CCD is in the process of working with several developers,including Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, Levy said,which owns the Gallery at Market East mall in the area. In all, heenvisions 644,000 sf of new retail. It would include a departmentstore, specialty shops and "ground-floor retail with big boxopportunity on top." Development also calls for a hotel andincreased residential units, including some above stores.

The city's earliest department stores were once located inMarket East, before retail moved west to the Rittenhouse Squarearea. By the 1960s, shopping centers in the suburbs contributed tothe decline of Market East. Factors now favoring its revivalinclude, but are not limited to the increase in residentialdevelopment. They also include the Pennsylvania Convention Center,which is planned to double in size by 2010, on the western edge ofthis area, and the recent completion of National ConstitutionCenter and the Visitors Bureau near Independence Mall to the east.The historic sites to the east rank high with convention-goers andtourists, according to Jack Ferguson, EVP of the PhiladelphiaConvention and Visitors Bureau.

Levy also suggested that expansion of Jefferson Hospital makesit a prime target for administrative office tenancy along thisstretch. He said, "a primary objective" of the master plan alsolinks the Chinatown and Society Hill residential neighborhoods tothe north and south, respectively. Tourists, office employees whocommute to the city, and residents all shop and dine, according toFerguson, who documented how that combination had turned MarketWest and the Rittenhouse Square area into a 24/7 shopping andentertainment neighborhood.