going to lead to loitering. It's going to lead to mischievous behavior. And there's something that
we don't want in our community simple as that and uh again we submitted the letter and what is being
done now these gentlemen and lady are more or less uh padding the situation for their betterment
not the betterment of our community and that is why we do what we do as an rco for the community
and sir um i do i we would appreciate it if you look into this on our side of the fence because
this is an issue that is going to explode as the weather
hightens and as the
folks are starting to gather. Simple as that. And we do not want this to be
an explosive matter two months down the road. And the fact that
they've been operating less than a year and not believing that
security is necessary is beyond me.
So at this time, thank you so much.
Thank you. No, hold on a minute. Do you have any questions?
Mr. Cargill, I would just say, we just received the letter, I think, 10 minutes ago, so I don't know specifically.
i just we just received the letter i think 10 minutes ago so i don't know specifically what's
in there um but my understanding was it was a one year temporary on the expansion of the
the drive-through hours which is what the whole case was about so and also security some some
security has to be on the property to monitor the loitering to let the folks know that they
it's a drive-through you come in you drive through you get your food and you move on
do you want to add anything oh hello you have not been sworn yet have you i have not i could
you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer yeah alexander ortiz a-l-e-x-a-n-d-e-r-o-r-t-i-z
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth sir i do please proceed
uh yes so what we wanted to do is to sort of address the security question um we do firmly
believe that our stance is that because of the experience that AJ Foods has in the area, 31
restaurants, five in Philadelphia, one at Lehigh Avenue, one at Grays Ferry Avenue. We've got this
one here at 66. They're working on another one here on Chestnut Street in 16th. They've got tons
of experience with understanding when is the appropriate time to consider security, but their
team has been properly trained to address those issues up front so i just want to you know we
don't default to bringing security in because listen who can run a business where you have
security running late hours a day this is one of those things where you you operate it if you see
any signs of any issues then you make adjustments but we haven't here in the past eight months and
in their experience at lehigh avenue grace ferry we've also had very few issues so thank you is
anyone else in the audience has issues with this or questions
i'd by chair i have a hand up for miss kimberly brown west i will go ahead and promote them
they should be back in shortly
do we see her she won yeah i'm here hi could you please state your name and spell before
the stenographer yes my name is kimberly west brown so that's k-i-m-b-e-r-l-y last name west
w-e-s-t hyphen brown b-r-o-w-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do please proceed um i am the ward chair of our rco um our ward leader uh weymouth
spoke. The only thing that I wanted to add is that during the presentation, it was stated that
there are limited parking spaces. There are seven in the front. However, there are parking spaces
on the other side. There are probably about five or six parking spaces over there. So there are
spaces there to loiter as well. Basically, our meeting that we had with McDonald's, we just
wanted to express a lot of the security concerns which are laid out in that letter that um we sent
the original proposal of the five years was voted against 10 to 11 however before we even got to the
vote we did speak with Andrea and uh Chris I believe was um on that in that meeting and said
that he you know all he wants to do is work with the community and if it even came down to um us
having um us look at this in a year from now we could so instead of the five year we would try a
one-year trial period come back and meet again and then we would revisit to see how things went for
that year um and that was kind of what we agreed to where we were in support of what their proposal
is and having the extended drive-through hours from 2 a.m to 5 a.m when we talked about security
they did agree to having security hired as well. And they also talked about their training
protocols for their employees as far as how do you deal with escalated situations with customers.
The other thing that was concerned along the lines of security was them speaking and having
a conversation with the police department and getting them on the police's roll call so
the police could kind of do a check especially during the after hours to make sure that things
were okay so that is what the proviso is that is what we all agreed to in that meeting and to
revisit everything after the first year all right thank you very much for taking the time to calls
mr chairman i would we would be willing you know i just spoke with daisy who is the franchise
operator we would be willing to have security for that additional period from the two the two to five
we would be willing to have security for that additional period from the the two the two to
five okay um i think we're going to leave it up to the board yep one year five years hold up hold
up is there anyone else in the audience do not see any further answer mr chair planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission planning commission will not be making statements on
removal of provisor requests what's that again we have no statements okay all right good
we're going to hold a vote on this two weeks Hillary when we come back two weeks uh we'll vote
that Wednesday 2 p.m uh we'll take it into consideration and we'll weigh everything
and we'll see where we stand and we we just wanted to also thank the community we've had meetings
after meetings with this so I think you can hear it was yeah it's been a positive conversation you
know we're trying to that that's how they want it they want to handle this all right thank you so
Thank you very much.
Right here, number 10, number 10, MI 2026, 000352, 1418 Walnut Street.
Attorney is Ronald Patterson.
There's a letter of non-opposition from the Center City Resilience Association.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure, I can. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Ronald Patterson, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N, with Claire Harrison Law Firm, 1835 Market Street.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Sure. There's two properties involved because it's a unity of use, but that's a buy right application request. But the two properties are the Bellevue, which is 200 South Broad Street, is owned by an LLC called 200 South Broad Property Owner LLC.
And we're here today for 1418 Walnut Street, which is owned by 1418 Walnut Landowner LLC.
Pretty simple names, but it's all under the Lubrit Adler group.
And hard to say, but if you want to see the flow chart to prove that they're all our vice chair.
