Philly Welcomes Fresh Giant Food Store, Rehabbed Senior Complex

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

With 47 new locations already opened in Southeastern Pennsylvania over the last few years, Giant Food will finally set foot in Philadelphia. The new 74,000-square-foot store is scheduled to open on July 20 in a former retail facility located near Roosevelt Boulevard. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the new Giant Food store is part of a larger 156,000-square foot retail redevelopment of the Penn Fruit bakery and commercial food-storage in the 2500 block of Grant Avenue. The site was rebuilt from scratch by developer Peter Abrams, who owns Abrams Realty Development, with aid from Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, who facilitated some changes in the city’s zoning law.

The Grant Avenue store is the biggest redevelopment project in the Northern part of Philadelphia, reports the newspaper. According to Linda Lawrence, Krajewski’s aide in zoning matters, the store will revitalize the area’s economy by adding much-needed jobs. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union—who include clerks, meat cutters and Acme, ShopRite, Pathmark and Super Fresh employees—are not so enthusiastic about this new grocery store, fearing that they might lose their jobs within the first year.

In other real estate headlines, Senior Housing News reports that renovations are almost complete on Ascension Manor, an apartment community providing affordable housing for seniors 62 and older as well as the disabled in North Philadelphia. The two high-rises were built in 1967 and 1977 and currently serve almost 300 seniors and disabled individuals coming from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which owns the property, invested $11 million in the redevelopment. According to Archbishop Stefan Soroka of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, more common open space was added to the establishment, so that residents can gather and socialize with one another. Other improvements include a new computer lab, craft and exercise rooms, and a meditation room.