An upscale part of Center City has long been one of its most coveted retail hubs. Some of that activity is now starting to spill into a growing residential neighborhood nearby.
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Rittenhouse’s post-pandemic retail recovery is continuing as Northern Liberties, which has become a dense multifamily market in recent years, matures into a more established retail destination.
“The retailers that are expanding their digital footprints are choosing Center City, particularly Walnut Street,” Center City District CEO Prema Katari Gupta said during Bisnow’s Philadelphia Women Leading Real Estate event on July 30 in the Ballroom at the Ben.
Retail occupancy in Center City dropped to 55% during the height of the pandemic in 2020 but had recovered to 84% as of April, which was a two-year high, according to a CCD report.
The business improvement district found that occupancy rose to more than 88% on West Walnut Street, with just four first-floor vacancies between 15th and 18th streets.
Lululemon nearly doubled the footprint of its longstanding 4K SF store at 1720 Walnut St. to 7,300 SF when it took over the space next door earlier this summer. Its former neighbor, Indochino, downsized into a 2,100 SF space nearby at 1519 Walnut St.
Juice Pod’s outpost at 1845 Walnut St. was one of the most recent additions included in CCD’s database of new tenants.
It followed the arrival of Jordan World of Flight’s North American flagship store at 1635 Walnut St. in October 2025.
“We're starting to see it spill onto Chestnut Street, and we're very hopeful it will go east as well,” Gupta said.
The west end of that corridor had reached 85% occupancy in April after Tidal Force VR and Rally House opened at 1510 Chestnut St. and 1628-1636 Chestnut St., respectively, in early 2026.
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But there is retail velocity outside of core Center City as well.
“One of the things that I love is the opportunities that we're seeing in the neighborhoods,” Thomas Jefferson University Senior Vice President of Enterprise Asset Management Dominique Casimir said. “Retailers are just not gravitating only to Center City.”
MPN Realty principal Nadia Bilynsky cited Northern Liberties as a strong example of this trend.
The neighborhood makes up the eastern half of the 19123 ZIP code, which fielded a quarter of all new units delivered in Philadelphia in 2024 at the tail end of the city’s multifamily boom.
The thousands of new residents have made a major impact on the retail sector, Bilynsky said.
JSC Real Estate in March spent $2.7M on a 10M SF property in Northern Liberties at 210-230 W. Girard Ave., the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. The developer told the outlet it will invest between $2M and $3M to turn it into a 12K SF single-story retail space.
That space is around the corner from Second Street, which Bilynsky highlighted as one of the neighborhood’s most promising commercial drags, citing recent new entries like Madis Coffee and Core Power Yoga.
“These are all tenants that people would have thought maybe five years ago would not look on Second Street in Northern Liberties, and they are,” Bilynsky said.
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