The artist-tunred-developer Tony Goldman, whose late 1990s reimaginings of Center City’s “Hole in the Donut”–a term he applied to Chestnut Street east of Broad–and developer of key sites on and around 13th and Sansom Streets, has died, according to artinfo.com. The cause was heart failure.
Goldman, whose firm also renovated the Philadelphia Building at 1315 Walnut Street and several parcels on East Passyunk Avenue, had been working on further transformative projects for the part of downtown that’s come to be known as Midtown Village. He is widely credited with spurring Center City development at a time when the market was soft and advocating for mixed-use, 24-hour uses for buildings thought to be forever mothballed. He also spearheaded projects in New York, Miami, and Newark.
About the author
Nathaniel Popkin is the co-editor of the Hidden City Daily and co-producer and senior script editor of the documentary film series "Philadelphia: The Great Experiment." He's the author of Song of the City: An Intimate Portrait of the American Urban Landscape and The Possible City: Exercises in Dreaming Philadelphia.
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What a true loss! My heart goes out to his many friends and his family.
sad to say, but Tony had alot dreams and talk, but wasn’t very good at actually getting projects built. RIP
My experience of him was different from what I’ve read in his obits. I found him discourteous to his employees and, from personal experience, dishonest. On one construction project he stiffed the general contractor and then claimed the project had no remaining funds. That was perhaps true (each project was it’s own independent LLC) but, coming from a wealthy businessman who could have tapped other resources, mean spirited.