A little over a year ago, we checked in on three properties on 2nd Street in Northern Liberties and felt optimistic that we'd soon see all of them developed. Some time has passed, and now seems like as good a time as any to check in, especially since two of the properties are now in a different state.
Buildings were sitting blighted and vacant for many years at 966 N. 2nd St., but developers purchased the property and tore down the buildings in the summer of 2015. Shortly after, we told you about plans to build a mixed-use building here, with underground parking, retail on the first floor, and 13 apartments. Looking today at the permits, we see the building will have animal services in that retail space, but we don't know whether that means doggie daycare, a vet, or something else. We'd have thought that the building would have made more progress by now, but you can see that the workers on the site are only now getting beyond underground work. The good news is that the project is finally moving and we expect it'll be done sometime later this year.
Immediately to the south, we would be remiss if we didn't mention that Poke Bowl opened last year in a space previously occupied by a clothing store. We never heard of poke until a few months ago, but poke places keep on popping up around town. Maybe we'll try it sometime.
Speaking of restaurants, there's a zoning notice in the window at 946 N. 2nd St., a building that had just gotten framed out when we last wrote about the block. According to NLNA, this will be for prepared food, with no cooking onsite. Has anyone heard about what will be opening here? Upstairs, meanwhile, all four condo units have sold, with prices ranging from $365K to $550K.
Next door, at 950 N. 2nd St., things look pretty much the way they did the last time we were here. Remember, developers started building a mixed-use building here with 8 units about a year and a half ago, framing the building to the first floor. For some reason, after some violations, they took down the framing and from what we can tell nothing is happening at the site. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?
To the north, across from Tendenza and the Piazza, a much larger project is progressing nicely at 2nd & Wildey. That project will bring another fifty or so units to the neighborhood, along with a national credit tenant on the first floor. With these upcoming additions to the corridor, North 2nd Street is poised for another step forward, both in terms of new businesses and new customers. Though this corridor has been established for many years, it's exciting to see it continuing to evolve with new buildings getting built and new businesses opening up.