Athleta Opens its first Philadelphia-area Store

November 23, 2011

by Metro Commercial

Mt. Laurel, NJ – November 23, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Metro Commercial Real Estate, Inc. is thrilled to announce that Athleta has opened its first store in the Philadelphia area this month at 1722 Walnut Street in the heart of Center City. The 4,000 square foot store was identified and negotiated on behalf of Athleta by Steven Gartner, President of Metro Commercial Real Estate.

Athleta, a division of Gap, Inc., was founded in 1998 as a catalogue and on-line apparel retailer catering to active women for both athletic and everyday pursuits. Their first store opened earlier this year in Mill Valley, California, and is now on a select roll-out of markets nationwide. The Philadelphia store, which opened on November 9, 2011, marks its foray into the Eastern US, following a stellar roll-out of stores in New York City earlier this year. Its opening in the Georgetown section of Washington DC came shortly thereafter.

According to Gartner, “The Philadelphia market and Center City in general, was identified early-on as a target market for Athleta’s expansion because of its affluence and its highly desirable target market of fitness-oriented woman shoppers.”

Kaiserman Companies, Inc. is the landlord of 1722 Walnut Street, the longtime owner of this prized strip of first-class retail along Philadelphia’s “Rittenhouse Row.”

Metro Commercial Real Estate, Inc.
Metro Commercial is one of the largest full-service retail real estate firms in the region with transaction considerations exceeding $1.1 billion. Metro Commercial specializes in retail tenant representation, shopping center leasing, property management, and investment property sales. With 3 offices located in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Metro Commercial currently represents nearly 50 national retailers and serves as the exclusive leasing agent for more than 200 properties, totaling nearly 20 million square feet.