Restaurant streeteries on 13th Street are coming down as city plans utility work through summer

One by one, board by board, all the outdoor-dining streeteries are being dismantled along the Center City restaurant row of 13th Street, following a directive by the city to allow work crews to correct deficient street lighting.

The work is expected to continue through the summer, a city spokesperson said.

The deadline for removal is now Jan. 20 after some restaurateurs had pressed for additional time when told last week that they had to come down by Jan. 10. Many of the structures have already been dismantled, all at the owners’ expense using private contractors, including those at El Vez, Vintage, and Charlie was a sinner on 13th Street, as well as those in front of Bar, Time, and Opa on the 1300 block of Sansom Street. The issue was first raised by Philadelphia Citizen.

A city spokesperson said the repairs, from Locust to Chestnut Streets, are a public safety issue and require trenching of the travel lane. The spokesperson said the streeteries in the bike lane, on the east side of 13th Street, technically should have been dismantled by Jan. 1, under rules announced in December. Many restaurateurs said they did not expect the city to begin enforcing the rules for a while.

Although restaurateurs had been told from the outset that utility work could force their structures’ removal, they argue that the shutdown has come at the worst time: Streeteries are designed to bolster cold-weather dining, and the omicron variant is driving nervous diners out of doors while restaurant staffs now must enforce the city’s new vaccine mandate. Also, the shutdown comes during Center City District Restaurant Week, which runs from Jan. 9 till Jan. 21.

» READ MORE: An Inquirer special report: How hundreds of restaurants were excluded from streetery zones

The 13th Street order’s timing was particularly vexing. The city said it had “considerable engagement” with the Midtown Village Merchants Association about the need for repairs. The association’s president, Fergus Carey, said he received an email from the city on Dec. 21 to advise that the removals were necessary by Jan. 10. But Valerie Safran, who with Marcie Turney has two elaborate streeteries outside Barbuzzo and Lolita, said she received the city’s notification by U.S. mail on Dec. 29. (Adding to their stress, three of their restaurants closed over New Year’s because of COVID-19.)

When Nicole Marquis, who owns Charlie was a sinner, received her notification, “I was like, ‘Whoa. We have to move fast,’” she said.

Marquis, whose restaurant is on the east side of 13th Street, said she has permanently lost her six dining pods, which accommodate about 28 people — compared with the 55 people who can sit inside her restaurant. Even though she said she hardly recouped the $40,000 she spent to build her streetery, “they are lifesavers. ... We’re barely making it through the winter because of omicron.”

Safran and Turney, who spent about $65,000 on their streetery on the west side of 13th, plan to rebuild it after the work is completed.

Meanwhile, the city has scheduled a Zoom meeting with restaurateurs for Monday to discuss the work.

Businesses in the area have been rattled since mid-2018, when a water-main break forced the shutdown of the 1300 block of Sansom Street for nearly a year, detouring traffic.

On Thursday, George Tsiouris, who owns Opa and Drury Beer Garden at 1311 Sansom St., had workers remove the 24-seat streetery. His structure, which he said would return after the city work, is much simpler than the streeteries on 13th Street.

“On 13th Street, I didn’t love them,” said Jason Evenchik, who removed his streetery outside Vintage, next to Charlie was a sinner. “They boxed everyone in, and they took away views and people-watching. They had a purpose but I’m not upset they are gone.” He plans to rebuild his streeteries in front of Bar and Time on Sansom Street.