COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, June 8, 2005, 1:30 p.m. BILL NOS. 050502, 050513, 050515, 050518 and 050519 PRESENT: COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN JUAN F. RAMOS COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN TASCO COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
Good afternoon. We will convene the Committee on Public Property and Public Works. Would the clerk please read the title of the first bill.
Bill No. 050502, an Ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development a deed conveying, for nominal consideration, fee simple title to a certain tract of City-owned land located in the vicinity of 3061 Island Avenue, with the buildings and improvements thereon, for further conveyance at fair market value.
Let the record reflect that Councilman Rizzo, Councilwoman Tasco, Councilman Kelly and Councilwoman Reed Miller are present. Please proceed. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Good afternoon, Chairman Clarke and members of the Committee on Public Property and Public Works. My name is Joan Schlotterbeck. I am 3 June 8, 2005 - Public Property the Commissioner of the Department of Public Property. I'm here today to testify in support of Bill No. 050502, an ordinance 5 authorizing me as the Commissioner, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, to execute and deliver to PAID, for nominal consideration, a deed conveying fee simple title to a certain tract of City-owned land located in the vicinity of 3061 Island Avenue, with the buildings and improvements thereon, for further conveyance by Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development at fair market value, with the net proceeds to be returned to the General Fund. The Department of Public Property supports this measure, and, accordingly, I respectfully ask City Council approve Bill No. 19 050502. I also ask that the rules be suspended so that the ordinance may be passed upon the second reading at Council. Thank you.
Thank you. Any questions of this witness by members of the committee? 4 June 8, 2005 - Public Property Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you. Could you tell me what the proposed use of this site will be? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: This site will be used for the Public Property radio shop.
Public Property radio shop? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: And the piece that we're conveying here is for Wilson Safe Company, who is our neighbor. They needed a small parcel behind the property so that they could use that as a means of exit out of their property.
So you're going to sell this to Wilson? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Just a small parcel.
-- land 5 June 8, 2005 - Public Property site is the site that you're selling to them? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: I'm sorry? 3061 Island Avenue.
Is the land that you're going to sell to Wilson's? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: A small piece of the back side of the property, not the entire property. What it is, it's a small building that we acquired. We're going to be the tenant there with our radio shop, my department's radio shop. There's a small piece in the back that we've agreed to sell off to our neighbor, Wilson Safe Company.
So PAID is not acquiring all of the land, you already own the land? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: That's correct.
So this is to convey a small piece of 3061 Island Avenue to the neighbor? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: That's correct.
So the radio shop has not yet moved? Where is it presently now? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: 11st and Reed.
I understand Fleet Management and you have to vacate that, correct? That's closing that site, 11th and Reed? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Yes.
So where is Fleet Management going? Why aren't you moving together again? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: It's not large enough. It's a very small building. It's not large.
You couldn't find a place where both of you could locate? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: No, not together. 7 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
So what are you planning to do with Fleet Management? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: We're investigating several opportunities and we haven't yet decided on which way we're going to go with them.
Why are we shutting 11th and Reed? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: We introduced an ordinance yesterday to sell that property.
Why? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Because there's an interested party that would like to put a charter school there, and we don't need to be located at -- there's no 18 reason for us to be there, and, frankly, the building was probably two times larger than our need. We've just owned it from, I think, the 1920s or something. I'm not even sure of the date. And we've been there forever. So it really isn't an efficient use of our space at this time anyway.
So it's a 8 June 8, 2005 - Public Property good opportunity to sell it and downsize to a more appropriate-size building? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Correct.
Good management. Thank you. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: You're welcome.
Yes. Good afternoon. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Good afternoon.
I'd like to know if your neighbor, Wilson whatever company -- COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Wilson Safe.
-- is only going to have one small tract of 3061; the other part of that land then will remain -- 9 June 8, 2005 - Public Property COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: City property.
-- City owned? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: That's correct.
Thank you. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: You're welcome.
Thank you. Any other testimony on this bill? (No response.)
