Photo: Hidden City Daily

Across from the Sugarhouse Casino stands a pair of former warehouses presently being converted by Core Realty into the high end Waterview Grande apartments, the first phase of their ambitious proposed Penn Treaty Village. But for the northern of the two buildings, this is actually its second recent incarnation: before becoming apartments, for nine years it was home to the Eighth Floor Nightclub.

Terminal Warehouse Building | Photo: Phillyhistory.org

A 1994 article by Inquirer staff writer Henry J. Holcomb heralded developer Steven Sipio and his plans to open the Eighth Floor, another play in the ad hoc development of the waterfront that came in the late 1980s and early 1990s and that brought Katmandu, Rock Lobster, and Dave and Buster’s.

From 1994 until 2003, club goers could dress up, head to Delaware Avenue, climb into a freight elevator and ride to the 8th floor. DJ Frank Cerami would broadcast his Sunday night show on Q102 and later a Saturday night version on 95.7 live from the Eighth Floor. From 1999 until the club closed you could even learn salsa dancing from instructor Barbara Capaldi. Needed some air? You could go up to the roof where another bar, a gazebo, and some of the best views of the skyline were waiting.

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace

Photo: Ethan Wallace