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Greek restaurant to open in a new hotel replacing the Midtown II Diner

An 86-room hotel is on its way to 11th and Sansom Streets. It will include a stylish, two-story restaurant operated by the people who own Estia.

The Midtown II diner at 11th and Sansom Streets, which opened in 1974, as it looked shortly before its closing in 2016.
The Midtown II diner at 11th and Sansom Streets, which opened in 1974, as it looked shortly before its closing in 2016.Read more

The southwest corner of 11th and Sansom Streets, which was the site of Midtown II Diner from 1974 till 2016, will be razed to become a boutique hotel with a stylish Greek restaurant, the architect tells me.

Located across from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the 86-room hotel — to be known as Blu Ivy — will include Anthos, which will be set up on two levels with a steel pergola and planters of ivy with glass folding partitions extending to the streetscape, says David Schultz of DAS Architects. (Blu Ivy, it might be noted, is unrelated to Beyonce and Jay-Z’s 7-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.)

Developer Nick Pashalis, whose restaurant holdings include Estia in Center City with branches in Radnor and Marlton, says the menu will be mainly Greek with some Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences.

A DAS statement says the hotel will be a light-filled glass- and aluminum-clad tower with dark bronze accents and will be informed by “Greek philosophy’s guiding principles of balance and unity.”

The project is looking at a fall 2020 completion.