Thank you. There being none, will the clerk please read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 050513, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, to enter into an agreement to 10 June 8, 2005 - Public Property sublease from the Philadelphia Municipal Authority portions of a building located at One South Penn Square, under certain terms and conditions.
Please proceed. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Good afternoon. My name is Joan Schlotterbeck. I am the Commissioner for the Department of Public Property. I'm here today to represent Public Property to testify in support of Bill No. 050513, an ordinance 14 authorizing me as the Commissioner, on behalf of the City, to enter into an agreement to sublease the Philadelphia Municipal Authority portions of a building located at One South Penn Square, under certain terms and conditions. This bill will permit the City to lease certain office space located at the Widener Building for use as the new location for the City of Philadelphia District Attorney's office. The Department of Public Property 11 June 8, 2005 - Public Property supports this measure, and, accordingly, I respectfully ask that City Council approve Bill No. 050513. I also ask that the rules be suspended so that the ordinance may be passed upon second reading at Council. Thank you.
The tenants of this particular space are currently housed where? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: They're at -- 12
Is this an 13 expansion? 14 COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: 1421 Arch Street.
So what portion of the DA's office are we moving? The entire unit? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: The entire, yes, with a few exceptions. I have people here from the District Attorney's office if you have specific questions.
Are the lease term agreements in the Widener Building more advantageous to the City than its current 12 June 8, 2005 - Public Property location? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Absolutely. We're acquiring more space, paying less rent. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: My name is John Herzins, Deputy Commissioner of Public Property. As an indication of the better rate we're going to be getting on this new lease, the blended five-year rate for the first five years at the Widener Building will be 33 percent less than the rate we're currently paying at their current location.
Interesting. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: And that includes 29,000 more square feet.
Is that signaling a downward trend in rents or is it just an anomaly? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: Probably a little bit of both. A little bit of luck, a little bit of timing, too. The current tenant in the Widener Building, the 13 June 8, 2005 - Public Property largest user, was vacating the property, so the new owners were anxious to cut a deal.
I guess what I'm trying to understand, in terms of the cost of real estate in Center City, is that a trend or is this just a particular situation where we were in a timely way being able to -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: Actually, I think there's a trend. There is a large amount of vacancies right now in Center City, so it's a good time to have the lease expire for the current space.
But it's not good for the City generally, that we have such vacancy that it will cause the rent -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: It's good for Public Property when we're looking for space for our offices.
Only good for Public Property but not good for the City because we have a lessening in our occupancy. Okay. Thank you. Councilman Rizzo.
This 14 June 8, 2005 - Public Property discussion reminds me that many years ago we bought the Bell Tower Building. What is the occupancy of that building? What do we refer to it as, One -- COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: One Parkway.
One Parkway. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: How many employees?
I understand there's a lot of empty space still in there. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Absolutely not true.
It's full? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Absolutely. Not only is it full --
No tenants, nothing like that? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: The majority tenant is the Department of Human Services and the Law Department, are the two 15 June 8, 2005 - Public Property largest tenants in the building.
Have we looked at acquiring, since we still have a lot of rental space, have we looked at maybe acquiring another building to get out of some leases down the road and house them like we did in One Parkway, a City-owned building? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: We're actually analyzing it from a different angle. When our leases come to term, we're thinking about moving them into City-owned space that we seem to have a little bit of a surplus on. One Parkway is not one of the buildings, though.
Okay. Thanks. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: You're welcome.
Where is One Penn Square, what streets? 16 June 8, 2005 - Public Property COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: It's around City Hall. The Wanamaker Building, the building beside that used to have Caldwell's in it.
Okay. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: You can enter on Chestnut or you can enter on One East Penn Square -- or East Penn Square, I should say, not One East.
Everybody thinks everybody knows where these Penn Center Square buildings are or Penn Square buildings or whatever. One day I was looking for Eight. I had the worst time trying to find Eight Penn Square. So it's easier if you just say the street. Then people really know where they are at. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: It's a circular street around City Hall. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: The southeast corner of City Hall.
Thank you. 17 June 8, 2005 - Public Property Councilwoman Tasco.
