We’ve passed the corner of 21st & Walnut repeatedly in the last few months, wondering when some new tenant would take over the vacant space on the northeast corner, next to Pure Fare. This space was home to Nature’s Gallery Florist for years, until their move down the street back in November.

The space

The handsome new space for the former tenant

The high-trafficked corner space has gotten considerable interest, according to Jackie Balin, the listing broker from Fameco, but nobody has signed on as of yet for this roughly 900 sqft space. No doubt, whoever ultimately takes the space will not want for foot traffic, with Rittenhouse Square just a couple of blocks away and several popular businesses like Vernick, Irish Pub, and Capogiro in the immediate…

It’s been years since Philadelphia was referred to as the “Next Borough” in the New York Times, but there’s no doubt that New York based businesses are starting to notice Philadelphia and take it seriously as a location for expansion. The hype for Shake Shack, as we discussed at length, was palpable. Barcade, the Brooklyn-based bar plus arcade (‘natch) has had success in its nearly yearlong run on on a sometimes forgotten stretch of Frankford Avenue. And now, right next door to the wildly successful Frankford Hall, another Brooklyn-based business will soon burst onto the scene.

On the right

Frankford Hall next door

Weeks ago, we noticed a zoning application and a liquor license application at 1204 Frankford Ave., on the commercial space in between…

A couple of weeks back, the Philadelphia Planning Commission gave its blessing to a proposal that’s been floating around for about a year now, for bro-bar Finnigan’s Wake to take over little Bodine Street for the purposes of porch seating for catering customers. We’ve always been fond of the look of the outside of this bar, but confess we haven’t been inside since a fateful night in 2003, when our shoes narrowly avoided vomit at two different locations within a matter of minutes.

Finnigans Wake

Bodine St

According to this story on Planphilly, Bodine Street will be struck, and closed to car traffic. In its place will be a raised patio, with seating for Finnigan’s Wake customers. There will, however, be a six foot wide path for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.…

A few months ago, we told you about the upcoming arrival of Shake Shack, a New York chain specializing in burgers and shakes (‘natch) at the corner of 20th & Sansom. More recently, we brought this construction site to your attention again, noting the excellent and unexpected addition of greenery to an otherwise uninteresting plywood wall. Last week, the plywood wall came down, and on Tuesday, Shake Shack officially opened for business. And people, like, totally freaked out.

The line on the first day wrapped around the building. Foobooz did a four-hour live blogging of the opening. Today, there were again people climbing over each other to get in the door.

Well after the lunch rush

The mob inside

Not since Federal Donuts do…

As we mentioned last month, Shake Shack is on the way at 2000 Sansom St., at the end of one of our favorite blocks in town. At the beginning of February, we noticed that the old storefronts had been covered by plywood.

In the past

Early February

In the weeks since, the workers on the site painted the plywood, making it a little less aesthetically jolting. We practically fell off our bike yesterday when we passed by and saw that the plywood walls had been altered yet again.

Whoa!

What a cool concept- though the pedestrian walking by seems unimpressed.

We’ve heard of a green roof, but a green wall? At a construction site? According to Michael Klein, the…

Back in June, news broke that Shake Shack, the popular New York City (booo!) chain, was coming to 2000 Sansom St., an unfortunate looking corner property that’s held multiple businesses over the years.

In the past

Sansom Cleaners, Silvio, Dom’s Shoe Repair, and an Adult Book Store were the final tenants in this building. According to Foobooz, all have relocated to other locations with the exception of the book store. Tough luck for all those fans of fine adult literature out there.

In the past week or so, plywood has covered the existing building while construction had begun in earnest. While we don’t know exactly what the building will look like when all is said and done, we can only imagine it will be a dramatic improvement over what the building has looked like to this…