Mr. Patterson, I understand you have an associate with you today.
Would you want to introduce your associate?
Would I come up and say hi?
Livy is our intern for a little while.
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer hello i'm olivia calvinese c-a-l-v-a-n-e-s-e
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth just
in case we need you yes i do and thank you for coming in to help mr patterson
mr patterson could you identify your client the relationship to the property
sure i wanted to make sure i was on here
there's a letter of non-opposition from the center city residents association
sure hi uh regards 1600 o2 chestnut street um my client the tenant is hdr holdings llc doing
business as wonder restaurant and also the owner of the property 1600 chestnut uh partners
and also the owner of the property, 1600 Chestnut Partners LP.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to wait another refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and show you this room.
Oh, it's coming on.
One second.
Thank you.
beautiful okay so this application regards 1600-02 chestnut streets on the southeast
corner. It's currently vacant. It was formerly a bank. So today is our application for a second
wonder restaurant. You've heard of, I think the first one I did in March that needed special
exception relief, which was a broader Washington. It's part of hopefully a trend of a renaissance
So Chestnut Street and to populate it with good tenants.
It's located across the street from Liberty Place.
You may recall Wonder is a New York City-based food service.
let's move in slow run
yes it is
I want to get to the drawings. Here we go. Okay. Yeah, here we go.
A new and unique food concept.
They partner with national chefs and restaurants using their menus and products.
The property is located in a CMX five commercial zoning district,
but it's also located within a center city overlay,
which requires special exception for restaurant uses on chestnut wall and
south broad, of course. The space is 3,700 square feet. Here's a floor plan of it.
It encompasses the entire area that I'm depicting here. The red area is the public area and part of
the back of the house counter. All this area here I'm depicting is back of the house.
This blue rectangle is the interior trash storage area where trash will be picked up and taken out
through the back door to the commercial trash hauler.
Days and hours a week are Monday through Sunday,
10.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m.
There's a type 2 hood for heat and condensation venting,
and it will be vented through the roof.
Eden is provided, but it's predominantly takeout,
and I'm going to go through just briefly how the takeout is handled
so you can see that there's no adverse impact on the area.
Deliveries are controlled by the Wunder app, as we'll hear.
We met with the Center City Residents Association on March 25th, and their letter of non-opposition with provisos is attached.
So with that said, I want to introduce Erica and go through some testimony.
Tell the board your name and address.
Could you please state your name, Ms. Bell, for the stenography?
Could you please state your name, Ms. Bell, for the stenographer?
Sure. Erica Downey, E-R-I-C-A-D-O-W-N-I-E.
Sure. Erica Downey, E-R-I-C-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you. You've heard my testimony. You agree it's true and accurate?
And would adopt it as if it were your own?
And could you please tell the board your affiliation with Wunder?
I am the Senior Director of Real Estate for Wunder, so I source the locations.
And the exhibits we're looking at, these are renderings of the actual proposed interior?
Okay. And could you briefly tell the board what the wonder concept is?
Sure. We provide a fast casual type of restaurant where we partner with big name chefs and restaurants across the country.
We also create our own, and we offer various different types of cuisines where people can walk in and order anything from tacos to pizza to a filet mignon from Bobby Flay.
And everyone can order all at once on the same receipt off of these different restaurants.
We offer a dine-in, pickup, and delivery as well.
And we service, usually in the city, it's a five to ten minute radius of homes.
So you may recall, for the last case we heard aboard, was probably in questioning into how the takeout operation would work. And if you could describe the Wonder app that's being used.
Sure. We own a courier company. So all of the courier drivers are 1099, but we're able to control where they can and cannot queue based off where they're allowed to in the app. Also, if there's a problematic courier that is repeatedly causing issues, we can turn them off and not use them as one of our couriers.
So the orders are by reservation?
uh you have to order on the app and then it pings and the idea is that the courier only comes right
before the order is ready to get picked up so they're not standing around waiting so there's
things in queue the order's in queue and as though it prevents congregating yes until the order's
ready is that correct and um your lease term requires you to take reasonable steps to prevent
such congregation is that correct correct yes and and what's the incentive of using the wonder app
as opposed to the DoorDash app?
Well, for the customer,
they are able to order off different restaurants
within the Wonder app.
On DoorDash, you can only order Bobby Flay by Wonder
or a restaurant by Wonder.
You can't cross order off the different restaurant options.
