at 9-30 a.m.
Mr. Chairman, is there anything earlier?
Like, per chance?
I will
check.
Call the office.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
said call the office always appreciate it thank you very much all right thank you all right bye now
so just to clarify so we'll have the applicant come back and give a supplemental presentation
will do public testimony and the planning committee.
yep we'll do um public testimony and the planning commission recommendation all right thank you okay
thank you ms emerson
come on
oh no what do you mean come on now okay
So, and my 2026, 0, 0, 0, 4, 9, 5, 20, 48 Rittenhouse Square.
Stephanie Boggs Magna is the attorney.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Stephanie Magana, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E.
Last name is M-A-G-A-G-N-A.
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do could you um identify your client and the relationship to this property
sure my client is 261 south 21st street partners llc uh represented today by chad williams okay
and uh i know we have letters of support here for the the project and our vice chair has a few
questions for you yes good evening um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. And do you waive the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you. So this application is about
two properties, 2048 Rittenhouse and 2046. They abut
each other and they're immediately adjacent to the existing Friday,
Saturday, Sunday restaurant at the corner of 21st and Rittenhouse Square.
It may sound familiar to you because you saw a very similar version of this project
in September of last year for 2048 Rittenhouse Square specifically. This is a copy of the permit
just for the record. This application is very similar in the sense that we are trying to expand
upon that. So after our hearing in September, the opportunity came up for Chad and Hannah to
purchase the property next to 2048 and improve upon the concept that had been presented to the
board back in September. We are CMX one so the use as a sit down restaurant for 2046 written house square does require a variance you approved the that use at 2048.
This application proposes that those two properties be used pursuant to a unity of use, so they would be used as one lot for purposes of zoning.
um but more interestingly this allows them to improve upon the idea of bringing a new concept
to their existing facility so this these two properties will be connected to friday saturday
sunday internally and share back of house operations and 2046 and 2048 will also be
connected and function as one space that they'll be renovated um with as much of the existing
character maintained as possible but to function as one open space for seating we did present this
and i want to let chad explain this because he'll do a much better job at explaining his vision than
i will but we did present this new iteration of the idea to ccra and their letter of non-opposition
is included in the packet with the same provisos that we agreed to previously which we have no
problem with i'll say that it's very rare that a meeting that results in a non-opposition letter
ccrd doesn't give support but it's very rare that an rco meeting is quite as glowing as this one was
so that was it was very nice to hear the support that they have and we have several letters to
support from their adjacent neighbors as well specific to this application and the expanded
concept but the block in general is mixed use the restaurant has been at the corner for a while
so having another restaurant use particularly one where it's piggybacking off of the existing
deliveries trash facilities and trash pickup hours of operation employees staff kitchen exhaust
facilities there's there's a piggyback there so that this additional use is not only complementary
to the neighborhood but has less of an impact than what you would expect if you had a new
restaurant concept come here whole cloth the this is renderings of what this concept is going to be
and again it is a different concept in connection that chad and hannah will his wife will own and
operate as a complement to their existing business and the whole facility together will function as
one so there are going to be some some shared resources there but the key difference is really
that they were able to expand kitchen facilities and some back of house operations and not
seating. So there's very minimal change to the total seating capacity of the space. I
think it's two or three additional seats. So the change from what was previously presented
So the change from what was previously presented in terms of its impact and the number of people and traffic is non existent.
in terms of its impact and.
There's a very nominal change in the number of total people. This will accommodate. It simply allowed them to improve upon the design of this concept within the space.
The renovations, like I said, will mostly be interior with exterior renovations comp being complimentary to the existing character of those buildings.
I do have floor plans that show the existing restaurant and its connection.
The connection between the existing restaurant and this facility will be at the second and third floor, I believe.
So they will be open and be able to share resources there.
And then these two properties, again, will function differently in the different seating areas.
With that, I'd like to have Chad sworn in.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Chad Williams, C-H-A-D-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Do you swear or affirm the tell the truth,
told truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Chad, did you hear the statements I made
to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Are they true and accurate?
Okay, would you adopt them?
I'd take close to the mic so we could say it.
Could you please explain to the board
your vision for this concept?
You'll do a much better job than I would
if I even try it.
Yeah, so we've been operating
Friday, Saturday, Sunday for about 10 years now.
We've been very fortunate to have a busy restaurant.
Again, we were fortunate to have a building adjacent to us come up for sale, and then
the second building come up for sale.
So what we're able to do is build what is essentially our dream restaurant.
With the addition of the first building, with the second building, we decided to do a tasting
menu restaurant.
Really high-end dining experience.
we were tight on back of house space with the addition of the first building.
Lucky enough to have the second building come up for sale.
That allowed us to add a few more seats, but more importantly, a larger back of house
and operational space for us to work in.
