on the left here moving to the next photograph at page 15 the left photo here is entering the rear
portion of the former commercial area and you can see that would be entering that door into the back
there and then on the right hand side this would be as you come in that front door
and go upstairs into unit one there is then an additional step up onto a platform that exists
within unit one and you can see that that stair that set of stairs a little bit better here so
this is that platform so the photographs here at page 16 are just some additional photographs of
unit one and then this photograph on the right here also shows you that breach that currently
exists between the two buildings on the first floor moving on to page 17 on the left hand side
are the stairs that lead to the second floor as well as a view of the uh portion of the first
floor commercial space which is going to be incorporated into the renovated unit one
and then moving to page 18 this is as you move a little bit farther back into that
previous commercial space and you can see here some of the really unique historical features
of this building that gabe is seeking to retain so just by way of example uh the the fire doors
that just have really unique historical character these uh these areas will become a part of unit
one but the separation in the back will be sealed off because there will then be another unit in the
because there will then be another unit in the back so moving to page 19 this now moves all the
back so moving to
way to the back of that first floor where you can see the photography studio which is to become unit
nine so again you can see here that there are not only stairs that lead down to that lower level
at grade but there's also another interior set of stairs which leads to the second floor of the
photography studio so if you're standing in the photography studio here on the left
just off the left here is another set of stairs that lead up
these uh this middle photograph of the stairs leading down will provide a second means of
egress for the entire building which leads out to the street and then the stairs that lead up
will only provide access to future unit 11 and you can see that indicated in your proposed floor
plans it's actually colorized so you can see that and then again here on page 20 more photographs
of the studio itself and then that internal set of stairs that i mentioned that leads up to the
second floor page 21 uh this jumps to the second floor of the photography studio which is to become
unit 11. so again you can see here some of the spectacular features that gabe is intent on
preserving in this building and then on page 22 as you move out of that second floor photography
studio you now enter that second floor area of unit one which is going to be retained as a part
of unit one and then on page 23 if you exit unit one on the second floor you'll see one of the
common features of this building which really does add a lot of complication to it where there
are additional sets of stairs between levels within units themselves and you can really kind
of see that here so this this interior set of stairs here actually leads to other areas of unit
one which you'll see on the next page which are proposed to remain and then again as you can see
here from the next page not only are there stairs separating units but there are stairs within units
themselves so this is a set of stairs that is uh interior to unit one and you can really see that
on the floor plans here stepping down into the bathroom so this this was really a fascinating
way that they built buildings back in the 1800s and early 1900s page 25 are some additional
photographs of the second floor of unit one which again will remain for units one one's use but will
course be renovated page 26 are the stairs that then lead up to that third floor which again is
currently a part of unit one but will become unit 12. and then on the next page are some additional
views from some of the rooms in that unit and then on page 28 again you can see here the additional
set of internal stairs within this unit that lead to its existing kitchen and bedroom
and this again you can see here that proportions of that kitchen as well
and then finally for unit one is this is now at the front of the building and this is on the third
floor uh one of the existing bedrooms so again all of this will be converted into that unit 12.
uh now at page 31 if we drop all the way back down to street level you can now move back again
towards the rear frontage along locust street which are currently storage areas and dark rooms
for the former photography studio so you can again see here this is clearly at grade
and then if we just move back these are all of the areas here that will become a part of unit 7
and then the next photographs on page 33 again are as you are continuing towards the rear
along locust street where you can see one of the side entrances and then moving further back at
page 34 you can see some of the other areas that were utilized by the studio including the former
film vault moving to page 35 you can see another one of the main entrances from the side and this
and this is the one that will be the main entrance the main common entrance to the building from
is the one that will be the main entrance the main common entrance to the building from
locust street that will provide access to both trash and mail as well as providing one of the
several means of egress through the rear common stairs so now rounding back uh on the 218 side
you can now again see that set of stairs that leads up into that photography studio that you saw
a few pages back now if we flip to the 216 side again you'll see here the other half of the
commercial space and then this is that side door that i mentioned that leads to the alley and this
is the area that's going to become a part of unit 8 so page 37 again you can see some other views
from this area as well along the side and in interior to some of those former storage areas
And then the next photographs on page 38, you can see these are just moving further back on that ground level. And again, this particular area will be predominantly used for mechanicals.
