A reader checked in last week, wondering what’s cooking at 1930 Chestnut St.

Hmmm

He was referring to the first floor commercial space of the Aldine Trust Company building, which was constructed in 1930 and designed by Arthur W. Hall. Perhaps not coincidentally, the original Aldine Hotel was located just down the street, and was demolished (and replaced in part by the Boyd Theater) in the years that immediately preceded the construction of this building. In 2003, Turchi Properties converted the upper floors from office space to 144 rental apartments.

It's a nice lookin' building

The first floor commercial space was most recently a Hollywood Video, which succumbed to the whole “nobody goes to video stores anymore” phenomenon. It’s been vacant for several years now. We made some phone calls, dug around a little bit, and were able to get the lowdown on the new business coming into this space.

According to Michael Klein, this space will soon play host to a new, shmancy Chinese concept from Jane Guo, who once owned Noodle Heaven on Broad St. and currently owns a couple of noodle joints in the ‘burbs. Jane G’s has been in the works for over a year and a half, but Klein indicates that a spring opening could be in the cards for this 125 seat restobar.

Now if only someone would bring the Boyd back to life…