is that a graham my vote is yes my mcadams my vote is yes i win my vote is yes thank you
hi mcadams my vote is yes hi i win my vote is yes thank you thank you council i'll see you later
today uh yes mr clinton is on the line thank you mr clinton please
so just to be sure it's this case next case will be mi 2026 000 492 40 55 west gerard avenue
MR. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
MR. Hi, Mr. Henry. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
MR. My name is Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y, Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
MR. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
MR. I know.
MR. Could you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
MR. Sure. My client is Nevin Abadenju. That's A-B-E-D-I-N-A-T.
jay and he's here with me he's to my right your left right um our vice chair has a few questions
good evening um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
we have okay and do you weigh the reading of the accuracy i do all right thank you
see your screen and proceed and there's a um a letter of support from east parkside avenue cdc
i think it's coming up
is that visible mr chairman now sir all right uh good afternoon again mr chairman members of the
board, Henry Clinton, on behalf of Nevin, who is to my right. This concerns a long vacant property
at 4055 West Gerrard Avenue. It's an existing building. My client's bringing it back to life
to the joy of the neighborhood and the community group. This is the table of contents A1 through
A10, and I'll walk through these documents in order. The key thing is what the prior use was.
This building at one time was a grocery store and had two retail uses on this on the side, on the 41st Street side and above it had two apartments on the second floor and two apartments on the third floor.
So basically had seven uses. Tonight or this evening, we're asking for seven uses, but six apartments and one smaller commercial space just because a commercial space on the first floor is gigantic.
Then across the street, I'll show you aerial photographs, is a church in kind of two storefronts.
The refusal, this is a CMX2 zoning district.
Request six units within an existing structure, and the first floor remain commercial.
We don't know what the commercial tenant will be at.
It just depends as we move through renovation, and we're looking for the input from the RCO for that.
And this is the RCO letter from East Parkside Residence Association, the chairman referenced. It was unanimous in support of the project. And this is the supporting letter.
we have some signatures of support we're only able to get a few from the 40 hundred block of
gerard avenue because as as you'll see when i show you the photographs there's a lot of vacancies on
this side of the of the gerard avenue it really didn't make any sense to get support signatures
from the other side of gerard avenue because it's basically two lanes in either direction
and there's a a trolley stop in the middle of the block so we try to concentrate on the north side
of gerard avenue photographs here's the property right here on the corner 41st and gerard this is
parkside avenue which leads you know to the police touch museum and the man music center at the far
end we're looking west here's the trolley stop in the middle two lanes of traffic in either
direction this is the property right here you can see the vacant two or three to the east parcels
this is the church across the street just a closer view this is now looking north
the church is is two fronts right here on the west side of 41st street our property is to the east
looking south in the other direction.
Again, a huge spance across
Gerard Avenue.
Some more photographs just to give you context.
This was purchased by my property
in April of 2023.
And he's been doing a lot of outside work, as you can
see when I progressed through the photographs.
And he's also had to stabilize
some of the inside because it was in really, really
bad shape.
This is looking at the rear
This is looking at the rear of the property.
of the property. Again, there's vacant parcels.
Again, there's vacant parcels even on the north side of the building.
This is the side of the building.
You can see he's repainted, put some windows in.
Interior, he's had to stabilize some of the joists.
You can even see there's some support right here where he had to cut some stairs in to get upstairs and do some of the repairs.
this is a side entrance uh this is one of the egress steps from the basement leading
down into the commercial area in front of the building again and now you can see
he is now restored painted patched uh the the tin bays on this the west side as well as the the
front of the building, trying to bring it back to life.
Here are the plans. It's a rather large lot. It's over
99 feet long. There is a rear yard.
We don't have any issues with height, open space, rear yard, because as I said,
it's an existing building. He's not changing the footprint in any way. He's just
reconfiguring the inside. Here's a side view. That's large enough
for the board to see. But basically commercial on the first floor and basement, there's going to be
one residential unit in the basement and studio, another residential unit on the first floor behind
the commercial space. Because as I said at the outset, the commercial space, if you took up the
whole first floor, it would just be too, too big. Because back in the day, there actually were three
commercial uses on that first floor. And then we'll have a residential two apartments on the
third, excuse me, on the second, and two apartments on the third.