And then a final view of this is all the way in the back. You saw this door from the backyard. And again, this will only provide access into those mechanical areas.
so then if we flip back to the front you'll see again the front of the building so this is now
the entrance on the other side where again you can see the street level that leads up to the
main hallway at the first floor and then on the right hand side just from the other view
you can see that first floor separation that you saw in an earlier photograph
and then you can see that here on page 41 just with a little bit more context looking in you
can see that raised platform in unit one that you saw earlier and then page 42 this shows the
existing unit two which again is one of the units that will materially remain in terms of its
envelope again you can see here more interior stairs within rooms which again really complicates
how this building will operate in the future and in terms of the unit layouts themselves
i did provide a couple of additional photographs of this existing unit 2 on this next page 43
and then on page 44 is again you can see here some additional views of unit 2 and this is
essentially up those stairs that you saw in a previous photograph so if you're in unit two
you have to walk up some stairs to get to this uh front room
and then if you leave unit two on the first floor these photographs will show you some
of the portions of the photography studio that utilized the 216 side of the building
and this is what will become unit 10. so if you then move upstairs these photographs now lead
into the existing unit 3 which is one of the existing studios to remain and then
the next page on 47 you can see some additional views of that existing unit again all of this
will be renovated uh into modern standards and then page 47 uh page 48 excuse me uh just outside
of this unit you'll see the level change to unit four and this is essentially what separates unit
three from unit four and from any other area of the building and then page 49 are just some
additional photographs of unit four, which again is one of the existing units that will remain.
And then on page 50, this now moves up to the third floor on the 216 side and enters into unit
five, which again is very similar in its isolation to unit three. So this is the other studio that
will remain and essentially you walk up the stairs and that unit is there so there's nothing else
that surrounds it and then the next two pages just have a couple of additional views of this existing
unit as well and then finally once you walk up another set of internal stairs uh sorry this page
52 are just some other photographs of unit five and then on page 53 once you again walk up another
set of internal stairs you enter into unit six which is the unit occupied by the former owner
which is the unit occupied by the former owner who again will continue to live here after the
who again will continue to live here.
building is renovated and then the final views are just some other views of this particular unit
and he has continued to live in this unit since the building was sold
so in the interest of time and in the hopes that the hardship here is abundantly clear
just based on the physical conditions of the building alone i will defer the bulk of my
legal argument to the memo of law I included at Exhibit 13. Of course, I'm happy to expand on
any point, but I will just give you a few quick bullet points. Why don't we just figure out where
we stand, right? So you're about 31, 32 minutes into the presentation. Got it. How much longer
do you think you need? 30 seconds. 30 seconds? Yeah, I'm almost done. Maybe 60, but I'm very
I promise. First, as you saw today, this proposal is only seeking to convert the formerly permitted commercial use into additional dwellings.
Since neither commercial use or multifamily are permitted in RSA 3, permitting additional dwelling units is clearly the least minimum deviation from the code, given the six long standing units that have existed.
second as i mentioned had the building been captured by the historic district
the building would have been permitted an unrestricted number of units the code recognizes
that large historic buildings like this one are extremely difficult to utilize in accordance with
modern cones code standards and that is precisely why the code provides for exceptions to normal use
restrictions finally as i alluded to earlier this entire block every single property is densely
multi-family at exhibit 12 you can see here all of the buildings that surround this one which
contain between 6 and 12 units and these are all half the size aside from the clear hardship imposed
by the physical condition the number of units proposed is the least minimum and quite frankly
the most logical based on the conditions that we presented to you today if those physical
conditions are not sufficient to establish this we did also include a density comparison at exhibit
16 which shows that the density per unit here per square foot of the property per square foot of the
building is significantly less dense than nearly every single one of its neighbors uh i will defer
the rest of my legal argument to the memo of law obviously i'll expand if necessary on on
any particular point but i think that's the highlights right so why don't you have your
testimony adopted yep right uh gabe swear can you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yes, my name is Gabriel Boodle Levin, G-A-B-R-I-E-L-B-U-D-A hyphen L-E-V-I-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth to hold to us nothing but the truth?
