More stores may hit Sansom Common

City Sports and Urban Outfitters may join Xando in Sansom Common. Urban Outfitters and City Sports, two popular Center City stores, appear likely to join the Xando coffeehouse in Sansom Common when the new complex opens. Though the University's real estate director, Tom Lussenhop, wouldn't comment on what chains will move into Sansom Common, real estate experts said both stores seem to be headed there. City Sports General Manager Katie Killough said the Boston-based chain would like to open a new Philadelphia store in late spring, and that "it would be of City Sports' best interest to build a store in Sansom Common." And Jay Roehner, manager of the chain's Center City store, said "right now we only have one store in Philadelphia, but that is soon to change? We are looking to expand in the general area of the University." Urban Outfitters has sought to return to Penn since it left its 4040 Locust Street site last April due to "financial reasons," according to Urban Outfitters Stores Director Jay Hammer. "Although we were forced to leave 4040 [Locust Street], we were looking to come back to Penn, and we are still seriously looking in that area," he said. And while Hammer refused to specify where in the area the chain would look to expand, several local real estate agents said both stores are most likely heading to Sansom Common. "It is for Sansom Common, I am sure, that new places are being vigorously recruited, so it would be a fair bet that new stores are going there," said Melani Lamond, a real estate agent for the University City-based Urban & Bye. Common Ground broker Lindsay Johnston said retailers seeking to move to University City would be "unlikely to take a chance on, for example, 40th Street, because retailers think there is a certain safety in numbers." "I would think that any retailer at this point in time would think that the surest bet would be in Sansom Common," Johnston added. Although both stores seem likely to be a good fit for the large student population in University City, Urban Outfitters has a particularly strong reason to return to the area -- the chain's first store was located near Penn's campus. The store originally opened in 1970 at 4307 Locust Street as Free People, and moved to its most recent location in the Warehouse on Locust Street in 1976. City Sports opened in 1983 in Boston, and has since grown to include 10 stores in Philadelphia, New York City and Wisconsin. Urban Outfitters and City Sports would join a branch of the Xando coffeehouse/bar chain and a fourth, yet-to-be-named store in Sansom Common, which seeks to create a vibrant, upscale retail district on the 3600 and 3700 blocks of Sansom Street. The project will also contain the new Barnes & Noble bookstore, as well as the 256-room Inn at Penn. The stores and bookstore are set to open in fall 1998, with the hotel scheduled to open the following year.