The space where the District Attorney is now, that's the old YMCA building? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: That's correct.
Do you know what's going to happen with that? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Actually, I don't. I mean, I think there has been some discussions about condos, but I don't...
So your lease is up there? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Yes.
Condos? We actually had a hearing prior to this hearing where there were approximately ten proposals that would account for 4,100 condominium units in the City of Philadelphia. 18 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
I do have a question. Who owns the Widener Building? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HERZINS: Chestnut Limited Partnership. The two new owners of that are the Chestnut Limited Partnership. It's two gentlemen from New York who formed a partnership who bought the building this year.
Thank you. Let the record reflect that Councilman Juan Ramos has joined the committee. Any other questions of these witnesses on this bill? (No response.)
There being none, will the clerk please read the title of 19 June 8, 2005 - Public Property the next bill.
Bill 050515, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, to enter into a sublease and/or lease agreement under which the City will sublease and/or lease to CBS Broadcasting, Incorporated, a certain portion of the building commonly known as One Parkway Building, located at 1515 Arch Street, for the purpose of installing, constructing, erecting, operating, maintaining, repairing and replacing thereon and therein a tower and related wiring, cabling, equipment and appurtenances for use in connection with the broadcast of television and/or radio signals and the broadcast and reception of microwave and radio signals to and from a facility to be constructed on land located at the northwest corner of 15th and Arch Streets, all under certain terms and conditions.
Please proceed. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: 20 June 8, 2005 - Public Property Councilman, I neglected to say that on the last bill, which is 513, I have to have the bill amended for the lease to be included.
Have you passed out the amendments? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Yes. You have them in front of you.
Okay. What's the content of the amendment or the purpose of the amendment specifically? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: It's to actually enter into, for the record, the actual leasing document.
The actual lease, okay. Thank you. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: You're welcome. Good afternoon. I'm Joan Schlotterbeck. I am the Commissioner for the Department of Public Property. I'm here to testify and represent that the Department of Public Property would like to support Bill No. 24 050515, an ordinance authorizing me as the Commissioner, on behalf of the City, to enter 21 June 8, 2005 - Public Property into a sublease and/or lease agreement under which the City will sublease and/or lease to CBS Broadcasting, Inc., a certain portion of the building commonly known as One Parkway Building, located at 1515 Arch Street, for the purpose of installing, constructing, erecting, operating, maintaining, repairing and replacing thereon and therein a tower and the related wiring, cabling, equipment and appurtenances for the use in connection with broadcast of television and/or radio signal and the broadcast and reception of microwave and radio signals to and from a facility to be constructed on land located at the northwest corner of 15th and Arch Streets, all under certain terms and conditions. This bill will permit CBS Broadcasting, Inc., to lease certain space located at City's One Parkway Building for the purpose of erecting and operating a tower for use in connection with Philadelphia area broadcast television and radio signals. The Department of Public Property supports this measure, and, accordingly, I 22 June 8, 2005 - Public Property respectfully ask that City Council approve Bill No. 050515. I would also ask that rules be suspended so that the ordinance may be passed upon second reading at Council. Thank you.
Commissioner, so I understand this in English, are we allowing CBS to install equipment on the roof of One Parkway? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: That's correct.
Is that what this means? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Correct.
And I assume it will be a tower and microwave and other antennae? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Correct.
Are we able to co-locate, if the need would be, any City 23 June 8, 2005 - Public Property facilities for our microwave and/or 800 megahertz system on that same structure? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Yes. I'm going to ask Deputy Commissioner Joe James to answer those questions, but before I do, I also need to mention that there's an amendment to this ordinance as well. You have it in your package on your desk. It's to include language -- am I to read that off to you? It's specific language in the ordinance 12 that is not there when we originally submitted the bill.
Please do. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: This is to add Section 4. "In addition to the authorization set forth in Section 1, the Commissioner of Public Property is hereby authorized in the alternate to enter into an agreement pursuant to which the City would sublease the premises to Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development for the purpose of PAID subleasing the premises to CBS for the purposes set forth in Section 1, which agreement shall be substantially in form of 24 June 8, 2005 - Public Property Exhibit A, with such changes as a City Solicitor deems necessary to conform the document to the terms of this authorization."
