March 13, 2024
Provided Image/JKRP Architects
Discount food market Grocery Outlet will occupy the ground floor of the 275-unit apartment building shown in the rendering above at 4301 Chestnut St. It will be joined by West African restaurant Kilimandjaro.
The ground floor of a new apartment building in University City will be occupied by a Grocer Outlet bargain market and West African restaurant Kilimandjaro, which previously was located in the former shopping center where the new building stands at 43rd and Chestnut streets.
Developer Alterra Property Group said Wednesday it had leased the 11,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor of its seven-story building, called LVL West. The project includes 275 apartments — 91 studios, 173 one-bedroom units and 11 two-bedroom units — along with a fitness center, lounges, co-working space and roof deck with a dog park.
Construction on the project began in 2020, but faced some delays during the pandemic. The building is now preleasing apartments.
Grocery Outlet has three other stores in the city, including two in North Philly and one in South Philly. The developer didn't say how soon the new store will open.
Kilimandjaro, the Senegalese restaurant that owner Youma Ba opened in the old shopping center in 2005, has been operating out of a storefront at 4519 Baltimore Ave. since relocating during construction. An employee said Wednesday that the business hopes to move back to 43rd and Chestnut St. this spring or summer.
The project at 4301 Chestnut St. is the fourth in Alterra's series of LVL apartment buildings in the city, including its two SOLO on Chestnut projects that sit just east of the new complex. The fourth building is in North Philly at Broad and Spring Garden streets, where a Giant grocery store opened two years ago.
