While an alternative high school that opened last month on the 4300 block of Ridge Avenue in East Falls seems to be thriving despite some community opposition, an adjacent property has seen a different fate.

Some blame the economy for the current state of the site next to Delaware Valley High School, a lot once home to the Rivage Catering company. Today, the property sits unused, a reminder of what once was, and a symbol of what can be - if only market conditions improve and a community-backed plan emerges.

"This is what I do for a living. This project is one of my highest priorities," Gina Snyder, executive director of the East Falls Development Corp., said of her efforts to develop the property. "It is one of the highest priorities of the development corporation."

In the late 1990s, Snyder said, the property's former owner decided to sell the building, which had functioned as a catering/reception hall. Realizing the potential of the site, the city opted to buy the property, a request spearheaded by then-councilman Michael Nutter.

The Rivage site was viewed as "too important of a location" to sit unused, Snyder said.

Nutter could not be reached for comment, an aide said.

According to the Board of Revision of Taxes, the property was purchased in January 2000 by the city's Redevelopment Authority for $1,417,500.

Snyder said the building was then leased back to Rivage's owner, who continued to operate his business for several more years.

Eventually, however, the building became vacant.

Snyder said the community got involved from the start, and possible uses for the site were examined. Guidelines were developed as to what would be required of any future developer - such as street widening to allow parking on both sides of Ridge Avenue - and a request for proposal process began.

The first round of proposals was met with little interest, Snyder said. But when the RFP process started up again, a firm called Global City was selected from among three prospective groups to develop the site.

The others looking to purchase the site from the Redevelopment Authority included Brickstone Realty Corp., which wanted to buy the 1.6-acre parcel and construct a 52,000-square-foot hotel building; and a team consisting of Ivory Tower Investments, East Philly Village LLC and Devon Urban Advisors, which aimed to put up 118 apartments and 55 condos, plus more than 10,000 square feet of retail space.

Global City, which had been partnered with Westrum Development Corp., initially planned to develop a mixed-use site, complete with 60 condos and 60,000 square feet of retail/office space.

Snyder viewed the proposal as economically beneficial to the community.

But things soon went south. With the developer slow to address community groups with concerns about the project's size and scope, Snyder said, the proposal stalled.

"The developer didn't act promptly," she said. "(The project) was never brought to the community in its full form."

The community eventually accepted the proposal, but it was too late - Global City abandoned the project.

Blame for the failed project is placed in various places, depending on who one talks to.

"Let's do it. Let's not sit on it for seven years," Mark Sherman, the developer who owns the adjacent Delaware Valley High School property, said on the sentiment shared by those tired of looking at the eyesore that is the old Rivage site.