Commissioner? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: Good afternoon. My name is Joseph James, Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Public Property, responsible for the communications division. Specifically, in answer to your question, Councilman Rizzo, we have worked with the engineers from CBS and have entered, as part of the agreement, the ability to include two microwave dishes on their tower that they will be able to provide for us to provide additional communication services for our operation. We've also worked out some very specific unique language that we're very comfortable that would deal with any potential interference issues in the operation of their tower and the operation of our facilities 25 June 8, 2005 - Public Property should we need to put them on the tower.
Commissioner, as long as there wouldn't be interference issues, what if a cell phone provider, Cingular, Nextel, Verizon, would like to locate a cell site at that location? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I think it's envisioned by CBS, and it's my understanding in our discussion, that that's not what CBS has intended. They need it specifically so that they could operate their television and broadcast facilities and they're not looking to allow cellular providers on there that could cause interference issues in the future.
But let's say that there wouldn't be technical issues. Why wouldn't the Department of Public Property, now that you're constructing a site for -- allowing a site to be constructed at that location, why wouldn't we then look for a revenue opportunity to build something on that structure to accommodate that other source of revenue? June 8, 2005 - Public Property DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I think the way the agreement is built, it's for CBS to build, construct and own and maintain it. So it's really for their sole purpose the reason that the facility is going to be there, them being CBS.
Forget that facility. Let's talk about feet on the 10 other side of the roof. Since we're doing 11 this, why aren't we looking for other funding 12 sources? 13 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: 14 Well, we always hold out for opportunities for 15 funding sources for carriers who want to use 16 City property, and so far, we have not had any 17 interest in it. Not to say that we wouldn't 18 have any interest, but if in fact there was 19 interest from a carrier who wanted to use that 20 facility, they would have to use that as long as they didn't provide interference to CBS.
Commissioner, I was told that a carrier approached the City about using that facility and was turned down, told them that we weren't 27 June 8, 2005 - Public Property interested in having a tenant on the roof. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I'm not aware of any request that came through our office using One Parkway from a carrier.
Do you have any police facilities there? Do we have any 800 trunking radio facilities there? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: No. 10 Our 800 trunking radios are at City Hall. That's the main site that's in Center City that we provide 800 megahertz service.
Yes. I just have a follow-up question to Councilman Rizzo's questioning. By having CBS, of course, putting up one of their towers on the site, would this prohibit anyone else from putting up a tower? In other words, in the agreement that you have with CBS, would that agreement include in it a provision that no one else can use that site for similar purposes? 28 June 8, 2005 - Public Property DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I don't recall if there's specific language that makes it exclusive or limits it to only CBS using that site. I think by its sheer construction of CBS, it pretty well limits the potential for anyone else to build a tower on the same facility.
Then just by the sheer size -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: Just by the sheer size and what has to be done to --
There wouldn't be ample space for an additional tower or anything? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: No. 18 I think it's sufficient enough to be able to allow CBS to do what they want, but they wouldn't be able to accommodate other additional towers on that site.
Does the erection of a tower on that site interfere in 29 June 8, 2005 - Public Property any way with the Mayor's effort to make the City wireless? Would there be any interference with -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I don't believe there would be any. What CBS is attempting to do is to operate the tower similar to their location that they're currently at within their FCC guidelines of their particular frequencies, which are not going to affect the WiFi initiative, which is the unlicensed spectrum, and I don't believe this tower to impact that in any way.
Would the tower have any impact on the building in terms of phone use or any video or any use within the building where all the sudden now employees can't use their cell phones or some other interference would take place? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: No. 21 I believe we're real specific in our discussion with CBS that whatever they construct cannot affect the operation of the facility for its intended purpose. Certainly what they're intending to do is put microwave 30 June 8, 2005 - Public Property dishes that beam to a specific location at the distant end. So it's not broadcasting as in the sense of a cell carrier or any other kind of device that actually kind of broadcasts openly. This is real specific. It's real germane to their operation, and they operate within a very confined spectrum. I don't think it will have an impact on the -- just like it's operating now at 5th and Market. It's not affecting people that use cell phones or radios in the area.
