Amina’s owners plan to open Amina Ocean, a Southern seafood restaurant in University City

Felicia Wilson is doubling down on her decision to enter the restaurant business in her mid-40s.

In fact, by this time next year, she may have quadrupled down.

Wilson, who with chef Darryl Harmon opened the hit Southern restaurant Amina last year in Old City, expects to open a chicken shop, BlackHen, in a storefront on the same block of Chestnut Street in January.

Following will be two more large restaurants, only one of which she would discuss during an interview last week.

Amina Ocean will become the anchor retail tenant on the ground floor of 3.0 University Place, a new eight-story commercial lab and office building at 4101 Market St., amid University Place Associates’ burgeoning life-sciences corridor on Market Street that spans 39th to 42nd Streets. Amina Ocean will join retail tenants such as Fulton Bank, which opened in August.

Construction is expected to begin in February and the restaurant’s opening is anticipated about a year from now.

Wilson said she envisions Amina Ocean’s menu as Southern seafood. But she said it would not have the light nautical looks of a typical seafood restaurant. “We’re going for more of a saloon vibe,” she said, describing the look and feel as Tulum meets Morocco with touches inspired by an ancient warrior goddess of Nigeria. This time, she said, the warrior from Amina will be redesigned to resemble a warrior mermaid.

With nearly 100 seats in the dining room, it will have a large raw bar built into the 20-seat bar and will offer live music (with a stage) and outdoor seating. It will serve lunch as well as dinner and late night.

“The biggest challenge is going to be bringing guests to that area,” Wilson said. “Even though the area is being built up, there is really nothing on around there as far as [significant] restaurants are concerned. But we can handle that.”

Being an outlier is a strategy that has worked well for Wilson, who had opened day-care centers before she entered the restaurant business in early 2022. Wilson said she chose 104 Chestnut St. for Amina because the area lacked Southern food.

Asked why she and Harmon are going for seafood, she said: “We already do seafood and it does really well, so we just thought it would be good to expand on that.”