A couple of weeks ago, news came out that Jose Garces’ Frohman’s Wursthaus project was not gonna happen at 208 S. 13th St., the former home of Letto Deli. Apparently, our resident Iron Chef is too busy with other projects to go through with this one.

No hot dogs

Seemingly in no time, sources have told us that Garces has sold the building to a local investment firm. The firm, which wasn’t identified, is looking to fill the roughly 2,000 sqft space with a restaurant tenant, and has Jackie Balin of Fameco marketing the space. Yes folks, it stinks that one of the top restauranteurs isn’t doing his thing here. But with Garces making a relatively quick exit, this extremely desirable space is now available to anybody.

Letto space, a few months

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We were in the neighborhood today and spotted a liquor license application on the boarded up front of 1305 Locust St., right next door to the wildly popular NEST. This location was home to Camac for a couple of years, and to Girasole for many years before that, before their move around the corner to Pine Street.

The space

The liquor license application on the boarded up window gives the name Ecco Ristorazione for the new entity, which comes up empty on Google, except to tell you that Ecco is located at 1305 Locust St.

Pelican Fish seems unrelated

We did some digging, and it seems that this new establishment will be coming from the folks at Le Castagne, at least according to a Michael Klein from…

A couple months back, we told you about the impending redevelopment of the Lincoln Apartments Building at 1222 Locust St., with construction expected to begin in the springtime. While we were over there, snapping photos of the handsome yet neglected building, a vacant commercial space next door at 1234 Locust St. caught our eye. This space is part of the building that houses the the Independent, a twenty-four room boutique hotel.

Looking up at the Lincoln

Empty commercial space next door

The hotel. From the Independent's website

The liquor license application in the window is from 2009, for a concept that never took off. We did a little digging, however, and learned that the space will indeed house a new concept, and very soon.…

In July, 2006 hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze for hours at 1222 Locust St. By the time the fire was doused at the Lincoln Apartments Building, designed in 1892 by George H. Fettus, a contemporary of Frank Furness, five floors of apartments had collapsed like a V in the middle of the building to the ground floor. Since then, the handsome six-story building has existed in a state of disrepair.

But a shell of Philly history will be preserved when architects from Cecil Baker and Associates renovate the building in a project, slated to begin next spring. Plans designate the creation of 44 units, making for a total of 50 beds in the form of six studio apartments, 32 one bedroom apartments and six two bedroomers, according to David Fante, vice-chair of the Washington Square West (WSW) Civic Association Zoning Committee.…

The northwest corner of 13th and Locust St.

Aiming to open in August, NEST will provide parents and kids with an indoor play space to enjoy. A popular offering in major cities across the US, and even as close as Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia is finally catching up and parents will only have to go as far as 13th and Locust Sts. to take advantage of a roomy, bright and clean space built for both kids and parents. This will be especially great in the cold and wet months ahead.

Occupying the former Signatures strip club in the heart of the Gayborhood (or Midtown Village, if you insist), NEST is definitely a sign of changing times. As a recent Daily News article highlighted, raising kids in Philly is now a norm, and services in…