It's been a couple of years since we last checked in on 1703-05 Pine St., and the passing time has made quite a difference. Back in 2013, we brought this property to your attention, wondering how the former home of Rittenhouse Cleaners could be sitting vacant and looking so awful.
At the time, we told you that a developer had purchased the property in 2010 at a very low price and was, perhaps as a result, taking his time to renovate the property. Initially, a plan for five apartments didn't even make it to the ZBA. Around the time of our story in 2013, the developer applied for permits for two apartments above the retail space, likely echoing the previous layout. But the old storefront, as far as we noticed, continued to look lousy, mystifying passersby who surely wondered how a storefront could look so bad in such a great location. At the end of last year, Francesco DiCianni from the DiCianni Group came forward and apparently had a little more interest in getting this building up to par.
We passed by the property earlier this week and quickly realized we haven't taken Pine Street lately. The storefront has been totally redone.
Holy wood paneling, Batman! The building is now looking so much better thanks to the seemingly rebuilt storefront. The tenant is the sarcastically named Formerly Taws, which is simply a relocated Taws Can Do from the corner of 16th & Locust. As was the case previously, Taws is in the graphics and printing business, with some framing and binding as well. Their printing operation is no longer onsite, since this new spot is smaller than their old one. On the other hand, it's not in a basement so we'd say it's a win, on the whole.