How long is the lease for? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I believe the lease is for years. 17
20 years? 18 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: 19 Yes. It's a 20-year lease. 20
I don't have a copy of the bill. Well, I have a copy of the bill, but how much are we charging? What is the cost? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I believe the rent is nominal consideration. 31 June 8, 2005 - Public Property COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Nominal. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: Nominal consideration.
What does that mean? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I believe it's intended to be a dollar, because the purpose of it is to allow CBS to stay within Philadelphia and continue to operate --
You may want to talk about the other aspect of the project so people have a better sense. It's not just a tower. You want to talk about --
What did you say? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: I think there's more to it than just a tower.
We had a hearing yesterday that there was an extensive discussion about the overall project. You may want to talk about the project in its entirety so Councilwoman will have a better sense of what it is we're doing. 32 June 8, 2005 - Public Property It's not just a tower. So I don't know if anybody is here that can speak to the project. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: We're going to ask -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: We'll have a representative that can speak to what the overall project is.
Good afternoon. Carl Primavera. I'm representing Don Pulver, who is beside me to the right. To answer your question, Councilman Clarke, we're very excited, and I'm going to let Don talk about it. CBS is out of its lease very soon in the Independence Hall area and they need a new built-to-suit location. No other building that exists in the City is appropriate for their specific use, their studio space, their equipment, and obviously they've looked in any number of areas within the City and outside the City, and Don was able to attract them to 15th and Arch, which is the surface lot next to One Parkway, and he's, in effect, convinced them that they should stay in the City and use Love Park, in 33 June 8, 2005 - Public Property effect, as their front door, be on the Parkway. And they liked the idea. They're excited about the design of a new building, but one thing they require in order to stay in the City, they need to have a building to transmit to the antenna farm in Roxborough. And we explored with Deputy Commissioner James any number of other sites. We tried to see what we could do, and there's only one site that works. We actually have the engineers from CBS here who do their work all over the world. So we came to the City and said, Look, good news, and hopefully more good news, we have a site that works for CBS and if we can have access to your roof, we will build a great new facility and basically take a parking lot that's underdeveloped and make it a built-to-suit operation. So Don, who has probably built more office buildings in the area, 1600 Market Street, all the buildings in Conshohocken, is going to be the developer here. Don? 34 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
Don Pulver, Oliver Tyrone Pulver Corporation. We acquired the air rights at 15th and Arch from the Philadelphia Parking Authority, in return for which we will build them a 285-car underground garage on the site, and then we will build a 200,000 square foot building above that, of which CBS will take approximately one half. They will be putting their studios on the ground floor facing Love Park and also 15th Street. So they'll be -- the face of CBS will be on Philadelphia, and, likewise, they'll have communication devices on the building which will be broadcasting what they're doing in their studios onto Love Park and to the City. As Carl said, the main thing they have to do, though, is, they have to broadcast their signal up and over certain buildings in 35 June 8, 2005 - Public Property the City in order to get to Roxborough. So that's why we're here. They're talking about entering into a 20-year lease in fact in the new building, same as the lease on the top of the One Parkway.
So it's obviously exciting for us to see something new, and I know there's a question earlier about the office market, and this is one of those interesting wrinkles. Yes, there's space, but none of the space that's currently available has the right floor-to-ceiling height for studios and meets the requirements of CBS as it basically builds a whole new studio facility. So basically it allows us to have a great infill building that doesn't come at the expense of any existing buildings. Because this is a tenant that either comes to this site or goes outside Philadelphia. So it's a win-win.
Okay. Thank you. 36 June 8, 2005 - Public Property Is there any cost at all in using that site to the City? Are there any costs to the City at all? I guess the Property Department should answer that question. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: Councilman, the way the tower is being designed is that CBS is going to do it at their cost and maintain it at their cost, and all the improvements necessary for them to construct and operate is going to be at CBS's cost and no cost to the City.
