For one of our very first posts on Naked Philly, way back in the summer of 2011, we told you about a seemingly stalled project at 1120 S. Front St. in Pennsport. In the years prior to that story, the address was home to an auto garage and the building next door housed an importer of meats and cheeses.
By the time 2011 rolled around, the garages had been partially torn down and mostly rebuilt. At the time, the owners of the property were trying to find a new contractor to finish their building and were trying to decide whether they would lease out the building or open a restaurant themselves. They clearly still had much work to do.
By the end of 2011, construction had resumed, and by the middle of 2012, Mekong River opened its doors. The building was quite a departure from the past.
As you can see in the second image, the warehouse next door also underwent a dramatic transformation, with the Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center opening here in 2013. But now this little stretch is primed for yet another change.
Last month, the Inquirer reported that Mekong River had closed. Business was apparently pretty good, but the VSEC was looking to expand and made an offer that the owners "couldn't refuse." Architecturally, the two buildings are quite different, so we would guess that the former restaurant building will undergo a serious renovation to make it look more like its neighbor. Interestingly, the two apartments on the second floor of the building should remain, per the permits.
This just goes to show that things are constantly changing in Philadelphia's neighborhoods. If you stand around and watch for long enough, sometimes the same building will significantly change more than once in the short span of five years.