Does a juice bar moving into an old building in a historic neighborhood mean the area is experiencing a bit of a revitalization? Patsy Parisi seemed to think so, but the Sopranos capo was talking about a poultry shop in Newark. How about a former shoe store in Old City?

After years of vacancy, the former “Foot Comfort Center” at 303 Market St. is finally getting a new retail tenant in the form of Omi Juice Bar. The new juice bar will be the latest in a long line of commercial tenants at this address. From old newspaper ads we can see the building’s been used as an army surplus store, a shoemaker, a wallpaper store, and even a cigarmaker. From Google Maps, we see that a check cashing store was here about a decade ago. And from the old zoning records it looks like this building was once used for selling pre-packaged goods. We’d guess the new juices and smoothies will be tastier and healthier than whatever pre-packaged foods were being sold here once upon a time.

Before any of us can order a refreshing bev from a new business in this circa-1840 Greek Revival/Italianate building, the zoning board will have to give their approval. As we saw with the planned Tun Tavern around the corner, the Center City Overlay District limits the types of businesses that can operate by-right in this area. And just like the Tun Legacy Foundation, the operators of the new juice bar needed to start their process by presenting their project to the Old City District. Fortunately, the RCO was on board with the plan, so we would expect that the ZBA will sign off when they hear the case in July.

While a new juice bar should bring some life to this historic building, the three floors above will unfortunately remain mothballed. The building sits on a lot that’s under 14′-wide, which makes it exceedingly difficult to add a separate entrance and stairs for potential upstairs tenants. It’s a shame, as a little more density on this vibrant corridor would certainly be a positive. Even so, this new business will represent a terrific upgrade, and will arrive just in time for the completion of the Market Street Old City Improvements and the party that will come with next year’s semiquincentennial. Surely, once they get through all this red tape, the owners of this business will recognize that the proverbial juice was worth the squeeze.