We were in Northern Liberties the other day, and spotted an unexpected ‘For Sale’ sign affixed to the building on the northwest corner of 4th & Brown. For the uninitiated, this is the home of Honey’s Sit ‘n Eat, one of the most popular brunch places in the city. Their popularity is such that you can forget about getting a seat without a wait on the weekend, and we’ve even had to wait once or twice on a weekday morn. Yeah, people really like Honey’s.

The building

The current owners purchased the property back in the late 1990s, and have tried to sell it a couple of times since, most recently in 2006. Back then, the brunch craze had not yet infected this particular corner, and the building had last been used as a bakery.

In 2000. Everything was lower res back then.

Now, the owners are looking to walk away to the tune of $625K. The property has been on the market for a few months now, and they don’t seem to be finding buyers at that price. Whatever the final price, they’ll do pretty well after a $50K investment netted them the building almost twenty years ago. It should be noted that the business is not included in the price for the 4,500 sqft building, and that the Honey’s lease will be expiring early next year.

Lovely mural on the building

This makes us wonder- could Honey’s move out of this, their original location, after their lease comes to an end? Especially with a new owner (eventually) coming in, needing to protect a rather significant investment, we would imagine the rent will go up considerably for the next lease here. Fortunately for Honey’s, they possess a crazed fan base that would surely follow them to another location nearby. Still it would be a shame to see the lovely yet fun interior of this restaurant change to something fancier and with less soul.

We’ll obviously keep our ears open on this one, and will pass along any news as we hear it.