Two high-end restaurant spaces within the Divine Lorraine Hotel are listed for sale on bizbuysell.com for $950,000 total. The price is significantly below the price it was listed as a week ago, which was $1.2 million.
The historic and definitely haunted Divine Lorraine Hotel was completed in 1894 and operated as apartments for its first six years of existence. It was converted into a hotel in 1900 and later became the first racially integrated hotel in the city. For seventeen years the building sat vacant, deteriorating and collecting dust, trash and graffiti. It has since been sold, renovated back to its 1933 appearance, made into apartments, converted back to a hotel, and re-sold.
Currently, spaces host Cicala, a Sicilian and Southern Italian restaurant and Sorrelina, their sister pizzeria. The listing boasts that the owners invested over twice the asking price into the respective spaces over the years. The listing details that the sale of the restaurants would come with $2.8 million of furniture, fixtures, and equipment as well as $40,000 worth of inventory stock. Featured are a mere six photos of the 8,492 sq. ft space, which showcase the dining room, one photo of the neon in the front window, and one photo of a plate of prosciutto and olives. Cash flow and gross revenue are undisclosed, but apparently over $600,000 of events are already booked over the next 16 months.
Although the listing keeps changing in wording and dropping in price, it’s safe to assume that whatever is detailed there is about as much as the public will ever know. The only consistent aspect of the listing is the requirement that qualified buyers must sign an NDA to see photos of the back-of-house, patio, inventory, and attain any further details about finances. Check back to the listing in a few weeks and it may be more affordable than a rowhome in East Passyunk!
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