Wha? House of Blues at 16th and Washington?

I can’t even really add anything to this. Via Phillyblog:

I got a flyer today advertising a meeting about a proposed House of Blues at 16th and Washington! [...] It’s not a hoax…I went to the meeting tonight. The stuff on Chestnut is apparently the restaurant - this is the concert venue. It is indeed on the south side of Washington, using the old Southwark company buildings. SOSNA would have no say since it’s south of Washington.

Grasso owns the whole block, and the House of Blues will occupy the space on the south side of Washington, between 16th and 17th. It will go all the way back to the property lines of the houses on Ellsworth.

I get the impression this is a done deal. There was a community meeting, but the developer already owns all the space and apparently it doesn’t have to go before the zoning board. So the meeting seems to be pure formality.

As could be expected, there was a lot of excitement but also a lot of people upset about parking and sound issues. There were several people who own houses on Ellsworth that butt up to the back of this proposed project, and they were understandably concerned about sound bleed. The developers laid out all the methods of containing the sound within the buildings, and it sounds like they have a good handle on it.

There goes the neighborhood!

House of Blues at 16th and Washington!? [Phillyblog]