Gabe, have you been present and heard all the testimony and evidence that was offered in front of the board today?
Yes, ma'am.
Would you agree that testimony was true and accurate, and would you adopt it as if you had provided it to the board yourself?
Yes, ma'am.
And then just very briefly, can you just share with the board the importance of this project to you in terms of what it means to you and its history?
So I grew up in the neighborhood. I've been working in basically Victorian buildings in the neighborhood for over 20 years.
This is probably the most intact, nicest example of a historic West Philly Victorian property that has so much of its character left, but is already moved away from being a single family home, which is really, really rare.
Usually they're pretty butchered up once they get turned into apartments and pretty much fell in love with the property the first time I walked through it.
tim was very very nice and let me bug him i probably walked through it four or five times
before i stopped getting lost but uh it's pretty much a passion project for me and we're really
excited me and my team to basically restore it because it is long overdue for quite a bit of work
okay thank you um so council i uh we just had 48 pages
given to us right i don't know that i can get the board through this
in time do you want to do redemption yeah yeah so we're going to do a presumptive hearing
So we're going to do a resumptive hearing, simply because we took a lot in, right?
simply because we took a lot in right
And I would think for another 20 minutes, then whoever may be in the audience and things of that nature.
So we're going to have a resumptive hearing.
We're going to bring this back on 1117 at 930 a.m.
And thank you for your presentation, and thank you for bearing with us.
I mean, this was a large presentation.
I've got to admit, you did get through it as quickly as you could.
understood and i think it was important do you want me to take those back so i can bring them
back then you could you could have mine back sure yeah okay so um we're going to move on to number
three thank you and thank you thank you all right so mi2026 000810 200 block of north 58th street
Eric Carroll is the attorney and then what we do is we after that and I think
At least we, you know, we're done with that.
All right.
Mr. Carroll?
Good afternoon, Mr. Bergman, board members.
Oh, how are you?
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
Eric, E-R-I-C, Carroll, C-H-R-R-O-L-L.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, on the Zoom are Moniquetta Cokes, who's the business manager, as well as the owner of this daycare, the big handprint LLC.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
and council we don't have an rco letter am i correct yes that um that's an issue i was
wanted to see if you wanted to address i'm sorry we don't have one but there's a reason why it's
okay all right okay all right go ahead i did mr bergman do you want me to address that issue or
is that will the board let us proceed without addressing it i've had some back and forth with
board council we'll start your presentation we'll work through it okay
okay thank you as i said my client in this case is uh the big handprint llc uh which is a group
child care center presently uh we are this is you can see the referral in front of you uh my client
applied to be to go from a group child care facility to a child care center just to recap
the distinction under the zoning code a group child care facility you can have between 6 and 12
kids in your facility at any time when you move up to a child care center you can have 13 or more
this property is 200 north 58th street that is at the corner of 58th and race in west philadelphia
it is zoned cmx1 under cmx1 you cannot have a child care center so you can't have more than 13
kids. We are seeking a variant so that we can have use of a child care center. This is a little
bit unusual in that my client doesn't actually want to have 13 more kids. She's okay with the
6 to 12. However, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, if you're designated as a
child care center, you have access to much more funding, many more programs that you can use in
the care of the kids so again we're just seeking to strictly for the classification on paper so
we can go back to the to the state and get the funding and programs that my client needs we're
not trying to increase the number of kids beyond the capacity of 12. um this is the front of the
building there's a corner entrance um 58th street to the right of the photo and race street to the
left uh as you can see it's a two-story building uh it's about the whole building itself is about
2096 square feet uh my client is the commercial tenant on the first floor uh there are some
residential tenants above us that don't have anything to do with this application uh you walk
in the front there's a reception area and then that little area in the back that's just one story
that is the indoor play area another picture of the front door these are
photos of the windows showing the zoning posters this was actually from the
prior listing where the this hearing was scheduled for July
listing where the this hearing was scheduled for July we do have updated
photos my client reposted showing the August listing the photo of the interior