![]() ![]() It took a while, but he finally got hereĭorf had Philadelphia in his sights from the day he opened the first City Winery in New York. And the lamps that hang over the main bar, also a common City Winery design element, come from Philadelphia design and decor studio Galbraith & Paul. A giant wall of wine bottles encircles the staircase connecting the two levels. Reclaimed barrel staves - “I think these days, if you don’t use reclaimed wood, there’s something wrong with you,” says Dorf - form woven panels that help dampen sound in the live main spaces, and brick and more reclaimed wood dominate the interiors. ![]() The design City Winery’s Brooklyn-based architect produced is decidedly casual and contemporary, and it draws on the trappings of winemaking extensively. ![]() Looking to light up Filbert Streetīut the main reason that PREIT/Macerich wanted City Winery as a tenant was to give the mall an experiential destination retail space to go along with the movie theater and entertainment complex planned for its top floor - but one that would enliven the street as well, which City Winery does with its streetside outdoor seating.ĭetail of the main bar, including lamps designed by Galbraith & Paul and found in every City Winery location. “We’ve had more business than we anticipated at that bar,” says Dorf. So in the bar went, and it’s proved to be a draw in its own right. “But all the real estate people we spoke to were like, Why don’t you have a presence in the mall?” We never had one.” (Which should be no surprise, since the other locations are all in freestanding buildings.) His original design had the barrel room taking up the entire mall side of the lower level there it would serve as both an advertisement for the winery to mall-goers and as sound and climate-control insulation for the concert venue on its other side. That feature Dorf had to be sold on: “I was a little gun-shy of having a mall bar,” he says. They’re the ones grabbing seats at City Winery’s mall-facing bar, which is separate from the other spaces and totally open to passers-by in the mall. To get to the barrel room, the concert venues and the restaurant, you have to use the outside entrance on Filbert Street.īut there is that 10 percent. Its barrel room faces the mall’s train-level concourse, and the only doors from the concourse are emergency exits. “But 90 percent of our customers are not ever going through the mall to come to our front doors.”Īnd the fact is, you can’t enter City Winery from the inside of the mall. I told some friends, ‘I’m looking at The Gallery,’ and they’re like, ‘Aaaaaughhh.’ ![]() “When I took the tour, it was a ghost mall. “I was hesitant at first about being in a mall,” he says. So thus primed, Dorf was at least open to the idea of locating in the Fashion District. This is the real deal.” But would this work in a mall? This is not like Chelsea Market in New York, which is a wannabe, created market. And when I walked through there, I’m like, This is really cool. “And I also heard about it from my friends who are locals, and they just love the market. I think it’s such a great culinary location. “When we were looking at Philly, I did draw about a one-mile radius around the Reading Terminal Market,” Dorf says. Which led Dorf to zero in on one spot in particular in Philadelphia. Most of the other six City Winery locations now in business are located either in warehouse or light industrial districts, as in Nashville and Washington, or near historic public or wholesale food markets: Ponce de Leon Market in Atlanta, Randolph Street Market in Chicago, Haymarket in Boston, and Chelsea Market, close to the new City Winery New York City flagship set to open next year. Another visitor drawn to the Reading Terminal Marketįor his part, Dorf was looking for a large chunk of real estate in a location close to a culinary destination. And both got what they wanted by largely facing away from each other. PREIT got the street-activating anchor it wanted for its mall, and City Winery got its big venue space. City Winery was looking for a 30,000-square-foot space in which to build its latest restaurant/music hall/function space. Wait.City Winery Might Actually Be A Good Concert Venue?įashion District Philadelphia: A Work-in-Progress Reviewīut there was one piece of prime real estate that could be opened up to Filbert: the street-floor space at the southeast corner of the intersection with 10th Street. Will Fashion District Succeed Where The Gallery Failed? ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |