A reader checked in the other day, and told us that the former Advance Auto Supplies at Girard & Marlborough was finally sold. The building has been on and off the market a few times over the years, originally listed at $1.5M back in 2007 when the store first closed. From what we can tell, the final sale price was around $725K.

The building

The sale includes the large building with eighty-five feet of frontage on Girard along with the adjacent home, which is in need of renovation. With no ideas about the identity of the buyer and no permits pulled (we’ll give them a break, as they only closed a few days ago), we can only speculate on what will come to this location. Will the new owners renovate the existing structure and seek a new retail tenant for the first floor? Or will they instead choose to demolish the buildings, leaving a 4,000+ sqft corner to develop as they see fit?

In either case, we’d expect there to be some commercial aspect returning to this corner in the near future. With that in mind, what would people like to see here? A bar/restaurant, to continue the recent trend on Girard/Frankford? A couple of smaller retail options, with the space broken down into multiple storefronts? A brand new auto supply shop?

Has anyone heard any rumors about the buyer and their plans for this location?