No energy costs at all? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER JAMES: No 16 energy. They're providing power, which is one of the novelties of the design. They're going to run power directly from their building next door right up to their tower. So they really don't have to use anything from the City.
Thank you, 37 June 8, 2005 - Public Property Councilwoman.
And the City has been extremely cooperative, Commerce Department, Public Property. I guess every deal happens in a very accelerated fashion. Decisions have to be made. And given the high level of technical difficulty, and you've asked all the right questions, we've really had great cooperation and we're excited and the people from CBS are here and everyone is excited. Thank you.
I just want to say again, not to be repetitive, but for the record, in yesterday's hearing, there was a commitment by the developer to do an aggressive outreach for -- during the construction period, there would be an aggressive outreach to ensure that local Philadelphians and minority business enterprises and women business enterprises have ample opportunity to participate during the construction phase, and we're also entertaining discussions with CBS as it relates to any new job opportunities, that we 38 June 8, 2005 - Public Property enter into some agreement to ensure that local Philadelphians get that opportunity and possibly some internships with the Philadelphia School District.
We're excited about that and the answer is yes to all that. I also learned from CBS people that they recently created a whole new studio for Temple University, which they use as their actual broadcast facility. So there's a lot of synergy, and I think it will be a great thing for Philadelphia to have the ability to have the weather broadcast live from Love Park, with the Love statue and the Parkway view. I mean, this is really going to be a step in the right direction.
Thank you. Any other questions of these witnesses? (No response.)
Anyone else 39 June 8, 2005 - Public Property to testify on this bill? (No response.)
There being none, will the clerk please read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 050518, an ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development to purchase a certain tract of land located at 2620 to 2638 West Girard Avenue in the 29th Ward of the City of Philadelphia, under certain terms and conditions. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: My name is Joan Schlotterbeck. I am the Commissioner for the Department of Public Property. I'm here today to testify in support of Bill No. 050519, an ordinance 19 authorizing me as the Commissioner, on behalf of the City, to accept from the School District of Philadelphia conveyance of title to a parcel of land located at 843 to 847 North 12th Street, formerly the site of the Spring Garden School --
40 June 8, 2005 - Public Property Commissioner, I don't think we did 18. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: I did jump? Sorry. I forgot, Tom Dalfo is here to testify on that one. I guess I must be anxious.
It was good testimony, so I didn't want to interrupt. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Thomas Dalfo and I represent the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development. I am here to testify in support of Bill No. 050518. This bill authorizes the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, PAID, at the direction of the Commerce Department to purchase an approximately 1.25-acre property at the southeast corner of 27th Street and Girard Avenue for consideration of approximately $2.5 million. After acquisition by PAID, this site will be marketed to retail developers as a potential supermarket location. 41 June 8, 2005 - Public Property The site's high visibility on Girard Avenue and its location in a dynamic neighborhood should make it an attractive site for retail development. The purchase price reflects the property owners' current asking price for the property. The cost of this acquisition will be paid from the Industrial and Commercial Revolving Fund, or Land Bank. I would ask that the committee consider this bill favorably and that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading at the next regularly scheduled meeting of Council. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you. Do we anticipate based on the current market, not only in the City but in the neighborhood, that we would be in a position to recapture our funds?
The way the transaction is conceived, yes. We do 42 June 8, 2005 - Public Property anticipate we would try to recapture the funds through a series of the sale to a developer or to a supermarket chain and a series of grant funds and programs that the state is aggressively pursuing as part of the new economic development initiative from Harrisburg.
I think it's the First Industries initiative, which focuses on agricultural but has a component to emphasize development and support development of supermarket retail in underserved communities, which would be an area like this or in very rural areas in the Commonwealth as well.
Is that the initiative that State Representative Evans, they had a press conference?
And that's in play? I mean, that discussion as it relates to the availability of the building is 43 June 8, 2005 - Public Property in play?
In terms of marketing the site, will there be a full-blown RFP or have we already had some expressions of interest from any operators?
