Building of former Italian bistro La Locanda del Ghiottone to be demolished and replaced with luxury condos
Brian Zoubek, the developer behind the project in Old City, also worked on nearby hotel Sosuite at The Loxley.
The quaint mustard yellow former home of La Locanda Del Ghiottone, a former Italian restaurant in Old City, is slated for demolition, according to city records.
Brian Zoubek, the developer behind the hotel down the block, Sosuite at the Loxley, plans to turn the lot into luxury condos.
The property will take on a new character, Zoubek said. Gone will be the vibrant, squat structure decorated in colorful plates. In its place will stand a sleek, narrow five-story mixed-use building. The bottom floor will be retail and the four floors above will each feature one condo. Prices will range from around $1.6 million to about $1.95 million per unit, he said.
Zoubek said he’s expecting demolition to start this month and construction to take about 12 to 14 months. He’s hoping the condos will open next summer. He purchased the building in 2022, according to city property records.
To align the new building with the historic aesthetic of that block, he said the building will be covered in brick with a stone facade on the first-floor facade.
Residential use is a change for the property anchoring the southwest corner of Third and Cherry Streets. It hit the market in 2020 when La Locanda Del Ghiottone relocated to Port Richmond.
The restaurant’s history at the property dates back to 1989, when Giuseppe Rosselli, an immigrant from northern Italy, took over the building at 130 N. Third St.
Rosselli, a character who used to post screeds outside the restaurant, originally named the 35-seater Trattoria Dell’Artista. In 1992, Rosselli opened L’Osteria dell’Artista down the block at 114 N. Third St., and a year later, renamed his original restaurant Ristorante der Ghiottone (”the glutton”). He later tweaked the name to La Locanda Del Ghiottone. Rosselli died at age 51 in 2000.
Ghiottone was a favorite of Inquirer critic Jim Quinn, who raved about the “rough and ready cuisine moded on the bargain-price restaurants of Italy. Portions are huge, prices extremely low, and all food is rushed directly from the stove to you.”
Reporter Michael Klein contributed to this article.