Morning Headlines: Bart Blatstein Has New Plans for North Broad’s “Tower of Truth”

Photo via Remembering 400 N. Broad Facebook page.

Months after losing out on his bid for Philadelphia’s second gaming license to another contender, developer Bart Blatstein has moved on to to greener pastures, arguably most verdant of which is 400 North Broad: the iconic 18-story white building that was once the headquarters of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News.

CBS Philly’s Mike Dunn reports Blatstein dropped his appeal of the gaming board’s decision after realizing how time-consuming the process would be:

“The appeal period itself would last, even if successful, at least a year.  Then the license would have to be put out again, which is probably another year, and then another appeal period, which would be another year.  So it would be approximately three years before every legal challenge is exhausted.   And that’s just too long to leave such an important property like that vacant,” he explained.

Instead, the developer instead refocused his efforts on refashioning the former “Tower of Truth” into something else, although he has yet to say what:

“We’re working through each of them now, and it’s going to be something great.  It’s just that I didn’t want to leave such an iconic property fallow like that.”

The developer says he hopes to be able to talk publicly about this plans “within a few months.”

• Blatstein Drops Casino Appeal, Says He’ll Move Ahead With Other Plans for Inquirer HQ [CBS Philly]

Meanwhile, in other news…
• Real estate bubble? Prices rising faster than rents [PhillyDeals]
• Huge warehouse on Christopher Columbus Blvd. could become storage facility [Passyunk Post]
• ‘Green’ home certifications are bringing more greenbacks [Inquirer]
• Work starting for demolition of Bensalem bridge over turnpike [Courier Times]
• Painting in Philly’s Old St. Joseph’s Church gets historical panel blessing [NewsWorks]