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Wed
Aug 24
2011

MM Partners & Mike Stollenwerk Teaming Up in Brewerytown

Mike Stollenwerk, who arrived on the local scene in 2007 when he took over Little Fish, has been moving at a frenetic pace recently, opening Fish and Fathom Seafood House in the past two years, and apparently opening a larger Fish in the near future. He has another project coming down the pike, and this time he’ll be making his magic happen in Brewerytown. The new space at 2617-19 W Girard Ave. is gigantic- you could probably fit five Little Fishes in the first floor of the building. Stollenwerk will be executing two concepts here- one side will be a sit-down BYOB, and the other side will be a take-out prepared foods market. If this sounds a little high-end for Brewerytown, it’s because it is. There’s nothing like it in the neighborhood, but Stollenwerk is betting that it’s going to work.

He’s getting nothing but encouragement from the developers of the property, MM Partners, who have been extremely active redeveloping properties in Brewerytown over the past several years. Most of their past projects have similarly been rehabs of buildings on Girard Ave., but they’ve more recently begun working on individual new construction houses as well as larger-scale modular development, like the upcoming North 28.

MM Partners has titled the project The Braverman Building, naming it after the hardware store and bakery that once occupied the premises. Along with the market and restaurant, there will also be six apartments, along with artist studios and additional work space. The expected time for completion for the first floor is the end of the year or beginning of 2012, and the apartments should be ready a few months after that. Taking a look at what the building looked like a few months ago and even what it looks like today, this will certainly be a tremendous task.

Interior shot from a few months ago. Image from MM Partners

Exterior from a few months ago. Image from MM Partners

A more recent image, showing the work of the past couple of months. Notice the stripped paint on the facade.

The building goes WAY back

When completed, this building will be a beacon of hope for other crumbling structures in the vicinity. We hope that this new establishment helps Brewerytown establish a little more cache with local retail entrepreneurs. While there has definitely been serious progress in recent years on Girard Ave. and in the neighborhood in general, we can’t understate the importance of an established industry guy like Stollenwerk coming into Brewerytown. Along with Mugshots a few blocks to the west, this establishment will hopefully blaze a path for many others in the not-too-distant future.

A peek at the future. Ooooooh!

10
COMMENTS
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Posted in Brewerytown | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments
  • Anonymous

    What a great use for this area.  I used to live in a nice Loonstyn rehab at Poplar & Taney only 2 years ago, and back then anything north of Poplar was a total dump, including the abandoned homes and beer distributor at the corner (cars broken into ALL. THE. TIME.  thievery left and right.  crazy cracked out people wandering around.  muggings.  so much litter and broken glass everywhere!).  No doubt Stollenwerk will be super successful here, but I wonder if non-neighborhood people will venture to that area and risk vehicular damage to eat?

  • Giggle

    I am in agreement with jentran, my car was broken into in that area as well.  Since the incident I do not or would not park in that vicinity.  However, on a nice day, I would walk and give it a try! 

  • MMPartners, LLC

    Jentran: Girard has been changing A LOT in the past couple years, due in part to our own work in getting new retail tenants (Mugshots CoffeeHouse, Color Wheel Bike Studio, Stollenwerk, and more) and also to non profit investments, such as the City’s 1.2 million spent to install pedestrian scale streetlights (which make it very bright and safe at night) and the Fairmount CDC hiring a full time cleaning person to keep the avenue clean. What’s more, there are more interesting businesses opening soon such as a pet supply store that features an in-house butcher serving organic pet food.

    Not to mention the other positive developments such as extensive building north of Girard, the Marathon Farm, Brewerytown Living, Art + Soul Food etc…

    And there is more on the way ;)

  • http://www.brewerytownliving.com/2011/08/24/brewerytown-in-the-news/ Brewerytown in the News! | Brewerytown Living | Philadelphia, PA

    [...] out the full post for more info and some great [...]

  • Karen

    I agree with MMPartners – Girard Avenue (and all of Brewerytown) has made huge advances in the last few years. I wander around on Girard Ave all the time and feel perfectly safe. Mugshots has been a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. I’d love to see the Saturday farmer’s market take off – I think they’re struggling a bit right now and can’t afford to purchase a large amount or variety of veggies/other items. However, what they do have is good, so please come out and support them.
     Everybody has to start somewhere – when I moved to the area 25 years ago, Fairmount Avenue was desolate on the weekends and didn’t have all that much to offer (aside from several good restaurants).  Look at it now! Girard Ave can become just as bustling as Fairmount Ave once a few more entrepreneurs take a chance and see how supportive Brewerytowners can be!

  • Guest

    Wow, good for Brewerytown!  Now, imagine if someone took a chance on that vacant lot across the street from this with a really amazing project…or if someone redeveloped the Gravely Roofing properties.
    As for those people who doubt that outsiders would want to go up there, look at how many people do so for shows at North Star?  Granted, it is not what it once was, but people do still venture up there.  

  • Anonymous

    I never felt unsafe at night, probably because I was used to walking my dog in the evenings, but I can say that most of my friends were horrified that I lived there, and many experienced their own car break-ins when they came to visit me.I’m so glad that MMPartners is redeveloping the area and finding these great local tenants to add to the mix.  Being in the commercial real estate industry, I love seeing neighborhoods improve and blight reduced.  For a while, real estate people were in cahoots with Westrum to development a commercialized grocery store down by Brewerytown Square, but with the economy… well we’ll see.

    By the way, I have a tenant looking for small space, maybe you have something?  I’ll email you personally.

  • MMPartners, LLC

    Karen, have you been to the Marathon Farm at 27th and Master? They have a farmer’s market every Saturday starting at 10 AM. They have  a wide selection of vegetables they grow themselves on-site, as well as organic eggs and herbs, etc.

    For anyone interested in what’s happening in Brewerytown, please check out BrewerytownLiving.com.

  • http://nakedphilly.com/brewerytown/update-north-28-is-moving-along/ Update: North 28 is Moving Along | NakedPhilly

    [...] Last week, we mentioned the good work that MM Partners is doing the corner of Taney St. and Girard Ave., rehabbing a former hardware store with plans to turn it into the nicest restaurant in Brewerytown. While we were up there, we checked in on their biggest project at the moment, the nearly fifteen-thousand sqft. North 28, which we originally reported on way back in March. A view of the southern end of the development The northern end of the development [...]

  • Calhoun

    I first read about this in May when I moved right around the corner from it.  I have been waiting so impatiently for this to finish and open. Ever since my first visit to Little Fish (the best seafood I ever ate) I trust absolutely anything Stollenwerk does.  You will find me there pretty much every weekend when this opens.

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