It’s been over a year since we first told you about it, but now it’s official: a new Fine Wine and Good Spirits is coming, likely by midsummer, to 43rd & Chestnut in University City. Two spots in a shopping center that were last occupied by a check cashing store and Risque Video will be combined into a single retail space for the liquor store. The store will feature a more diverse collection of offerings than many other Pennsylvania State Stores.

Future liquor store

“I think the group who will be most excited about it I think, frankly, are the students at the University of Pennsylvania,” said Barry Grossbach, Spruce Hill Community Association chair.

The group that might be less excited is the folks who contested the opening of the store when it was first announced last…

In the summer of 2011, a highly anticipated new Superfresh opened on the second floor of a large new building at the corner of 2nd & Girard. Just north of the Piazza, this new structure was not only supposed to give Northern Liberties its much-needed new supermarket, but also a collection of new and exciting retail options on 2nd Street and Girard Avenue. The results here have been mixed at best, with tenants like Family Dollar and TMobile bringing excitement to nobody, but one of the best state liquor stores providing the neighborhood with a significant upgrade over the previous incarnation a block away.

Looking south, retail in the distance

A year and a half after the market opened upstairs, a couple of the street level retail spaces have remained unoccupied. According to

A reader checked in recently, asking about the apparently closed or remodeling Fine Wine and Good Spirits store on the 700 block of South Street. We’ve been to this store numerous times, as a good friend lived above the store maybe ten years back. Needless to say, he saw some pretty interesting sights in the couple of years he lived there. But we digress.

In the past

Furniture store next door

Brauhaus Schmitz next door to the furniture store

As you can see, the liquor store was located at 724 South St., there was a furniture store just to the east, and Brauhaus Schmitz (which, incidentally, took over a furniture store when it opened) next door. Now, the liquor store and the furniture store are missing,…

Back in April, Spruce Hill Community Association President Barry Grossbach told us “the last chapter has yet to be written,” after the ZBA denied a Wine and Spirits application for a location in the strip mall located at 43rd and Chestnut Streets in University City.

Shopping center

Before the decision members of the SHCA drafted a letter expressing their support for the store. Some community members voiced their opposition (rooted largely in religious values) to the store occupying the site now home to adult video store Risqué Video. And when the ZBA denied the application, SHCA members filed an appeal and collected more than 500 signatures in a petition.

Last month, after a June 6 hearing, the ZBA reversed its initial decision and approved the application for a high end liquor store.

Future high-end Fine Wine and Good

…

Last October, we pondered some vacant commercial spaces on a prominent stretch in Old City, on 2nd Street, just south of Market. At the time, Liberty Market had recently opened, leaving a mere three shuttered buildings out of five, though it appeared that the upper floors of all but one of the buildings was in use. Today, we have news that 27 S 2nd St., the northernmost property, could soon see new life as well.

In October

Today

Next week, representatives from Benjamin Franklin Beer Distributors Inc will be presenting to the ZBA to open a business that does exactly what their name says. Our interpretation of the application is that the new establishment will sell both cases of beer as well as take-out beer, and will have offices on the second floor of the…

We’ve had our eye on this construction site at 117 W Girard Ave. for a few months now, and haven’t come any closer to knowing what’s going on…

New building

is replacing this old building

The property, which sits on a 14′x52′ lot, was purchased by Selina Inc for $150K back in 2006. We can’t find much info on this company, except that they own another rental property in Kensington. For years, Victor’s Luncheonette held down the fort at this corner, but Victor’s is no more. The new building’s design puzzles us some. The location on Girard Ave. and the large windows would seem to indicate a commercial use, but doesn’t everything seem awfully high off the ground? Aren’t some ADA rules being violated here?

Does anyone know anything else about this project? We’re nearly certain that…