Midtown II Diner Site to Become High-End Restaurant
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Rittenhouse Realty Advisors this week announced the $3.85 million sale of the recently shuttered Midtown II restaurant location in Center City. The Midtown Village/Washington Square West spot, at 122-124 South 11th Street, is directly across the street from Jefferson University Hospital and had been the diner’s home since 1974.
According to Rittenhouse Realty Advisors, the new, undisclosed owner wants to “capture the business of the large workforce at the hospital.”. The property’s sought-after Center City zoning, which permits core commercial mixed-used spaces, attracted prospects from Washington, D.C., to New York City, allowing the team to seal the deal in a short period of time, a statement from the firm said. The sale was finalized in December.
In May 2016, Midtown II owner Gus Hionas told Billy Penn that he had been forced to sell the property after a news story about health-code violations at the diner caused business to drop nearly 40 percent. He claimed there was an assault on mom-and-pop businesses in the city, saying that establishments serving homemade meals in Philly would all vanish and places with 24-hour food service would become obsolete.
His prediction is a growing reality — the decline of lunch counters and diners in Center City is real. Earlier this month, Little Pete’s announced that it would close by the end of August, to be replaced by a Hyatt Centric hotel.
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