Wanamaker Building Retail Leasing Begins, Targeting 'Anything Under The Sun'

TF Cornerstone is still in the early stages of redeveloping the Wanamaker Building, but it has begun searching for retail tenants.

MSC has been contracted to lease the 300K SF of retail Macy’s vacated earlier this year and part of the building’s 12th floor, which will likely also contain an amenity space for residents.

The brokerage will consider “anything under the sun that can occupy large format retail space in the city,” MSC partner Jacob Cooper told the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Tenants are expected to start signing leases before the end of the year, MSC principal Doug Green said.

TFC and partner Alterra Property Group are building 621 apartments in the property. Those are due in 2028, but the retail could open before then. Two floors of existing office space and the Crystal Tea Room event venue will also remain.

MSC posted a brochure about the Wanamaker on its website, touting its central location and historic character. It includes a quote from filmmaker Steven Spielberg about his childhood memories of the defunct department store that gave the 114-year-old structure its name.

“When I was young and my parents went shopping at Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia they used to put me under the eagle and have me there for an hour and a half, alone,” he said. “I would dream. I felt the statue of the eagle would protect me from the terrifying live organ music.”

But the iconic eagle and organ are part of the reason the Wanamaker has extensive historic designations regulating its use. It is not a blank slate.

“It's really marrying the feasibility with market demand,” Green told the PBJ of MSC’s leasing strategy. “What's possible given all the constraints and the historic restrictions and the fact that this is just such an incredibly unique building?”

The Wanamaker is on East Market Street, a retail corridor that has struggled mightily in recent decades.

Many officials and stakeholders pinned their aspirations for the neighborhood on the Philadelphia 76ers’ plans to build a new arena down the street on part of the Fashion District site.

A clear vision for revitalizing the corridor hasn’t emerged since the team pivoted away from that plan late last year.

Last month, TFC received permits from the city that included details about its plans to build a swimming pool and two decks on the Wanamaker’s roof.