There have been some discussions with operators. They've been pretty preliminary at this point until a site can be controlled to kind of test the market to say if a site can be secured, would it be of interest. And the response we've gotten back so far is favorable, but we don't really know where we'll get until we have the site and we kind of go into negotiations with folks. As to whether or not we would kind of reach out to a handful of targeted supermarket chains or developers that work with retailers or go to a full-blown RFP, I don't think that decision has been made yet, but I think there can be good reasons to go either way with it, but it would be a competitive process. 44 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
Okay. Any questions of this witness by members of the committee? (No response.)
Thank you. Anyone else to testify on this bill? Please come forward. Come to the witness table, please.
Good afternoon. My name is Tess Kissinger and I'm here representing the Girard Avenue Alliance. We are a community group that, for the last three years, have been substantially concerned with this site. We are a community north and south of West Girard and we are without reasonable access to food. It's a hardship to many families in our community. The members of Girard Avenue Alliance have fought long and hard to get a quality supermarket on this site. It is the only site in our community with enough size to put a supermarket on. The recent rumors that Whole Foods is moving makes this only more dire to our community. 45 June 8, 2005 - Public Property We can also consider a supermarket at this location will become the cornerstone to further economic redevelopment of West Girard Avenue. We have been assured by members of City government that a full-size quality supermarket is planned as part of this transaction. We support this transaction wholly if this is the case. The neighborhood is behind it 100 percent. We are not opposed to multi-use plans for this property at 2620-2638 Girard Avenue so long as the plans do include a full-size supermarket and are presented to us showing a sensitivity to the traffic and trash concerns that the neighborhood has. I thank you for this opportunity to speak to you.
Thank you. Any questions of this witness by members of the committee? (No response.)
Thank you. Anyone else to testify on the bill? Sir. 46 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
Good afternoon, Council. My name is Steven Ashbridge and I am President of the Board of the Girard Coalition. The Girard Coalition, as you may know, is actively working on the redevelopment of the commercial strip of Girard Avenue river to river. We feel it's imperative that these lands be acquired and a supermarket be put in place. The neighborhoods both north and south of Girard Avenue have limited shopping in the area. The only current supermarket is Whole Foods located at approximately 20th and Pennsylvania Avenue and there's some indication that store may be closing in the next several years. In order for the commercial strip along West Girard to be as viable and successful as we believe it can be, this lot can be the cornerstone for that redevelopment. As Ms. Kissinger had stated, we believe a multi-use of the building would be fine, and, again, I would encourage City Council to go ahead and pass the necessary ordinance to 47 June 8, 2005 - Public Property permit the City to acquire the property. Thank you.
Thank you. Any questions of this witness by members of the committee? (No response.)
Thank you, sir. Anyone else to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Thank you. There being none, will the clerk please read the title of the next bill.
Bill No. 050519, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City, to accept from the School District of Philadelphia conveyance of title to a parcel of land located at 843 through 47 North 12th Street, formerly the site of the Spring Garden School, and further authorizing transfer of the property to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, under certain terms and conditions. 48 June 8, 2005 - Public Property COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Now I can start, right?
Please proceed. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: My name is Joan Schlotterbeck. I am the Commissioner of the Department of Public Property. I am here today to testify in support of Bill No. 050519, an ordinance 11 authorizing me as the Commissioner, on behalf of the City, to accept from the School District of Philadelphia conveyance of title to a parcel of land located at 843 to 847 North 12th Street, formerly the site of the Spring Garden School, and further authorizing transfer of property to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, under certain terms and conditions. The Department of Public Property supports this measure, and, accordingly, I respectfully ask that City Council approve Bill No. 050519. I also ask that the rules be suspended so that the ordinance may be passed upon the second reading at Council. Thank 49 June 8, 2005 - Public Property you.
