Cheesecake Factory in Center City is good to go
The path is cleared for construction at 15th and Walnut Streets.
Cheesecake Factory in Center City is good to go
Michael Klein, Philly.com
The city zoning board approved a developer's plans to raze three buildings at the southeast corner of 15th and Walnut Streets and erect a glass, three-story building that will include the city's first Cheesecake Factory restaurant, on the second floor.
Patrons will be able to get up to the restaurant through an entrance on Walnut Street.
Lawyer Carl Primavera said demolition should begin within 30 days. Construction could take 15 months, so after all is said and done, the restaurant should be open by fall 2014.
The developer is talking to high-end retailers about the first floor.
The property previously housed a strip of retail businesses along the east side of 15th Street from Walnut Street to Chancellor Street - a bank, hair salon, coffee shop, and restaurant - as well as two adjacent properties on Walnut Street.
Comments (43)
wake me up when taco bell opens in center city— raynesrock- Poor choice to bring in this chain. We don't need it.— cognoscenti
- PhillyDaniel is right! Go swill your fancy cocktails and overpriced beer,eat food I can no longer recognize,or overpriced small portions of something I wouldn't touch, on outside seating that blocks the sidewalks 365 days a year.I'm going to the Cheesecake Factory because it is in town, they have a great happy hour,fair pricing,decent service, and they are NOT at the King of Prussia Mall.— vrb1955
- I like cheesecake factory.— nickynphilly
- This is just what the philly phatsos need, giant portions of fried food and then a piece of cheesecake the size of a car battery. They better istall plus size toliets.— The Selector
- why are their 32 comments on this from 32 posters that probably won't go to this place anyway??? The Philly restaurant scene is as strong and as vibrant as it's EVER been, with international attention, not just "where can I get me one of them there cheeeeeesesteaks??"— bingo
- I won't eat there, but a lot of people love it. Hey - big shout out to all the people on here who are commenting as if they're foodies or something, or pseudo snobs, or faux elitists (not sure what's worse, an elitist or a faux one?) - it's called free markets and free will - and it will be a massive improvement for that begotten corner.— PhillyDaniel
- The fattest city in the country just got fatter.— bowersNRAnut
- This comment has been deleted.— jbandit2116
- Ok. You get the award for the most bizarre/nonsensical comment on here. I'm beginning to suspect that some of the readers of the Inquirer are in fact middle aged men who live in home made bomb shelers in rural Wyoming. — denphil0503
- If people would choose Cheesecake Factory of Philly's amazing restaurant scene, it's their loss. But I'm sure plenty of tourists go up to the hotel desk and ask if there's an Olive Garden or Applebee's nearby.— Pelti
- y'all need to order from the skinny menu when you go there— Dunsmore
- Better than an empty boa branch.— flavious27
- Because those buildings are garbage. When is the last time any of you cretins were downtown? Its evident you are towards the bottom of your list on insults, they are pretty embarrassing.— Capsulef
- No matter where this addition to Center City is discussed, the same comments from elitists that grew up in the burbs and live in the city now get posted about how Cheesecake Factory signals some sort of moral or ethical lapse in how we are developing Center City. Guess what? Chain stores and restaurants are SUPPOSED to make a home in MAJOR CITIES' downtown areas when they're healthy. No one is deluded enough to believe that Cheesecake Factory will somehow cast a pall over the local restaurant scene downtown. As someone already said, patrons at C.F. would be drawn to chain eateries in the first place, or, they quite deliberately were "in the mood" for Cheesecake Factory, but likely still love places that make the city's restaurant scene special. The bigger topic here should be how great it is that Center City continues to land tenants that chip away (though very slowly) at the vast distance between, say, retail offerings at suburban draws like KOP and others, making Center City a bigger draw because more and more things can be done by more kinds of people there, thus making them less likely to pass up coming into town for fun, shopping, etc.— 19151
- I'm sure it will make the visitors from Montco and Iowa feel right at home.— UncleJoe
- Is there any explanation for why they need to raze three existing buildings in order to do this?— everydayguy
- Funny, they must be doing SOMETHING right. You don't like their food? Don't eat there.— erl
- not good
- Time to get out of Center City before the bottom falls out.— passavant
- God, I hope you're being sarcastic.. — denphil0503
- THe old Morville's location. This is progress?— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- the what?? are you referring to pre or post war 1812? welcome to century 21 philly, buddy. — nolibsphilly
- room for all in center city, the good and the feh— the lopez!
