A thread popped up on Philadelphia Speaks the other day, wherein someone posted that they had heard a rumor that a Trader Joe’s could be taking over the Superfresh location at 5th & Spruce. This could certainly be a legit possibility or it could equally end up simply being a rumor that never comes to pass. Whichever it is, it brings about an interesting conversation about whether we have enough access to grocery items in greater Center City.

Superfresh

If you ask us, it seems that 10th & South is where the rubber meets the road in this town for groceries. Convenient for pedestrians and with easy parking, a Superfresh and a Whole Foods provide thousands of area residents access to groceries. Many people even visit both stores in one trip to this…

In March, we told you about plans to develop the northeast corner of 2nd and Brown Sts., which is currently a vacant lot. This project at 801 N. 2nd St., the self-proclaimed “Best Corner Left in Northern Liberties,” was approved yesterday by the ZBA.

Current view

As we told you weeks ago, realtor and developer Chris Richetti intends to build a six story mixed-use building with ground floor commercial and ten residential units. Also on the first floor will be a lobby for the apartments as well as nine parking spaces for residents. On the roof will be a nearly 1,600 qft roof deck. We were able to get our hands on a rendering of this building, thanks to the good people at Landmark Architectural Design.

Looks sharp

You may remember we…

A reader asked us whether we knew anything about the space at 326 Poplar St. that formerly housed Liberty Deli. The store, apparently located there since the 1980s according to this thread on Northernliberties.org, closed a few months ago.

Shuttered

Looking east on Poplar St.

Appreciated by neighbors for friendly service, tasty hoagies, and providing the necessities, Liberty Deli is missed by lots of folks in the area. Is it possible that competition from the Superfresh that opened last year forced Liberty to close? It’s certainly possible.

Has anyone in the neighborhood heard anything about this space in the past couple of months? Any thoughts on what people would like to see here? It’s certainly a shame to see such a festive looking commercial space sit vacant.

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…

Over the past several years, the northeast corner of Broad St. and Washington Ave. has been the subject of endless speculation, seen several proposed but never developed projects, and been home to a giant pinata. Four years ago, Rimas Properties, developers of the 1352 Lofts, purchased the 4.5 acre lot for $16.5M and intended to develop a massive residential and retail complex on this corner. Splat Productions produced some renderings.

Looks like Vegas

If you’ve been in that neck of the woods lately, you know it still looks like this (photo courtesy of Laura Blanchard):

Still barren

Maybe a year and a half after Rimas purchased the property, the lender took the property, and it hasn’t looked much different since. Last week, Hidden City reported on rumors that…

Scary clouds

This morning, the long-awaited Super Fresh at 2nd and Girard finally opened for business. The Grand Opening ribbon and cake cutting ceremony featured appearances by Mayor Nutter, Councilman Clarke, A&P CEO Sam Martin, and developer Bart Blatstein. There will be special deals all day. This is great news for neighbors, who will now have a new supermarket destination and an additional outlet for pre-hurricane hysteria.

Image from @SeanDLaughlin