About a month ago, at Thinkfest, Stephen Starr stated that he intends to open two hotels in Philadelphia in the coming years. A “real boutique hotel” was on tap for Center City, and a “rock and roll” hotel would make its way to Fishtown. Some weeks ago, Foobooz speculated that the location of the Fishtown hotel could be the vacant and blighted Arctic Cold Storage building, which is located next door to Starr establishments Frankford Hall and Fette Sau.

Frankford Hall and the Arctic Cold Storage building

According to Workshopoftheworld.com, parts of the rear of this structure date back to the 1870s, and it was originally constructed to be a brewery. The Frankford Avenue section of the building went up around the turn of the century, and once had some considerably more ornate features which have faded over time. After a few decades of brewing a few different types of beer, the building was a pickle factory for a brief period before being converted into a cold storage facility in 1925. That use continued for decades until the building was sold in the mid-1990s. The building changed hands a few times in the last twenty years, including one time at sheriff’s sale, before finally being purchased in 2008 by a company that includes the principals in Domani Developers, the folks who own the buildings housing the restaurants next door.

First floor, a fence is up

Looking up

A year ago, Hidden City mentioned that Domani’s Roland Kassis spoke about plans for a hotel at this site, comparing it to the quirky and budget-friendly Jane hotel in New York. The $100/night hotel that Starr mentioned at Thinkfest would seem to jive very well with that concept. Besides, why would it make sense for there to be two boutique hotels in Fishtown?

We’re inclined to the agree with Foobooz on this one, which now leads us to wonder, when is this going to happen? Will it make the crowds at Frankford Hall easier to stomach or perhaps even more intolerable? What other sorts of development in the area would this hotel spur? And finally, didn’t Mr. Starr say he was going to take a breather from Philadelphia for awhile? Not that we’re complaining or anything…