Old City Philadelphia’s restaurant row is getting a new tenant as the neighborhood looks to the future

One of Philadelphia’s restaurant rows, the 100 block of Chestnut Street in Old City, is getting a new tenant.

Jorge and Jess Martinez of Buena Vista, a Mexican restaurant, signed a lease last week for their seventh location, taking the former bank building at 123 Chestnut St. that previously housed Han Dynasty, which recently moved to a smaller storefront down the block.

The couple — he’s from Mexico, she’s from El Salvador — opened their first restaurant in 2008 in Montgomery County, but it was caught in the maw of the recession and closed soon after, Jess Martinez said. In 2010, they opened in Malvern and began steady growth through the western suburbs, adding locations in Exton, Wayne, and Ardmore before entering the city this year with restaurants in Bella Vista and Fairmount. The Chestnut Street location, which will have a bar, should open in early 2025, Martinez said.

This stretch of Chestnut Street — a collection of 150-year-old buildings lining a street paved with history-evoking Belgian blocks — has been a restaurant row in Philadelphia since the 1970s, when H.A. Winston & Co. and the Middle East Restaurant hosted summertime street fairs that drew thousands of people.

Today, the restaurant scene is fueled by hope of more foot traffic. Chestnut Street dead-ends at Front Street, where an 11½-acre park is being built over I-95 to link Old City with Penn’s Landing and the Delaware River in a $329 million project expected to be completed in three to five years.

The prospect of pedestrians heading from Penn’s Landing onto Chestnut delights restaurateurs like Aisha Wahab, who opened Eatwell Philly, an African restaurant focused on Nigerian cuisine, last year at 106 Chestnut St. “This could only help our business and our neighbors,” Wahab said. David Crudele, who opened Glory Beer Bar & Kitchen at 126 Chestnut in 2018, said he is also intrigued but would also like to see Chestnut closed to vehicles so it could link the park to the Liberty Bell at Sixth Street.

A pedestrian-centered traffic plan has not been floated officially. Currently, the only one is a proposed Greyhound bus garage on Second Street just south of Chestnut, which local businesses and residents are against.

Billy Creagh, a broker with National Realty Commercial, said Old City’s recent surge in residential population, particularly families, and its overall walkability are helping to lure restaurants today. “The park overlay is a bonus because we’re already bringing in people,” he said.

In keeping with a more family-friendly air, Creagh said, the vibe of the block has changed in the last decade. Several bars, including Mexican Post and Prime Stache, closed, and were replaced by less-raucous restaurants. He keeps a map marked with seven restaurant deals that he helped to broker in the last six years. (He represented Buena Vista’s owners, while Veronica Blum of MPN represented the property owner.) An eighth marker is for a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym on Second Street, just around the corner near the future Tun, a planned re-creation of the historic Tun Tavern.

Creagh’s tenant roster is diverse: Besides Eatwell and the new Han Dynasty, which specializes in Sichuan cooking, it includes Eggcellent Cafe (a breakfast spot), Buk Chon (a Korean BYOB), Little Susie’s (a takeout window specializing in hand pies), and a forthcoming pub tentatively named Eleven Social. Also on the block: Oishii Sushi & Ramen, Malooga (Yemeni), Gong Cha (bubble tea), Glory Beer Bar & Kitchen, Buffalo Billiards (a bar), Karma (Indian), Mochinut, as well as Amina (a Southern restaurant) and BlackHen (chicken), both owned by Felicia Wilson and Darryl Harmon.

Creagh is also representing Darin Picorella, who bought Rotten Ralph’s, a longtime bar on the northwest corner of Second and Chestnut Streets, in 2017. Picorella, who has had other restaurants in the neighborhood since 1998, said he is intrigued by the new demand for real estate.

“I’ve never considered selling Ralph’s, but since the new development starting taking shape on the waterfront, quite a few national brands have expressed interest,” Picorella said. “I’ll only sell to a good operator, though.”