sandwich shop near 51st and Baltimore

**airlite** · 04-16-2012, 01:45 PM

Few details in this post, but apparently a property owner is getting the ball moving on a new business on this mostly vacant block of Baltimore. Naked Philly is really into this block.

applicants appeared before the ZBA with preliminary plans for full-scale renovations at 5027 Baltimore Ave. that would include a ground-floor gourmet sandwich shop, a first-floor apartment, two second-floor apartments, and another on the third.

Property was sold to an LLC in November. Interested to see if they actually have a partner for the sandwich shop or if that's just their vision for the property.

**seand** · 04-16-2012, 02:07 PM

That property formerly belonged to our retired state rep. Alija Dumas who I believe had to leave office due to tax fraud issues. Dumas owns a couple of other buildings on that block and is an awful, awful commercial landlord. He very much pictures himself the mayor of the neighborhood. He was one of those guys who kept getting on the payment plan for back property taxes and then defaulting and then getting on the payment plan until he finally lost that property about two years back.

The LLC took the chance on purchasing the property at sherrif's sale and fought with Dumas till his right of redmeption ran out. Dumas keeps Butchie, the mentally ill older guy who obsessively pulls up plants along Baltimore Ave., as his ward of some sort - and according to rumors benefits financialy from cashing Butchie's SSI checks. For a period after the LLC had purchased that property Dumas was keeping Butchie in that building, without power or water to block the LLC from taking possession of the building. Dumas can be a real piece of work.

Anyhow, the building is finally free and clear and the new owner (who bought from the LLC) has a proposal for some sort of fancy hot dog shop or something. As a neighbor, I already support any reasonable commercial use and I believe years ago Dumas had in fact tried a restaurant at that location called "The Brunch Spot" though Lord knows if Dumas was ever properly zoned, etc. The point being, whatever the paperwork, the spot was actually used for takeout food in its last active commercial use some years ago.

I'm really excited to see this proposal go forward, though I would not be surprised if Dumas tries to raise some sort of ruckus over the zoning out of sheer spite.

The other two properties mentioned for sale in that article are currently State Rep. Jim Roebuck's re-election office (Dumas is a supporter unfortunately) and Cuttin' Up, the barbershop. I've personally tried to get people interested in the two properties because Cuttin' Up is a solid tenant and the two buildings together are not an awful price.

A few years back 5011, 5013, 5015 all sold in the $180k range, all needing some work.

Edit: there may be two LLC's, don't know about the new owner's arrangements but the guys who first bought it were more of an investment real estate group. New owner is directly interested in starting a business, as I understand it.

**raider.adam** · 04-16-2012, 02:13 PM

Oh nos. More sandwiches on Baltimore Ave!

I blame Subway.

**seand** · 04-16-2012, 02:39 PM

The Naked Philly article is somewhat confusing in it suggests 5023 is for sale at $310k when thats the price being asked for 5023 (Roebuck campaign office) and 5025 (barbershop) as a unit. I.e. $155k a building. There may be an issue however with the owner being in a race to beat foreclosure so check carefully for liens.

**John Goodman** · 04-16-2012, 03:18 PM

On a related note... noticed that 5019 Baltimore (the new urban garden) is listed as up for sheriff sale on the 18th. I hope the new owner of the property is aware of this and is on the same page with the sheriff's office.

**seand** · 04-16-2012, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by John Goodman

On a related note... noticed that 5019 Baltimore (the new urban garden) is listed as up for sheriff sale on the 18th. I hope the new owner of the property is aware of this and is on the same page with the sheriff's office.

Yeah they got it sorted. The seller that sold it to the urban gardners neglected to actually pay off the old tax liens as part of the sale. I believe the title insurance company is eating the cost for now, going after the seller two guns blazing shortly.

**seand** · 04-18-2012, 10:19 AM

Met the developer and his business partner planning to run the hot dog shop. Both seemed like bright young guys. The developer has a number of building rehabs under his belt and seems to have a pretty good grasp on the whole process, giving me a lot of hope that the project will be well executed and completed.

Its about time we had some more retail on this block.

**Ptolemy** · 04-23-2012, 12:49 AM

Seand, you possess a wealth of information. Thanks for sharing.

I always thought the 5000 block of Baltimore was one of the most interesting ... and certainly most promising block in the neighborhood along the Baltimore Ave. commercial corridor. Whatever happened to the music and thrift store there?

**seand** · 04-23-2012, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by Ptolemy

Seand, you possess a wealth of information. Thanks for sharing.

I always thought the 5000 block of Baltimore was one of the most interesting ... and certainly most promising block in the neighborhood along the Baltimore Ave. commercial corridor. Whatever happened to the music and thrift store there?

The folks who were running it decided to move back to New Mexico and "move off the grid". They sold the business to a very young couple with very little experience and the second couple lasted about a month and a half it seems.

Currently that space is being rented by the Independent Rock School which teaches middle school aged kids to play rock music. The teachers were originally part of the Paul Green School of Rock, if you are familiar with that, and branched off and started their own school. Yanni Papadopoulos, of long time West Philly instrumental band Stinking Lizavetta, is one of the teachers. Kids take private lessons and play together in a band context.

Independent Rock Home

**thoth** · 04-23-2012, 02:11 PM

Why no more danger danger?

**seand** · 04-23-2012, 02:19 PM

Eh. As I expected might happen, it started to be a drag having shows constantly in your house. So they scaled back operations. I see a post on Facebook dated today promises "more sweaty good times" this summer.

They had a "pop-up store" retail event recently which they didn't do the best job of advertising, even to their next door neighbors.

Maybe someday they will do something really crazy and turn it into an actual frequently open art gallery.

**seand** · 04-23-2012, 02:35 PM

Since this is the whole retail rumor thread, here's two more. A guy wants to open a regular, not necessarily gourmet but decent pizza shop in the old Isle of St. Thomas restaurant spot and another guy says he wants to open some sort of sit-down Afro-Carribean joint in the old laundromat at 51st and Baltimore. Both projects are way initial and are not ready to pursue zoning, etc. yet.

**thoth** · 04-24-2012, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by seand

Since this is the whole retail rumor thread, here's two more. A guy wants to open a regular, not necessarily gourmet but decent pizza shop in the old Isle of St. Thomas restaurant spot and another guy says he wants to open some sort of sit-down Afro-Carribean joint in the old laundromat at 51st and Baltimore. Both projects are way initial and are not ready to pursue zoning, etc. yet.

Not that more pizza is exactly cause for celebration, but I'm just psyched something is finally going into that space.

**seand** · 04-24-2012, 02:28 PM

Actually I just heard that the owner of Aksum is taking over the front half of 5011 as an actual art gallery. The Independent Rock School will still teach kids music in the rehearsal roomsin the back. If Seeds Gallery (as they are calling it) and Danger Danger both had actual art shows simultaneously it would be a small actual gallery row.