Here's the floor plans. I don't know if they're visible enough, but I'll work from the left to
the right, starting in the lower level. It's commercial space. These are the Bilko doors
I showed you earlier. In the rear of the commercial space, in the basement, will be the one-bedroom
studio with an egress well, bathroom, and a small kitchen area. This is 394 square feet,
and that door I showed you on the side, it's a series of switchback steps, so the building is
almost cut in half, so that you would enter on the side, and then you'd go downstairs to the studio,
and then the first floor apartment is right behind the commercial space, unit two. This bedroom is
almost 700 square feet. Commercial space is almost 900 square feet on the first floor,
and that's mirrored in the basement. Then you continue up the switchback steps,
and you would go to the apartment on the front. Let's start the rear. That's unit three,
two bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and then in the front of the building, again, two bedrooms
bedrooms on unit number four. And then continuing up the steps, it's a mirror image of the layout
of the bedrooms below. Now, the trash issue, my client is doing all the work on the property,
and he's also going to self-manage the property. So this is his bread and butter.
We do know that we have space in the yard to store the trash, and we have asked the architect to fit in a trash closet in each of the apartments on the second and third floor.
He has not done that.
I believe what we talked about was putting a closet right along the bathroom wall on all four apartments on the second and third floor.
These are some renderings, what it's going to look like when it's done.
The building, again, pretty attractive.
The neighbors certainly were happy with the presentation.
Some interior views, again, of some exposed brick.
Kitchens, this would be the one bedroom.
Units four and six, two bedrooms.
There's a balance here, not of taxes, but there's a commercial trash fee that's owed.
The building has been vacant since my client purchased it and for at least a decade before, according to the neighbors at the meeting.
And so he's been charged commercial trash fees that we are contesting because, again, it's been vacant and he's not really using any of the trash services.
Zoning map, again, the corner of 41st and Gerrard, CMX2.
This is the deed indicating ownership in April of 2023.
This is the notice letter that we sent.
This is the notice letter that we sent out advising the community of the meeting that we had, as well as today's meeting, 2 o'clock, mailed out 110 pieces of mail.
This is our certificate of bulk mailing.
And these are the zoning records, so I'll try to blow these up to just give you some context.
So this is 4055 West Gerard.
This is from 2003.
uh grocery store and it needed an establishment converted to two side real retail shops that were
vacant uh second floor two apartments third floor two apartments this is 1982 just um
boy god what 20 years 30 years before um this property so in 1982 across the street 4101 and
4103 Girard. It's a meeting hall with three apartments on the second floor and two apartments
on the third floor. But in 1970, prior to that, it was also a church with two apartments on the
second and four apartments on the third floor. So that's a testimony. We basically have a long
vacant building that my client has partially restored and will continue to restore. He's
looking for six apartments and one commercial. Prior, there were four apartments and three
retail. So we're kind of matching the uses in terms of numbers. That's the way we kind of looked
at it. And that's my summary. We're not really affecting the light and air of any adjacent
properties. We're not looking for any relief with regard to open space, height, or rear yard.
And so I guess I'll have my client adopt my testimony and open it up for questions.
Henry, just do me a favor.
Count the apartments again for us.
I have six apartments.
I mean, sure.
But let me go back.
Right.
So one in the basement, right?
