Back in December, we checked in on 1500 Sansom St., formerly home of Roy’s Restaurant. Roy’s had moved out of the first floor over a year prior, and at least two replacement concepts had already fallen through for the space. Months earlier, news had broken that Ocean Prime, a seafood and steak chain based in Ohio, would be opening here, but no work was apparent from outside the property, which looked awful.

All the windows looked like this

As you can see, the brickwork was removed under all of the first floor windows at some point, with the spaces filled in with either cinderblock or plywood. Amazingly, the building looked like this for over two years. When we passed by the other day, however, we were delighted to see that the building’s appearance is dramatically improved, with new signage, new awnings, and most importantly, new brickwork.

So much better

Through the rain, it seems like they did a nice job with the new bricks

According to Foobooz, Ocean Prime is set to open their tenth location on September 3rd. The restaurant will be huge, checking in at about 8,000 sqft with seating for 130 in the main dining area. Between three private dining rooms and the bar area, there will be space for over a hundred additional patrons. While we’ll be interested to check out the new establishment (perhaps during Restaurant Week, considering the prices), we’re even more pleased to see this wonderful building finally looking the way it should again.