Stores must make way for Wharton

Retailers who will be displaced by the new Wharton building said the University has mistreated them. Achilles Nickles has seen a lot in the 35 years he has worked at the Penn Book Center, but last November's announcement that he would be forced to relocate his store to allow the Wharton School to build a new building took him by surprise. The shock has since turned to anger, as he and many other of the 38th and Walnut street retailers accuse the University of giving them a raw deal. "Thirty-five years we've been here, and now we're suddenly told we have to leave," Nickles said. "It was so cold when they told us." But University officials stressed that they are working to find suitable spaces for the merchants who will be displaced by construction of the new 300,000 square foot Wharton building. Work on the new facility -- which will contain classroom and office space for the school's undergraduate and graduate divisions -- will dislodge all of the building's current retailers. The Book Store has retailers in spaces on its 38th Street, Walnut Street and Locust Walk sides. "Originally the real estate group said they empathized with us, but they didn't offer any options," Nickles said. "Now that everyone is back from the summer, the group has contacted us to work together to find another place for us." Although some merchants said the University has offered them potential relocation sites, they stressed that none is feasible due to high rent costs. "The University is forcing us out but is offering a space that would cost us double the rent," University Jewelers owner Fred Green said. "If the University offered us like for like, of course we'd take it, but for what they're offering us, we'll have to pay $25,000 [to make the space usable]," he added. And Fiesta Jr. Pizza Manager Gus Karros complained that University City Associates -- who manage the property -- have not yet contacted him with any possibilities for relocating the restaurant. "They told me they were going to look for a new store for me, but I don't know when and I don't know where. They haven't told me anything," he said. But Managing Director of Real Estate Tom Lussenhop stressed that the University is "working with all its retail tenants in existing properties across campus where there are projects underway that will require relocations." He refused to comment on the rents of any of the replacement spaces. And although Karros said he would "have no idea" what to do if the real estate group failed to find a new site for his store, Green said, "We'd go out of business, and that's it." Nickles added that if the University is unable to find a suitable place for the merchants to relocate, their chances of relocating would be "slim," since the University owns most of the property in the surrounding area. Classical Choice co-owner Howard Gensler said the "University sort of scoffed at [the merchants'] idea" of relocating to an area in the Sansom Common project, but Lussenhop said he was "not at liberty to discuss the several lease negotiations that are underway" or how they may pertain to Sansom Common. Gensler said that "as the University is trying to make a commitment to improve retail, the irony of that is that they're tearing down the most stable strip of retail on campus." He noted that several of the 38th and Walnut street retailers have remained in their present locations for 30 years or more. "You can't find another block in University City where there are four stores next to each other who have been there for more than five years," he added.