With that, we're able to piggyback off the infrastructure at Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
including the some of the storage the trash and other shared efficiencies and
we're really lucky to have this space next to us and very briefly could you
just explain the flow of diners through the space because yes so you have a
three-story dining space but you know what seems to be enough room for 60
people it's basically 18 to 20 for dinner and then the private dining room
What happens is you enter through the front. You're welcomed on the first floor with snacks and beverages, and then you move throughout the space. So after you've done your drinks, you move to the second floor where you have two separate dining experiences, one a little more casual, then you move for the sit-down savory portion of the menu.
once you're done there you'll move to the third floor for pastry and after dinner drinks um so
what that gives the neighborhood and we're not adding you know 100 more guests tonight it's more
of a high and fine dining experience where it's a little risky on the business side for us but
i think it provides something the city doesn't have and we're also able to minimize the impact
on the neighborhood which we live in we work in we really have a great group of neighbors who
who've been supportive, and we want to do well by them.
And the last thing I want to note is the entrance to this facility is on Rittenhouse Square,
but in terms of drop-offs, where are those going to be directed?
Yeah, the new restaurant will share the drop-off with Friday, Saturday, Sunday, which is on 21st Street.
If there's any other questions, we'd be happy to answer them.
Questions from the board.
A few. So I know when we looked at the last concept,
But there was the idea of having a bunch of people that sat at the bar, and then there
was that private dining area that you plan to rent out at the rear.
Is the idea that in this new expanded concept, you'd still have sort of that private dining
event space, or is this going to convert now to this new sort of, I don't know, sequential
dining?
It was always sequential, but now we have a larger kind of welcome area for them on
the first floor.
And there is a small private dining room to the rear of the first floor.
Yeah, because I think it was, what, 49 or 54 seats?
Yeah, now it is not.
We were able to kind of shrink the number of people we have
and hopefully charge a little bit more for the experience
because of the architecture and what the space is.
So there's a small private dining room at the rear,
but that front portion where you see folks walk in where it says bar,
it's essentially a welcome area.
it's not a bar in the traditional sense where people come in and have drinks and sit for two
hours you enjoy your welcome beverage it's going to be like if you have a reservation you can come
in to the second half otherwise everybody else is still going to be the existing restaurant and bar
yeah and then i think the second question is like these are obviously two completely separate
and then i think the second question is
buildings now with the unity of use are you going to be knocking through walls
and does this give you any type of ability to sort of streamline things like trash exhaust and all
of the other parts because i know you had to have the outside exhaust for the first restaurant because
you didn't have the space like is it allowing you to address any of that technical the technical
pieces um the trash we have a an outdoor shed which currently houses um our trash and then our
um refrigeration the compressors and condensers um we're going to move those to the roof and then
that that outdoor space will be trash for both spaces uh trash enclosure for both spaces um
the new restaurant the um ventilation will go uh through the building out through the roof
it will have a separate system and then for the new concept how many seatings
or how many customers are you anticipating a night?
We hope we plan on 40, you know, 40.
So, they're going to be like one seating.
It's two, so they would kind of rotate through.
And it's about a two-and-a-half-hour experience,
so we usually have a 530 like we do it Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
at 530 and then an 830.
Other questions?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Sharon.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
you're not seeing the answer with the chair planning commission amy board with the planning
not a question but a comment i keep reading about you guys so you know you're doing something we're
trying so i don't have yeah all right so i have one question before we vote why don't you have
awards when you're on my jack yeah it's a good idea you know what next time you see me though
there is an article in the record about that but i do want to be quite so blunt right
that's a really good idea and i think i'll get them sold on
leaning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change in zoning to the existing cmx one commercial mixed use the proposed expansion of
use on an adjoining property is in harmony with the citywide vision recommendation 2.1.1 to
support and promote center city and as a primary economic center of the region the planning
commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for sit-down restaurant
mi 2026 000 495 2048 written house square i vote yes with proviso trash stored in existing
exterior trash container for the attached restaurant and collected by a licensed
trash hauler after 7 a.m. weekdays and after 8 a.m. on weekend. Deliveries to be to occur
on Rittenhouse Square side after 8 a.m. and venting through to the roof.
okay thank you michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my boot is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
hi mcadams my vote is yes with proviso tyo win my vote is yes with proviso
by the way congratulations thank you you guys do great thank you
i get a little nervous when you say you gotta raise the rates a little bit
so do i
take a five minute break and then we're going to come back in and thank you so much thank you guys
anytime
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergen and i will be sharing the zoning board hearing
with me is our vice chair todetta graham president mr chairman our uh secretary
cheryl l gaston president mr chairman board members michael johns
present mr chairman hiya winn president mr jane president mr chairman you didn't let me say it
if i did that once before you don't want i should have said mick sherry
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