The team behind Almanac, Old City's celebrated 21-seat cocktail bar, is expanding into a much bigger space near Rittenhouse Square. Co-owners Vy To and Victor Ng, along with bar manager Rob Scott, are building a two-level cocktail bar at 112 S. 18th St., taking over the long-empty former home of Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co.
The project sits between Cleavers and Byblos, with its upstairs lounge, Vango, nearby, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The space has sat vacant since Franklin left in 2021, and To, Ng, and Scott will all be partners in the new venture. A name and an opening date have not yet been announced.
A Split Personality Across Two Floors
The new bar will divide its identity between two very different rooms. The long, narrow lower level is designed to be calm, dark, and intimate, built around a single cocktail theme that could stay on the menu for 12 to 18 months, the Inquirer reports. Upstairs will be the opposite: brighter, livelier, and built to handle a much bigger crowd.
The rooms will offer two contrasting experiences. The upstairs menu will differ from the downstairs cocktail program, with selections likely sticking around for about a year.
Why Almanac Needs More Room
Almanac has built a reputation well beyond its size. The bar was named a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Bar, a distinction also noted by Billy Penn, which listed it among the city's semifinalists in Old City. Bon Appetit separately profiled Almanac.
But that acclaim has come with a catch: capacity. Almanac's small footprint limits how many people can be served each night. The new project is meant to fix that by increasing volume upstairs so more guests can experience Scott's hospitality without needing a reservation, while the downstairs room preserves the intimate experience Almanac is known for.
Almanac itself opened in 2024 above Ogawa Sushi & Kappo in Old City. The bar's evolution has been notable in its own right; according to Bon Appetit, it scaled up from a reservation-only spot run by one bartender three nights a week into a walk-in-friendly hang open six nights a week, with a menu that changes every two or three weeks based on seasonal ingredients. Highballs remain a huge part of the program, and the bar ferments its own sodas and kombucha alongside house-made tinctures, bitters, liqueurs, amari, and vermouths.
How the Partnership Came Together
The team's collaboration traces back to 2024, when the Drexel Food Lab connected To and Ng with Danny Childs, who then recruited Scott, his former colleague at Cherry Hill's Farm & Fisherman, to run Almanac. That same Drexel Food Lab is now developing a small-bites menu for the new Rittenhouse-area project, and kitchen and prep staff will work across both floors.
Behind Bars Agency of Oslo is designing a customized downstairs bar system that will let two bartenders work independently, per the Inquirer's reporting. Philadelphia designer Ian Chapin is handling the interiors, with plans to divide the downstairs room into smaller lounge areas while keeping sightlines open to the bar. Upstairs will get custom lighting and metalwork, and Kylie Silvestri will oversee graphic design for the project.
Building a More Durable Business
The expansion will give the team more room to serve guests across both floors.
No timeline has been set for construction or an opening, and the bar's eventual name remains unannounced. For now, Rittenhouse-area drinkers will have to wait to see whether the team can translate Almanac's small-room magic into a room built for a crowd.
