On our way home from Target, coming up Front St., we noticed this construction site with no workers in sight. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, and recall what 1120 S. Front St. looked like until recently:

Image Copyright Google 2011

According to the building permit, the property is owned by Giang and Sons Real Estate. We reached out to Giang, and got his son Liem on the phone.  Liem explained that after spending two years getting the necessary variances, they hired a contractor to build a two-story structure with a restaurant space on the first floor and two apartments upstairs. The contractor knocked down some of the existing building, rebuilt the four walls in the picture, and then stopped working. Liem says that they are currently getting estimates on completing the job and should be resuming work very soon.

As for what the restaurant space will one day hold, the space is currently “up for grabs,” according to Liem. It’s possible that they will lease the space to a tenant, and it’s possible that they will utilize the space for their own restaurant concept. We don’t know exactly what that concept might be, but Wing Phat Plaza at 11^th and Washington might provide a clue- Liem’s family owns and operates Pho and Café Viet Huong restaurant.

Another restaurant would add something significant to the mix in that bleak stretch of blocks, currently dominated by Industrial buildings and I-95. The Ugly American currently holds down the fort over there, and we’re sure they’d be thrilled to have the additional foot traffic.

Ugly American in the foreground, I-95 on the left, construction site in the distance, at the end of the block

Just don’t expect a Grand Opening in the very near future. There is still plenty of work to be done.

No Pho yet. Come back tomorrow.