One in the basement, one on the first floor, two on the second, and two on the third.
um I'm gonna well put bring on your client first let's adopt your test okay um Nevin you were here
when I presented your project yes uh if you had the chance to testify would you adopt I could I
could we state his name first thank you with the chairman can you state can you state your
full name and spell it? Nevin Abedini. Can you spell it? N-E-V-I-N. A-B-E-I-N. Right. And your last
name? Abedini. A-B-E-D-E-I-A-J. Okay. All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth? Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth yes okay so you were here when i presented your project yes did i present it
properly yes and do you agree with everything i said yes and if you had a chance to testify
yes you adopt what i said yes okay thank you um henry i i'm i'm going to open it up to everybody
but i i i think a couple of the the units are a little small with with the second bedroom and
that's just just my point of view so why don't i open it up to everybody else and see where
everybody else is uh i would agree with you yep i would agree with you 100 on that uh so
so on the rear of this building you're now removing that addition or that first floor
addition because originally there were porches on the second and third floor correct there were yes
these outdoor porches so you're taking you're taking those off and you're building and you're
and but you're taking the the first floor out are you are you extending the first floor i'm
just trying to figure out what's going on right uh no so basically those porches are not there
they've been enclosed the porches where the back end and that stucco right it basically enclosed
them so right so okay all right so so so that's cool now now you when you mention your sort of
rationale for six units in this commercial space you talked about what was the commercial before
and the number of units previously but the fact of the matter is there was no commercial space on
the bait in the basement right correct correct right so but now you're you're wanting to put a
unit in the basement that literally is 100 percent below grade which is in my
below grade um which is in my opinion just not a good thing to do um so that's problematic
okay uh i mean if you hear you you've got like you've got like one step or two steps up to the
first floor which means that that basement apartment is going to be literally completely
below the grade, completely below grade. And then you're using the commercial space in the
basement. Is that for storage for the commercial space or is that going to be a usable commercial
space? We foresee it as just storage because I don't think you're going to be able to use a
basement for any type of commercial use other than storage. Now, I don't know what kind of
businesses are going to come in there, but we're not suggesting and renting it on a square foot
basis, including the basement. Our square foot rental price will be based on the first floor
only. Right. So just sort of on that same line, if it's not a good thing to have commercial use
in the basement other than storage, why would somebody want to live in a condition like that?
so that's you know so i hear i hear what you're saying you want to think that you want to so
yes johns i hear what you're saying um i think my client will be um adaptable with regard to that
unit in the basement based on based on the feedback from the board um
we'll probably withdraw that then if that's what i'm hearing
Yeah, I guess the other thing, too, our board chair's comment initially is, again, I always say this on almost every plan, when you don't show furniture, you don't convince us that it's really a livable unit, right?
So you show bids, but you don't show, you know, you show it in your rendering, which is you can fake a rendering, right?
um so it's kind of hard to fake a floor plan with furniture so right so that's that's i think adds
to the issues but those those are my comments any other points i just want to second everything that
mike said and uh i think my question is about the second egress well that you have going to unit one
is that existing already no this one that's being proposed only that's going to be proposed the only
existing access into the basement is currently the bill code door correct okay yeah i think that
i mean the reality and the expense of building that second one at this point in an existing
structure seems uh egregious for it to be a studio right like you're that's very deep you're
gonna have to very deep egress well in a public sidewalk the logistics around that are a lot and
i think it's a shame that the porches were filled in given that that is the only outdoor space this
is an incredibly incredibly crowded corner in the evenings because of the trolley stop because of the
the grocery store takeout place across the street there's a lot of congestion right here almost all
the time and to put six units on the opposite corner is just going to add to the congestion
And while Parkside does not have a lot of, you know, infill housing, but this would be great for that.
It's putting it all in one location.
And so I am concerned about the need for six units in this building, considering an addition was built where there had not been insulated building before.
And the units, as has already been stated, are pretty tight.
So, Henry, why don't we do this?
why don't we consider a resumptive hearing right and come back and make some changes
i think you've heard what everybody said and uh uh was that okay with you yeah certainly i mean
i hear the board and you know i always advise clients prior to hearing that the board may
have comments that would require him on the spot to agree to a change so but i i think you need to
to look at a couple other things, like
a couple of places are a little tight, do you really need
two bedrooms? I'm just, you know,
I think you sit with your client and figured it out,
right? Yes.
Hillary, what I'd like to do is stop here,
give it a resumptive date of
8-18-26