After what feels like an eternity of blight, the building at 1412 South St. is seemingly getting redeveloped. We last brought this building to your attention about a year and a half ago, noting that the building was available for purchase for $825K and for rent for $5K/month. We feared, however, that the high price points would cause anyone and everyone to balk. The property was taken off the market this past summer, perhaps because nobody was willing to pay those prices.
We walked past the building the other day during Philly Free Streets and noticed something unexpected. There's now a sign on the building advertising a restaurant that's planning to open in the ground floor space. It will be called Yeeroh and as you might expect from the name, it will specialize in Greek food. According to the business website, it will open in exactly 92 days- impressive that they've got their timing down so precisely.
Did the building sell and it's just not reflected in public record? Has the owner of this building, who has done such a poor job maintaining it over the last thirty years, found a tenant? Maybe they've decided to open a restaurant themselves? Who cares! This building has been empty for as long as we can remember, sticking out more and more as South Street West has experienced an amazing resurgence. We'll be ecstatic to see this wart removed from the corridor and a potentially cool new restaurant open its doors.
Speaking of new restaurants, it's been brought to our attention that the building across the street at 1437 South St. has turned over, with Skewers transforming into Coco's Chicken & Waffles at some point in the last few months. Poking around on their Facebook page it seems that they've still got a full bar over there, so if you'd like some beer or whiskey with your chicken and waffles, you're in luck. Has anyone tried this place yet?
All of the new and upcoming food options on South Street West (let's not forget the upcoming mystery restaurant coming a couple blocks away at the former Ron's Ribs) make the recent addition of Freehouse Fitness Studio to the 1400 block all the more welcome. It's never too early to start thinking about beach season, folks.