A gourmet market for Old City?
The old "Real World" house is the location.
Old City - a neighborhood with many residents but few grocery options - could be getting a gourmet market and housewares store with a rooftop deck.
Developer Jarred Yaron wants to convert his building on the northeast corner of Third and Arch Streets into the Trust Market.
The plans were approved last week by the Historical Commission, which heard testimony from David Schultz of DAS Architects.
The building, engraved with the name Corn Exchange National Bank & Trust Co. and next door to the Betsy Ross House, is popularly known as the Real World house. It hosted a season's taping of the MTV reality series in 2004, shortly after Yaron's family purchased it. Previously, it was the Seamen's Church Institute of Philadelphia, a home in port for lonely sailors. More recently it has been an art gallery and events space.
Schultz said the market would occupy the first two floors. The housewares store, something the neighborhood also lacks since the departure of Foster's, would be on the third floor, he told me.