Venice Island, the Manayunk space that was originally developed by Derek Davis to house Arroyo Grille in 1996 and then was converted to Carmella’s in 2003 has been empty now for roughly 4 years. While there have been proposed building projects for the site, we are unaware of anything currently finalized.
Becoming a complete eye sore - enough already !!!
What a shame for such a large accessible venue to be such an eye sore. What are your thoughts on this location? Should this building be demolished and the area be preserved by the city? Should it be redeveloped into a dining destination? Or do you have other suggestions?
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when i lived in manayunk i would run by this every day on the tow path and i always wondered why this giant place just sits deserted. glad you brought it up.
I always felt that Chickie and Pete’s would fit nicely there, of course that could be said for anywhere when it comes to crabs.
I must admit, that is a great suggestion! They are the type of place that would be able to maintain a strong business there. We were contacted, however, after our post ran and told that the space is not able to be developed because of the flooding. I’m not sure why they were able to do it the first time around?
I still vote for demolition at the least…
We found your blog commentary about the Arroyo property very interesting, what took so long? We are the developers of the site and welcome your concerns, because to date there has not been a strong, public push for this development or for the site at Cotton Street and the river (the old Connelly Container site).
Development of both sites has been thwarted by and delayed by a very small group (probably not more than 10 individuals voting at any one time) headed by Kevin Smith calling themselves the grandiose name of “The Manayunk Neighbor Council”.
At a nominal cost, principally Smith, has at every stage of the zoning process, appealed the victories of the developer to the next court level until there are no additional appeals possible. In the case of the Connelly site, the delay has been 10 years. That means that the original intent of the developer to build 268 apartments and 500 + parking spaces for the public has been denied by Smith and his small band, and now he has appealed the latest zoning order. More years of delay. Obviously, just what Smith wants!
In the Arroyo site, Smith has managed to delay the building for approximately 3 years by appealing the zoning board’s approval and has recently appealed the Common Pleas Court affirmation of the zoning board’s approval to the next appeals court, at very minimal cost, which will delay the building for at least another 1 ½ years. Just think, the Arroyo site, with 290 units and the Connelly site with now 205apartments would have added 1000 potential residents to the area. The business climate with an additional 1000 residents would be dramatically improved and different today were theses residents here shopping and dining in local stores, creating sizeable and potential business to a seriously injured retail reality today!
We find it astonishing that the vast majority of retailers on Main Street have not risen up with loud protests against Smith and his band and in support of additional residential projects, and some retailers have in fact looked the other way and have not supported the developers. The present lack of retail is answer and proof enough to their failure to support the developers. There is no flood prohibition to building on these lots. The sole obstruction to residential developments is Smith and his little band.
It would be a revelation and the start of a new day for Manayunk and perhaps the initiation of good tidings if you and your readers were to become active and form a strong response to Smith and persuade a progressive community group to withdraw all objections and appeals to the developments that have for too long been delayed.
Venice Island Partners
WOW! Thank you so much for your comments and we are so thankful that you found our blog. We feel that it would be in everyone’s best interest to have more business for local merchants in our community and while we speak for no one in particular, we will certainly pass along your comments and will be interested to see how they are received. It would be seem unreasonable to believe that except for possible traffic concerns why merchants would not want additional residents in the area.
Please keep us posted!
To the folks at Venice Island Partnership: I can’t help but wondering if all of this is happening, where are the records? Why aren’t we aware? Also aren’t there already empty condos at the entrance to Venice Island that are not selling? Why would your condos sell, when these are not and why would you want to build more when there is already available inventory?