Our last official visit to the corner(s) of 12th & Morris & Passyunk came back in July. We say that because we've unofficially visited several times since, enjoying tasty food and beverage at Cantina and Birra. Soon enough, those places will have some company. Remember, El Zarape left their space at the beginning of this year because of escalating rent, and the guys from Cheu Noodle Bar will be opening a place called Bing Bing Dim Sum. According to Michael Klein, they're looking to open their doors in January.
Across the street, things are rather up in the air. Over the summer, the building at the northwest corner of 12th & Morris which was formerly home to a croissant shop was getting demolished. This was encouraging to see, as we first covered the project back in June of 2012. At that point, Chris Scarduzio was on board to open a new casual Italian restaurant in a modern looking new building. Plans from Pomegranate Architects called for a fifty-seat restaurant and three apartments above. We were into the design.
As is often the case in the development and restaurant worlds, things have changed. Scarduzio is no longer involved in the restaurant concept, and as of August the developers were looking for a new operator. The design for the project has also changed considerably, according to Passyunk Post. Instead of a bold modern building, the developers are instead going for something much more conservative.
In the meantime, the demolished site is sitting, relatively undisturbed. Since it didn't look like any construction work had gotten underway as of last week when we visited, perhaps there's still time for the developers to change their mind back to their original proposal?
Has anyone heard about possible restaurant tenants for this space? Any requests, Passyunk Avenue people?