North 2nd Street in Northern Liberties has experienced numerous changes over the years, as it has slowly evolved from vacancy and industrial use to vibrancy and mixed-use. Perhaps the best example of this transition is the Piazza, which stands on the site of defunct Schmidt’s Brewery, hence the name Piazza at Schmidt’s. A latter day example of this phenomenon exists right across the street from the Piazza, at the corner of 2nd & Wildey. For many years, a fire extinguisher company made its home here, but we showed you about a year ago that their building had been demolished in favor of a planned mixed-use building. As you might imagine, the passing months has made quite the difference at this corner.

To refresh your memory, this building comes from How Properties, and includes 53 apartment units, a couple dozen parking spaces, and a large retail space on the first floor. Permits indicate a grocery store for the ground floor, and we’d expect something on the gourmet end of the spectrum, as run of the mill grocery needs can be handled just a couple blocks to the north at the Acme. It took some digging, but we’re pretty sure that this will be a Bfresh location, a concept that we’ve already reported will be opening at 2nd & South, on the ground floor of Abbott’s Square. To think, this neighborhood was pretty much a food desert until five years ago.

An unusual feature of this project is that it literally wraps around several homes on Wildey Street, actually coming up to the rear walls of some of the homes. These homes have always had no rear yard space, but it’s still got to be tough for some of these homeowners to only have windows on one side of the house. Then again, they’ll soon have incredibly easy access to a fancy grocery store. The world is full of trade offs, folks.