Co-op Pitched for Northside

That's part of Wayne Zukin's vision for 11 dilapidated buildings at North Avenue and Federal Street, a corner long anchored by the "Garden," a pornographic movie house until 2007 when the city bought and closed it in hopes of reversing three decades of blight.

"I like old buildings, and I thought we could put these back to work," Zukin said Thursday after the Urban Redevelopment Authority granted his firm, Zukin Realty of Philadelphia, exclusive development rights to the buildings for up to 90 days.

Zukin said the Garden Theatre could accommodate a 10,000-square-foot store or a restaurant. In all, there's 23,770 square feet of street-level retail space available among the buildings, some of which are in such poor condition that they must be demolished.

Plans call for 39 one- and two-bedroom apartments to be built in the upper levels. Rents would run from $800 to $1,200 a month. The total project would cost about $12 million to develop.

Exclusive rights to the URA-owned buildings will give Zukin's firm time to find tenants and complete financing. Zukin said he will focus on attracting local companies instead of national chains.

URA Chairman Yarone Zober said the state has committed $2 million to the authority to improve the area.

Northside Tomorrow, a partnership of the Central Northside Neighborhood Council and the Northside Leadership Conference, recommended Zukin from among five applicants to the URA because he wanted to overhaul the block as one development and the firm's proposal balanced "the community's desirers and market realities."

Zukin is the latest to attempt to rehabilitate the theater and its neighboring vacant buildings. In April, JRA Development, operated by developer James R. Aiello and his son, allowed its exclusive rights to the buildings to lapse because it could not find an anchor tenant.