When I first looked at the artist’s rendering of the newest coworking space that is going up in the place of the old Destination Maternity warehouse, I was pretty stunned. I’ve been a Philly resident for more than 10 years and have seen a lot of economic development in the area, but I’ve never seen something transform so drastically. The fact we have a tax abatement for businesses that want to build or remodel means that a lot of attention has been on Philadelphia in terms of business development, so I’ve personally seen many neighborhoods in the area go from high crime, drug-infested projects, to really nice places to live and do business. Perhaps the greatest improvement though, has been in Northern Liberties in North Philadelphia.
For a while most of North Philly was a place to be feared with a massive heroin problem, high unemployment, vacant buildings, and essentially no night life. What has happened over the last 10 years has been a massive improvement to the area with great gastro pubs, restaurants, music venues, and small businesses moving in. The PIazza was one of the first new things to come to Northern Liberties and with it came an influx of millennials, good food, and innumerable hipsters. The low cost of living and the new development meant that if you were a 20-something, Northern Liberties was the place to live.
A hip, high-tech, new coworking space in the area then, seems like a natural progression and transition for an up and coming neighborhood. SoNo stands for South of Northern Liberties and is going to be a sprawling coworking space built by the developers Alliance HSP at 5th and Spring Garden. The $60 million project will transform the dreary manufacturing plant to a 260,000 foot millennial oriented complex for seven to ten media and tech companies. The new space will be a business hub for hip and trendy new companies and completely equipped with amazing amenities like a 75 bike parking “room”, gym, trendy cafe and a hip working environment with high ceilings and in office foliage.
While their marketing plan is solid and the idea is good, the truth is it’s not a brand new idea. Impact Hub Philadelphia is just right around the corner and offers similar amenities, in an albeit much smaller space with less financial backing. However that’s not to say that SoNo won’t be successful. The city’s plan to redevelop the area in North Philly along Delaware Ave has been a tremendous and expensive project. By pure will of force, business will move into the newly developed area, hopefully sourcing jobs locally from the neighborhood. SoNo is similar to this redevelopment in the idea that it is remodeling an archaic structure and revitalizing it to fit a younger demographic.
SoNo is an opportunity for big business and big developers to tap into the millennial mindset and the millennial driven economy in North Philly. While it’s impossible to say whether or not it will be a total success, there’s a good chance it will be. For detractors like David M. Scolnic, a real estate lawyer at Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller who says,
“If I were a young person looking for a job I would much rather work in Center City or in West Philadelphia, where there are amenities and places to go at lunch and after work,” he said. “It’s hard to picture this being an attractive option.”¹
Unfortunately for Mr. Scolnic, he isn’t a young person, and I don’t think he really understands the mindset. While Center City or West Philadelphia are great places to work, the majority of professionals there are still Generation X and the Baby Boomers. One of the biggest and most sought after companies for millennials located in Philly, URBN, parent company of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People is located in the Naval Yard, which is nothing like West Philly or Center City and is actually more reflective of the area that SoNo will be located in if developed correctly. Depending on their execution, if they can make 5th and Spring Garden look anything like the artists renditions, SoNo will be a huge success.
¹ Hurdle, Jon. “A Philadelphia Workplace, With Millennials in Mind.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 7 July 2015. Web. 12 July 2015.
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