Introducing the Piazza at Schmidts

Bart Blatstein, founder and president of Tower Investments, Inc., the city’s leading development firm, will open The Piazza at Schmidts (2nd and Hancock Streets,www.atthepiazza.com), a beautifully landscaped, 80,000 square foot open-air plaza with free events year-round, surrounded by three new buildings including 35 artist’s studios and boutiques, four new restaurants, 500 apartments and 50,000 square feet of office space in the Northern Liberties neighborhood on Saturday, May 16.

“My grandfather had a pushcart at 2nd and Laurel Streets in the 1930s, so I’ve always loved this area. My dream was to create a ‘five minute neighborhood’ where people live, shop, eat, work and play, all within a few city blocks. With all forms of public transit nearby, residents will have everything they need at their fingertips enabling them to decrease their carbon footprints by never having to use a car,” says Blatstein who has redefined urban planning with this project.

The new Piazza, with a 40 by 20 foot stage and a high definition, 26 by 16 foot next generation Daktoniks LED screen, will be a hive of activity all year long with free festivals, concerts, dance performances and live broadcasts of sporting events. Opening day festivities will include: a Trunk Show with 150 emerging artists, crafters and designers from 10 am to 4 pm; and a not-to-be-missed line-up of musical talent with Illvibe Collective from 1 pm to 4 pm, The Northern Liberties Dance Band from 3 to 4 pm, and Gina Ferrara and the Polysonic Mothership from 6 to 10 pm. On Sunday the action will continue with a live broadcast of the Philadelphia Phillies vs. the Washington Nationals baseball game from 1 to 4 pm, live Big Band music and dancing from 4 to 8 pm, and a showing of the movie Cinema Paradiso from 8 to 10 pm.

The Piazza is part of Blatstein’s 28 acre, $500 million Northern Liberties project, the country’s largest private urban renewal initiative. Blatstein has been reshaping the neighborhood transforming it from a post-industrial void into a pioneering new community since 2000.

Affectionately designed and named after Rome’s famous piazzas, The Piazza is surrounded by: a five-story renovated industrial building converted into apartments and commercial space; a six-story building connected by an enclosed catwalk to a seven story building, both with apartments and commercial space; and a seven story oval shaped glass office building with a restaurant on the ground floor. Blatstein wanted the new architecture to feature modern designs, a style he personally likes and knows appeals to a younger, hipper demographic. The results are uniquely Philadelphia-flavored modernist buildings with large windows, balconies and open spaces. The buildings have received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) most prestigious honors.

The four new restaurants include: Darling’s Diner, a funky 1950’s style diner, Vino, an Italian wine bar with pizza and pasta, The Swift Half, a gastro-pub by the owners of Philly’s hotspot The Good Dog, and P.Y.T. bar and lounge run by popular party promoter Tommy Up.

Some of the 35 artisans and boutiques surrounding The Piazza include: Millesime +, fashion and home design boutique, launched by Jinous Kazemi and Eugenie Perret (owner of the modern furniture store Minima); Toothless Cat Gallery, underground, tattoo and pop surrealist art; Pressed 55, letterpress gallery and retail, Amberella Sugary and Sweet Gallery and Boutique, original artworks, jewelry and home accessories; Vive 1977, punk rock retail; Print Liberation, world famous t-shirtaires; and Genes Urban Baby Boutique.

Also part of the enormous Northern Liberties revitalization, Blatstein has completed Liberties Walk (1000 North 2nd Street), a four-square block mixed-use development with a village feel that consists of apartments over ground floor commercial spaces. Filled with shops, cafes and restaurants, the inverted layout runs cross grain to the grid of streets offers people a walkway from the western part of the neighborhood through to the adjacent Piazza.

The unique array of businesses on Liberties Walk have fast become destinations for the city’s young, hip and trendy. Some of the already successful ventures include: Bar Ferdinand, a stylish Spanish tapas bar; El Camino Real, a Mexico-Texas border bar and restaurant; Brown Betty Dessert Boutique, a bakery specializing in fine baked goods, inspired by vintage and family recipes; Beautiful Blooms, fresh cut flowers and arrangements; Trophy Bikes; and Lithe Method, a pilates studio. In many cases Blatstein has helped these up-and-coming artists, creative first-time entrepreneurs and minority business people to get started.

To date, Blatstein’s sweeping Northern Liberties project has completed 600 residential units, 120,000 square feet of retail space and 130,000 square feet of office space at the cost of $150 million. The Transit Oriented Development (TOD) sits in close proximity to the Market-Frankford elevated subway line, multiple bus routes and the Girard Avenue trolley line. The area spans from the Front Street to Orianna Street (West of 3rd Street), and from Girard Avenue, south to Laurel Street.

Some of the properties are retrofitted from former industrial facilities while others are completely new construction. In some cases, classic old industrial buildings have been carefully renovated, retaining their character with wood, timber, brick and steel elements. Throughout this far-reaching development project, not a single person has been displaced; all of the properties involved had been abandoned for decades. Blatstein has demolished more than 1,000,000 square feet of structurally unstable, derelict buildings for this expansive revitalization project.

The project began when Blatstein purchased the former Schmidt’s Brewery in January 2000 at a sheriff’s auction. The original eight and a half acre site consisted of 25 buildings spread out over nearly eight square blocks. It took two years to demolish the crumbling remnants of the behemoth brewhouse and prepare the site for redevelopment. As a former brownfield, millions of dollars were spent remediating the properties. Over the following three year period Blatstein assembled the balance of the 28 acres.

For the final phase of this dream come true project, Blatstein has even more planned for the site. By 2011, his company will open The Shops at Schmidts (2nd Street and Girard Avenue), a two story, 100,000 square foot supermarket anchored retail development as well as The Residences at Schmidts, which will be adjacent to The Piazza with 600 new residential units in three separate buildings surrounding a lushly landscaped one acre park area.