vinegars and oil and salads, even dining in at the quaint wrought iron-legged tables.

These memories all came back to me this morning. The space is still so grand. My imagination was running wild. I truly can’t wait to see what it becomes! Knowing PREIT, the result will be extraordinary.

-Lisa Simon