Penn purchased the property formerly occupied by Hummus Grill for $4 million, marking the latest of several University acquisitions on the block.
The building — located at 3931 Walnut St. — is next to Penn’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and near the University-owned corner property at 3935 Walnut St. In a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Associate Vice President of Real Estate Services Rachel Siegert wrote that Penn acquired the property given its “location adjacent to campus.”
The property was home to Hummus Grill for 18 years until it permanently closed last month. The Mediterranean restaurant’s May 14 closure made it the latest in a series of University City restaurants to cease operations in the last two years.
According to Siegert, Hummus Grill’s owners “expressed interest in selling,” leading Penn to purchase the building.
“The building’s five residential units will remain residential, and we expect to announce a new restaurant tenant for the ground-floor space in the near future,” Siegert wrote.
Like the Hummus Grill property, 3935 Walnut St. is a mixed-use building, housing several University offices — including Career Services, Penn Global, Penn Violence Prevention, Student Intervention Services, and Community Care departments — above a McDonald’s location on the ground floor.
At the time of that purchase, Penn Executive Director of Real Estate Ed Datz told DP that the location at the intersection of 40th and Walnut streets would be an ideal site for redevelopment due to its close proximity to student housing.
Beyond buying properties in the area, Penn previously signed a three-year lease with off-campus apartment complex The Radian that will end this August. The location housed second, third, and fourth-year students while the Quad was undergoing renovations.
The University also recently announced the completion of a $60 million renovation at the Penn-owned Sheraton location on Chestnut Street. According to a press release announcing the project’s completion, the renovation aimed to modernize the property through choices that capture the environment of Penn’s campus.
Earlier this month, Penn closed on a redevelopment project with real estate company Greystar to turn Sansom Place West into a new graduate student housing community. The project, located at 3650 Chestnut St., will redevelop the existing building and create 448 furnished apartments with 493 beds for graduate and professional students. Construction began in January and is expected to be completed in time for the 2027-28 academic year.
Staff reporter Lavanya Mani covers legal affairs and can be reached at mani@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies English. Follow her on X @lavanyamani_.
