Feldman eyed Blatstein.
"Bart," he said, meeting Blatstein for the first time as A&P's newly anointed head of real estate, according to the developer. "We're from the same neighborhood."
"What are you talking about, Craig?" asked Blatstein, who is from Northeast Philadelphia's Bustleton section.
"Bart," Feldman said (according to Blatstein), "I grew up in the Northeast, right near you."
With that, the ice broke on a frozen deal. Months of salvage efforts by three Northeast Philly guys - supermarket-clerks-union leader Wendell Young IV is the third - began to pay off, bolstered by new census data showing a stunning transformation within Northern Liberties itself.
And on Wednesday, A&P thrilled residents, announcing that it was, indeed, moving forward - but with a higher-end Super Fresh store, instead of a Pathmark, that will open by the end of August on the second floor of the visually arresting shopping center at Second Street and Girard Avenue.
In the world of supermarket site selection, numbers are a big deal. And ultimately, A&P's decision was very much about numbers.
A decade ago, average household income in Northern Liberties was $50,000; that rose to about $80,000 over the last five years, representing the second-highest increase in Philadelphia, according to an Inquirer analysis of census data. It is now among the city's most affluent neighborhoods.
Reached by telephone at his office Thursday, Feldman graciously referred an interview request to A&P's public-relations staff, which later declined to make him available for this story.
