As this year has rolled along, we’ve seen several companies from NYC announce plans to open up on Chestnut Street, west of Broad. In the last few weeks we’ve covered the jewelry brand Catbird opening up their first Philadelphia location on the 1800 block of Chestnut, as well as Veronica Beard opening a clothing store one block further east. The latest example is Wonder, the formerly delivery only food hall which has been opening up physical locations left and right after a massive fundraising round last year. Wonder partners with well known chefs and restaurants and customers can simultaneously order from a variety of cuisines. In an age when we expect everything to be fully customizable, now there’s an app that allows a household to order a cheesesteak, BBQ, and Chinese food all at once.

Surely you’re now “wondering” where the new Wonder will make its home. Thanks to a Center City Residents Association meeting earlier this week, we can tell you that Wonder is planning to open up at 1600 Chestnut St., in the Liberty Building. This edifice was constructed in 1925, with banks historically operating out of most of the ground-floor commercial space. Beneficial Savings Bank made its home here for decades, changing to a WSFS Bank branch after WSFS acquired Beneficial. The upper floors of the building were used as office space for years and were converted to apartments back in 2001. This is a nice reminder that office-to-residential conversions aren’t that novel of a phenomenon in Philadelphia.

As was the case with the the proposed McDonald’s next door, Wonder must secure a special exception to the zoning code because of its inclusion in the Center City overlay. This is why the project team needed to meet with the local RCO. With minimal proposed changes to the exterior and a rather uncontroversial use for the location, the project didn’t meet much objection from CCRA. The building isn’t historically designated, so the old ATM can be replaced with new windows without much fuss.

After a brief discussion on some of the typical concerns neighbors have over new restaurants, like the plan for trash storage and ventilation, the CCRA zoning committee voted to not oppose the special exemption request. So we have to think that the ZBA will allow the project when they hear the case next month. But what exactly was gained by requiring all of these extra steps just to open up a small restaurant in the densest neighborhood in the city? Like we saw with McDonald’s, a well financed chain can manage the risk and cost of this process. For smaller mom & pop businesses trying to open up shop, the extended time frame and the extra zoning steps could be fatal. With Philadelphia’s entrenched reputation as a town that’s unfriendly to business, we’d hope that City Council would consider amending this overlay to make it easier to open a business in the heart of Center City.

Hmm… we wonder whether that’ll ever happen.