Thank you. I'd just like to say for the record this particular building is a school that's been vacant for probably 15, years. It 7 currently sits in the midst of probably one of 8 the best Philadelphia Housing Authority 9 redevelopment sites, not only in the City, 10 with all due respect to Councilwoman 11 Blackwell, but maybe in the state. 12 This is the only vacant property 13 that sits in the midst of the reconstructed 14 Richard Alan, reconstructed Cambridge Plaza 15 development and the relatively newly 16 constructed West Poplar Nehemiah Homes just 17 east of that because of the redevelopment of 18 those particular PHA developments and a new 19 homeownership development. We currently 20 before us have a market-rate proposal by the Dale Corporation at 10th and Wallace as a result of the massive development initiatives in that area. This particular property is the only vacant property in that area. It was believed 50 June 8, 2005 - Public Property by many that this could possibly be utilized for some additional affordable housing opportunities for senior citizens, as the building is conducive to conversion to senior citizens units and some possible social service components on the first floor. This building was actually the dream of a very good friend of mine who unfortunately passed, Ms. Nadir Williams, and it was always her dream to have this building redeveloped for those purposes. And unfortunately, I'm sorry to say that there was a commitment by myself as her Councilperson, her friend to have this building done, and there are a lot of people who are on board to get this done. So from a personal perspective, this is one thing that I'd like to see done before I leave this particular job. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Thank you.
Thank you. Any other testimony on this bill? (No response.) 51 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
Thank you. There being none, we will conclude the public hearing. (Public hearing of Committee on Public Property and Public Works concluded at 2:10 p.m.) - - - 52 June 8, 2005 - Public Property CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on June 8, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.) 53 June 8, 2005 - Public Property COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC MEETING - COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, June 8, 2005, 2:10 p.m. BILL NOS. 050338, 050340, 050377, 050378, 050379, 050456 and 050470 PRESENT: COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN JUAN F. RAMOS COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN TASCO COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 54 June 8, 2005 - Public Property
And we will now go into the public meeting. Councilwoman Miller, can I please ask for a motion on Bill 050502.
Mr. Chair, I move that Bill 050502 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next session.
It's been moved and seconded. All approved? COUNCIL MEMBERS: Aye.
Ayes have it. Bill 050502 will be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation, with a rules suspension as to allow the reading at the next session of Council. Councilwoman Miller. I actually 55 June 8, 2005 - Public Property have an amendment to the next bill.
Yes. 10 Councilwoman Miller, can I ask you for a 11 motion on the amendment to Bill 050513. 12
I move 13 that the amendment to Bill 050513 be approved. 14
The amendment is adopted. Councilwoman Miller, can I please ask for a motion on Bill 050513 as amended.
I make a 56 June 8, 2005 - Public Property motion that Bill 050513 as amended be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next session.
It's been moved and seconded. All approved? COUNCIL MEMBERS: Aye.
The ayes have it. Bill 050513 will be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. Councilwoman Miller, can I please ask for a move on the amendment to Bill 20 050515.
I move that the amendment to Bill 050515 be approved.
It has been moved and seconded. 57 June 8, 2005 - Public Property All approved? COUNCIL MEMBERS: Aye.
The ayes have it. Councilwoman Miller, can I please ask for a motion on the bill as amended.
I move that Bill No. 050515 as amended be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next session.
It's been moved and seconded. All approved? COUNCIL MEMBERS: Aye.
The ayes have it. Bill 050515 will be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation with 58 June 8, 2005 - Public Property a request for rules suspension as to allow reading at the next session. Councilwoman Miller.
Mr. Chair, I move that Bill No. 050518 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next session.
It's been moved and seconded. All approved? COUNCIL MEMBERS: Aye.
The ayes have it. Bill 050518 will be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. Councilwoman Miller.
Mr. Chair, I move that Bill No. 050519 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and further request 59 June 8, 2005 - Public Property that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next session.
It's been moved and seconded. Those approved? COUNCIL MEMBERS: Aye.
The ayes have it. Bill 050519 will be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. Thank you very much. This concludes the public meeting on the Committee on Public Property and Public Works. (Public Meeting of Committee on Public Property and Public Works concluded at 2:15 p.m.) - - - 60 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on June 8, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)