Broad Street Diner Sold!
Posted by Kirsten Henri on June 22nd, 2008
It takes a lot to lure me out of my mini-hiatus, semi-retirement status these days (mostly because it’s not a hiatus from all work, just foobooz-related work) but for this, I’m chugging coffee and putting fingers to keyboard because this news is just too mind-blowing to be ignored…
Stephen Starr has bought the Broad Street Diner. STEPHEN STARR HAS BOUGHT THE BROAD STREET DINER! Take a moment to wrap your head around that one.
Michael Klein, broke this news over at Food & Drinq and was nice enough to ask Starr if he had read my Restaurant Yenta post suggesting that Starr buy it way back in January. According to Klein, Starr said he read the post after googling the Diner after he had already signed the letter of intent. Which brings up three very important things:
1. Stephen Starr googles things?! I always imagined that he has someone whose job it is to google for him. Also, he doesn’t google or research a property until after signing a letter of intent?
2. Apparently, I know what Stephen Starr is going to do before he does it. I AM INSIDE THE HEAD OF STEPHEN STARR. Let me tell you, the view from in here is spectacular!
3. As much as we’ve had a love-hate relationship with SRO, Starr’s restaurants are undeniably catalysts for neighborhood change. It wasn’t so long ago that Starr took over another former diner and breathed the sweet, revitalizing breath of the hospitality industry into a neighborhood – and a city – that badly needed it. South Broad Street below Washington is in dire need of a similar strong anchor – and what could be better to encourage other business owners with deep pockets to take notice of what could be on South Broad than a high-profile restaurateur with a proven track record?
What will it be, is the question? Another Continental? Something entirely different? Will Starr finally be giving in to his love for Italian red sauce joints like Villa di Roma? Thoughts? I have many, but I might have to start charging for them soon.
Starr Into the Broad St. Diner [Food & Drinq]
Related Tags: Broad Street Diner, Diners, restaurant-yenta, South-Philadelphia, Stephen Starr
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
My vote for Broad Street Diner would be for Steve to get nostalgic and re-open Starr’s Diner, his family’s original eatery from yester-year, of course with an SRO-twist. He has transformed so many Philadelphia neighborhoods (that he does not get credit for)and to see him do it again to the Broad & Ellsworth area will be a great thing for residents and the rest of the city.
May 20th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I heard the deal fell through and SRO will no longer be renovating the diner. Say it ain’t so!