Also, as a customer,
the fees are a lot less on the Wonder app.
And when you start,
what do you think the percentage of people
using the Wonder app would be based on your experience?
Yeah, so over 70% of the people use the Wonder app.
and then we are constantly trying to convert the DoorDash
and Uber Eats people to our app as well.
Showing the CCRA letter.
With that said, I'd say that the special exception approval
is justified in this case as the use will cause
no greater detrimental impacts as if it were a permitted use.
and we see that there will be no additional or detrimental impacts
on the public health, safety, welfare, or traffic as a result of this use.
And you also agree to the provisos by, correct, interior trash storage,
deliveries to occur on side or rear streets,
and ventilation for all cooking apparatus will fully extend through the property roof.
That's correct.
Okay, questions from the board?
Yes, I guess similar to the conversation we had for the Washington Ave,
on south street location where are we doing deliveries because this is an even tighter street
um and it's even more congested then like it's literally in the heart of like the probably the
worst congestion in center city so i'm wondering what is the sort of flow expected for both
deliveries from the warehouse where they're bringing the meals from but also for this
pickup that you're anticipating and is everything anticipating happening on the chestnut street side
as opposed to the side streets uh so for the operational delivery for the daily food um to
the restaurant there is a service alley on the side street that we can deliver from do you know
which street uh yes it's um it's on 16th 16th in between us i'll show you yeah it's i think
it's ionic it's right behind the building okay right down in here do you have a designated
loading space uh we're unable to because it's a travel lane right in front of us but um 16th
street uh is not and we were we would look into whether we could have a loading space on 16th
street so you've looked into it and it's not confirmed yet one of the backstreet well the
backstreet's really not right travelable 16th street i'm saying is there's a parking lane there
travelable 16th street i'm saying is is there's a parking lane there so we could if it's approved
So we could...
be able to look into a loading zone but we have not okay that would look at the questions from
the board yes um okay uh are you are you going to be able to deliver all the way to fairmount
um i believe so i think that when you go on the app will it tell you yeah you know we can we can
deliver to your area we should be able to but don't quote me on that i have to check what the
delivery zone is okay from the last case i just find this whole concept a little intriguing yeah
You know, as to how it's really good for you.
We hope they try it, and it'll get hurt.
The question from the board.
Final question is, when you're trying to control the traffic,
is that with this app being controlled by the bike traffic as well?
Because I know a lot of towns when you have a lot of these bike apps,
a lot of congestion is on the sidewalk where a lot of the pedestrians are walking.
The idea is that the courier is parking, his bike, walking in,
getting the food, and getting out.
So he should be there less than 60 seconds.
So there should be no congregation on the sidewalks.
And that is designed.
And what is the use in the next tenant space on 16th street?
The cookie.
Yeah, I think it's insomnia cookies next door.
And have you noticed in the, in the,
in the service street behind the,
some like carriers congregate there?
Other questions from the board.
Questions or comments from our attorney Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
A-M-Y-B-O-I-D.
Did you swear me in already?
I did swear you in earlier, I believe.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current commercial mixed use CMX5.
The appellant has demonstrated the proposed takeout would have no detrimental impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected.
The Planning Commission recommends that Board grant their request a special exception for a takeout restaurant.
Thank you. MI 2025-000-324-1600-202 Chestnut Street.
I vote yes with provisos, interior trash storage, deliveries to occur when side or rear streets, ventilation for all cooking apparatus will fully extend through the property roof.
John's, my vote is yes with provisors.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisors.
Tywin, my vote is yes with provisors.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisors.
Great, thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you to your associates.
Thank you.
Move to number one, MI 2023, 004267, 900 East Shelton Avenue, Moomin Islam, and Wallace Wade are the attorneys.
Letter of support from Faith, CDC.
Letter noted reduction in height and removal of roof access in addition to reduction in units.
Chair Wallace-Wayne is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Can you hear me?
I can.
all right could you please turn on your video first oh i'm sorry no sure i didn't see that
there you go thank you very much um could you state your name is spelled for the stenographer
sure my name is bookman and your apostrophe m-i-n-i-s-l-a-m do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do affirm um could you identify your client
relationship to the property uh he should be on this call semi uxo he's the owner of green eagle
properties okay and our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon council do you agree
to wait to read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy i do have you emailed in all
the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case i have thank you council
Thank you, council. Please proceed.
So please proceed.
All right.