The long closed Spuds And Suds Bar building on the Mantua Pike (Rt 45) is now listed for sale after the completion of exterior upgrades and interior demo work.
We chatted with an owner today, who is also the listing agent.
Workers have been on site through most of the summer upgrading the exterior and removing most of the interior. This activity had 42Freeway readers reaching out to me on a regular basis!
The property is located on Rt 45 and sits next to the Mantua Creek. The Telford Inn is about 2 football fields length away, to the South.
This has been one of the most asked about stories at 42Freeway in 2022. I haven’t posted on it sooner because I couldn’t track down enough information of what was coming!
I was expecting the address would eventually match up in web searches to a new business, but after several months I had nothing!
A few weeks ago I even stopped at the Deptford construction office to check and found there were permits for work at the building but nothing that indicated what it was to become.
Truly one of my top perplexing stories to chase down!
Seriously I’ve had about 3 dozens messages, comments and emails asking about what is coming to Little Frankie’s on Mantua Pike.
Well now I have the story, photos and the real estate listing. Read on!
The building was home to the Spuds N Suds bar through most of the 80s into the mid-2000s. Prior to that it was known as Little Frankie’s. I understand most recently was Frank’s again before closing.
And no you shouldn’t expect a bar to return.. ever.
While everyone considers this area Mantua, and the Mall seems so far away to many.. this property on Mantua pike is actually within Deptford’s borders. (Funny thing is they town property line actually cuts around the building to fit it into Deptford!)
And to reopen as a bar again would require a Deptford liquor licenses which just isn’t going to happen based on lack of availability and high pricing for Deptford.
So What’s Up with Little Frankie’s / Spuds and Suds?
It had been a few weeks since anyone had asked about the property and I hadn’t checked on it in a while. But today another loyal reader reached out on Facebook asking about it.
So I did some searching again.
And boom.. there it was. The real estate listing.
So it wasn’t enough to simply post that it’s for sale, I wanted to get some of the back story. Why fix it up a bit only to sell it?
I mean I had heard some rumors of “hey I heard a so and so is coming in” and I wanted to know if plans had changed, as clearly work is being done!
So while I found many real estate offices sharing the listing online via MLS, I wanted the actually listing agent.. the person who actually spoke to the owner.
I tracked him down to ReMax / Mullica Hill.
And I got more than just the real estate agent. The real estate agent OWNS THE PROPERTY!
So we had a nice 5-10 minute chat about the property and his plans for it.
Well it turns out the current owner never really had any intention of putting a business in the building. His own business that is.
He invests in properties and is always looking for deals. While he does more deals with residential properties, this commercial property seemed like such a good at the time so he picked it up.
So Why The Construction only to Sell?
This Mantua Pike property has been closed a few years.
And Mother Nature has a way of trying to take back what was originally hers.
In this case though the overall core of the building seemed to be in good shape but aspects of it really weren’t as weathertight as they could be.
So the owners decided to protect their investment and shore-up the exterior elements. Fixing the roof, replacing windows.
Part 2 of the project was to further make the property easier to sell so they then gutted the inside of the building removing many interior walls and taking the side walls down to bare studs.
This also gave them the ability to fully double check for any potential issues.
And now that it’s for sale building is basically a blank canvas waiting for someone to paint the picture of their new business in it.
If you are interested in the property go through the “Send a message” portion of the listing page.
Links and Location
Spuds and Suds – Building For Sale
1270 Mantua Pike
Mantua (Deptford) NJ