Three cheers for fine dining

Plans for an upscale restaurant in the Sansom Common complex is only the latest success for area retail. However hard it may have been to envision Sansom Common when the block was nothing more than an asphalt-covered lot, the vision of its planners is rapidly coming to fruition. The latest coup for the Common is the likely addition of a restaurant creation by maestro Stephen Starr, responsible for two of Philadelphia's finest eateries: Buddakan and the Continental. Whether the final restaurant serves sushi on a conveyor belt or family-style Italian food, the addition of a Starr-backed restaurant to the west bank of the Schuylkill is a major success for Sansom Common. The addition of a quality restaurant to the complex is more than just the creation of another place to eat. Restaurants are both trend-setters and trendy -- the best ones arrive in hot neighborhoods, and do much to make those neighborhoods even sexier. And few names have more cachet in the Philadelphia restaurant business than Stephen Starr. Sure, not all students will be able to afford the prices at the new restaurant -- although it will be by no means Starr's most expensive creation. But that shouldn't trouble anyone. Restaurants like this attract other retailers and restaurateurs to the surrounding area. Of course, the Sansom Common buzz is no longer news -- we've all already wandered through the gleaming new bookstore, albeit that on any given afternoon it feels like most of the student body is wandering through again. Success hardly seems sufficient to describe Xando, the new favorite meeting place for students and faculty alike. And the other first wave stores -- Urban Outfitters, Eastern Mountain Sports and Parfumerie Douglas -- are all top-notch as well. The completion of the Inn at Penn, slated for next September, will bring the project's final stage to a close. All told, almost ten upscale retailers will have opened in the complex, not to mention the movie theater rising four blocks away. Starr and the other retailers signing on to the Sansom Common project are making a statement of belief in the future and vibrancy of the area. It is a statement we whole-heartedly endorse.