Corporate America invests money in Center City Philadelphia and will pay corporate taxes and sales tax with the Philly 1% bump and city wage taxes and I hope the republicans who write hear choke on a fish bone for Lent.
Thanks, Cheesecake Factory, Welcome to Philly, your food gets good foodie reviews, thanks for the jobs too! :)- They will do very well at this location between the office workers and condo dwellers.— The Baron
- There are cheesecake factories around the shopping districts in NYC too, this makes perfect sense! It is a good spot to go for tourists during shopping trips. NYC's restaurant scene is the best in the world and they still have these all over. This is the highest end of the chains, I am happy it is coming to our city. The new building with higher end retail is great too!— bjb304
- Boo— ..Jay Grace
- PENNY PENNY PENNY! Center city Philly is getting a Cheesecake Factory!
Who do I speak to about permanently reserving this table?— Trilussa - More disgusting 'food' for an already disgusting town. symmetry of sorts.— stephensacks
- Where exactly do you live? I have a feeling you've probably never even been close to 15th and Walnut. I'd probably find where you live disgusting as well. To each his own... — denphil0503
- People that travel to other cities and eat at the Cheesecake Factory don't eat in gastropubs anyway. If you don't like the Cheesecake Factory,don't eat there!— AreaMan
- Sit there with your vibrating buzzer waiting an hour for overpriced, mediocre food.— Drew777
- the "Philadelphia Restaurant" scene is great....consistently voted one the best food cities in the country...... that being said you absolutely need mid-market chains like this.....its actually a sign of progress... middle class tourist and local families with children and conventioneers are not spending $$$ money at 3,4,5 star restaurants in any city...they go mid-scale chains that they know like P.F. Changs/Cheese Cake Factory/Buca Di Peppo/ etc... am I fan of chain restaurants? No but I'm also not a mid-class tourist with children. or conventioneer......every major city has these chains its shopping and tourist districts ..the fact that they are entering/investing in the Philadelphia market is a sign of the market's health— genius1977
- it's really refreshing to hear some intelligent and sensible comments for a change of pace, genius1977. couldn't agree more with everything you wrote. all of us "in the know" (read: actually live in the city) will know where to go for good food, but I'm really glad there will be some more recognizable places for our guests if they're not yet ready to venture out to the unknown parts of town.
some of the "old philadelphians" might complain about all the new chains in town, but i dare them to walk down mag mile in chicago. as a chi-town transplant myself, i still refer to that strip as a late 90s mall thrown up onto a street with absolutely zero character. however, suburbanites out there still love it. it's an easy formula to appeal to the suburban masses, make them feel like they are living city life with some recognizable places set on a sidewalk rather than a strip mall.— nolibsphilly - why do we need this? No offense.— Paul Deon
- Too bad.
— elicash - cheesecake factory? there slop is overpriced heavy on butter, salt,suger and come in at 2000 cal per dish.we have them outhere in cal.— sophwill
- Funny..the posters above have already conceded the Philly restaurant scene is so pathetic that it will get steamrolled by a chain like Cheesecake Factory. Either the Philly restaurant scene is doing something very wrong or Cheesecake factory is doing something very right...— kelprod2-freemarket
- You could not be more wrong (again), kelprod. The posts above are celebrating our great food scene and denigrating the corporate food that these chains serve.
I'm constantly amazed/appalled at all the tourists I see taking photos of the Hard Rock Cafe at 12th & Market. What a joke.— Tatt2 - Where are you getting that from? I was just making fun of the place and the fat slobs who generally patronize it. Philly has great restaurants, I couldn't even tell you how many great places to eat there are within 5 blocks of my house. The post above mine seems to agree that it's unfortunate that tourists tend to pack generic chain restaurants instead of taking a look at the great locally-owned restaurants. It's akin to a tourist getting a cheesesteak at a Subway in South Philly when there are numerous places that can make a real cheesesteak just down the street.
- How will I ever wait that long to shovel some overpriced, previously frozen cheesecake into my face after sucking down a plate of microwaved slop? Oh well, should give the midwestern tourists and suburbanites another place to plop down while they're here.— jerkoftheworld
I can only imagine out of towners would go and it is sad they will be less likely to try some our wonderful Chefs and Restaurants downtown.— Earl J
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About this blog
Michael Klein, the editor/producer of philly.com/Food, writes about the local restaurant scene in his Inquirer column "Table Talk." Have a question? Email it! See his Inquirer work here.
Reach Michael at mklein@philly.com.
Michael Klein
Philly.com
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