Amina Ocean Restaurant is coming to 3.0 University Place at 41st and Market.
The team behind Amina Restaurant & Lounge in Old City is opening up a new venture, Amina Ocean, in University City. The new seafood-focused restaurant has inked a deal with University Place Associates (UPA) to become the anchor retail tenant in 3.0 University Place’s ground floor retail space. The new 250,000 square-foot eight story commercial lab and office building is located at 4101 Market Street.
Encompassing 4,800 square-feet, the upscale dining and nightlife brand is the second retail partner to be announced by UPA, and will be located on the northeast corner of 41st and Market Streets. Lancaster, PA-based Fulton Bank, which occupies 2,250 square-feet in the center of the street level retail corridor, opened on August 7.
“My vision for Amina Ocean is ‘Southern Seafood Fusion,” entrepreneur Felicia Wilson said in a statement. “The theme and vibe of the restaurant will provide a Tulum-meets-Morocco feel.”
This will be the third restaurant for Wilson, who will be opening a quick-serve fried chicken brand named BlackHen in Old City in early 2024.
Amina was awarded Philadelphia Magazine’s Best of Philly 2023 for ‘Best Southern Comfort with a Twist’. Its menu features Southern cuisine with African influences, while Amina Ocean will be more seafood driven, including a raw bar built into the 20-seat bar, which takes center stage in the restaurant’s design. Both restaurants are a nod to Wilson’s daughter, Amina, and are inspired by an ancient warrior goddess of Nigeria.
Wilson said she was attracted to the University City location because the area is “on the cusp of major economic growth and development,” and she hopes her new restaurant “will be a catalyst to attract visitors and additional upscale businesses to the neighborhood.”
Amina Ocean will have 118 seats including the bar and approximately two dozen outdoor seats on an expansive sidewalk. The restaurant will be open for lunch, dinner and nightlife, as the design includes a small stage that Wilson notes “will serve up sultry sounds, jazz and blues regularly.”
“An upscale restaurant in this location is exactly what the community told us they wanted, and we are thrilled to make this happen,” said Scott Mazo, Founder & CEO of UPA. “We have three or four additional spaces to fill out our retail tenant mix, depending on how we divide those parcels, which represent approximately 15,000 square-feet, and we expect to be announcing partnerships for those spaces in the coming weeks.”
We’ll keep you posted about the opening date. In the meantime, learn more about Amina Restaurant & Lounge by visiting https://www.aminaphilly.com.
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