Bridge retail spots remain unfilled

With its concierge service, media immersion room, posh couches and state-of-the art theaters, The Bridge: Cinema De Lux has become an alternative to traditional Saturday night West Philadelphia destinations. Yet 9,000 square feet of the complex remains vacant, leaving room for three new businesses to move in and open up. "We're in the process of marketing the space," University Marketing Manager for Business Development Anthony Sorrentino said. "The office is marketing the space and looking for tenants that would be good co-tenants with a movie theater and that would fit in well with the character of 40th Street." According to Sorrentino, the University is conducting research in order to determine what type of business would best fill the vacancies, which consist of a 7,000 square-foot area on the second floor of the complex and two 1,000-square foot spaces on the ground floor. While he said that either a restaurant or retail store could fill the larger space, he noted the two smaller spaces would be more conducive to retail stores. "It's about meeting the retail needs of the faculty, students and staff and especially the neighborhood," he said, adding that while he is unsure of when the spaces will be filled, the University is working very hard to fill them and would like to do so as soon as possible. Sorrentino also said that an integral part of the process is finding businesses that would correspond with the other stores and restaurants along 40th Street, as well as the movie theater. "Fortieth street is a wonderful corridor with great independent shops," Sorrentino said. "It's a very human scale and it's perfectly situated between the campus and the University City community. The tenants we're looking into on 40th Street would be independent retailers that would meet the needs of both the campus and the community." From high-scale restaurants to men's clothing stores, students have different opinions on what types of businesses should open in the complex. College freshman Sinan Xin said he would be interested in a mid- to low-priced restaurant, a coffee shop or a recreational center where students could hang out, play pool and have a good time. Xin added he would want "more stores, more clothing stores. You know, the standard, J. Crew, Banana Republic, stuff like that." Other students had different ideas. "I think that you can go downtown if you need to go shopping," College freshman Marc Dickstein said. "It's more convenient to have more selections if you're going for food than it is if you're going shopping. It's more of an event to go shopping than it is to look for something to eat." Instead, Dickstein said that in his ideal world, the vacancies would be filled by either a nice restaurant, similar to White Dog Cafe -- that accepted Dining Dollars -- or a nightclub. College junior Julie Baron had even more specific suggestions. She said she would either want a bowling alley or a Cheesecake Factory. While the process is still in the research stages, Sorrentino said that the University is well on its way towards finding the perfect match to fill these empty spaces. "Our ultimate goal is to bring three new exciting businesses to 40th Street," he said.