I figured it off. Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
and do you waive the reading of the referral and stick related to its accuracy yes i do
all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case okay thank you
and mr patterson i just want to note for the record because i did see
your email about the the address they have the wrong address and the refusal
says 220 yes yeah so and it looks like that's how um it is it was input into eclipse oh really go
back to so when you go back to l and i if this is approved make sure that okay that that is all
updated that's the sporting club 220 garage yeah okay exactly so i just wanted to let you know
that there just yeah there does be appear to be a mistake on there so we can't we can't fix that
i understand all right thank you okay if i may um so this regards 1418 walnut street the picture
you see here is walnut street and broad street um the building here with the blue arrow is the
former building that housed tiffany's um it's connected to the bellevue uh there's breach
wall breaches it's always operated as if it were one property although there are two legal addresses
and by this application as i mentioned then the application was for a unity of use so
There's really two parts to this application. The first part, again, is to have it be considered as one lot per the zoning code, and that's because combining the properties allows you to accumulate FAR for every ratio in case we would exceed that, which we don't.
there's another picture for walnut street
so the Bellevue has been undergoing massive and complete renovations
conversion to a hotel conversions of residential apartment units
conversion to a hotel, conversions of residential apartment units, the conversion of the grand
ballroom. The lower floor in the lobby has two lobbies, one for residential, one for hotel,
and there's a few restaurants that are coming soon. On the first floor, what we're here for
is called the bathhouse use, and if you remember the food court, this use is occupying, call it a
the lobby area on the first floor, the entire lower level where the food court was and then the sub-level.
Total is about 30,000 square feet, but more on the bathhouse later.
Let's go through these photos.
So this is the sub-basement, and Jason's here.
He's going to talk about the bathhouse use.
So the application here is regarding the bathhouse.
So we have a by-rate permit for the bathhouse use in the Bellevue portion under personal services.
And so what we're desiring to do today is use the roof deck atop the former Tiffany building as an auxiliary and a passive amenity to the bathhouse.
And so the reason why we're here is because our use of a roof deck throughout the city for anything other than a residential use requires a special exception.
So that's why we're here.
the zoning is in cmx5 and as i mentioned about the roof deck and so um it will be operated by
the same entity both in the bellevue on top of 1418 we believe again there'll be a quiet passive
amenity so jason if you could introduce yourself can you please state your name is spelled for the
sonographer sorry sorry i'm sorry no it's okay i have a brother yeah right go ahead uh jordan
j-o-r-d-a-n hummel h-u-m-m-e-l do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do counsel uh have you've heard my presentation you agree it's true and accurate
so far and we do not for this if you were your own yes absolutely okay so can you tell us uh
give you a two-minute corporate pitch of what the bathhouse is sure good good afternoon everyone
uh thanks for having me uh my name is jordan hummel and i'm the vice president of real estate
at bathhouse we operate wellness focused bathhouse facilities with three locations currently
operational in new york and have additional locations underway in chicago los angeles
nashville minneapolis and of course here in philadelphia bathhouses are 5000 year old concepts
we are a modern take on old world russian and turkish bathing and thermal spa practices but
with contemporary design and hospitality guests can enjoy hot and cold pools saunas steam rooms
and treatments alongside elevated food and beverage offerings all in a thoughtfully designed
communal environment we're both a restorative escape and a social experience accessible through
day passes and memberships we've secured as ron mentioned 30 000 square feet of interior space at
the valve view for our core use which includes thermal bathing and contrast therapy again saunas
steam rooms cold plunges and spa treatments in addition to the interior program we're seeking
a special exception for roughly 3,500 square feet of roof deck. I want to be clear that this is
intended as a quiet and passive amenity, more akin to a relaxation space than an active or
nightlife-oriented use. Our music is ambient, not amplified, and we're being very thoughtful about
hours, visibility, and how it interacts with neighboring properties. So, Jordan, if I may,
if you look on the screen, so this is a view of the deck, I mean, of the roof, which is not a deck
yet and it's bounded by two buildings one on each side one is the bellevue and the other
building is vacant but it's owned by the lubridado group is that correct that's correct
and so one one of the frontages is facing wanna street the other is facing the chancellor street
garage correct okay um let me find this okay so is this this is a rendering of what we're proposing
here that that's right describe what what would happen on the deck here certainly so uh it's an
extension again of our our interior programming here you can see uh basically a conversation area
um as well as um in another photo you'll see that we'll have one pool uh on the deck as well
and here's the is that the pool yes it is
and here's the is that the pool yes it is is there um live bands dancing music there is not
and what would be the days and hours of operation uh 8 a.m to 10 p.m so is this you have to be
uh a patron of the bath house to use the deck is that correct yes by purchasing a day pass at
bathhouse you get use of interior and exterior space it's all included in the same so it's only
accessible through to through the spa yes correct okay anything else you'd like to add no okay
i have one more question for our architect sure good joy if you could get close to the mic pull
the mic right off to you sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
luke synopoly l-u-k-e do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Counsel?
Luke, you've heard my presentation so far.
Would you agree it's true and accurate?
And you would adopt this if it were your own?
You're familiar with the plans?
You helped draw them or prepare them?
Correct.
I just wanted to touch on something was raised in the community meeting about the safety of patrons along the front of Walnut Street
and how we comply with the code being set back five feet in a buffer before the guardrail.
Could you explain what's happening here on this photograph or the rendering?
That's correct.
What you see here in the illustration is a guardrail as well as a tall planter.
Each of them no less than 42 inches per minimum code,
and they are also set back five feet from the extreme face of building along the right-of-way per code in the city.
And that's the same way on the Chancellor Street side as well?
On the Chancellor Street side, we actually have a full wall, which is about 10 feet tall.
More for screening, but provides the same effect.
I have no further questions.
Questions from the board?
Yes, what's the hours of operation?
Jordan?
Our hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 1130 p.m.
On the rooftop, it would just be from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Okay, all the questions. Yeah. So what space was this?
Was this where Santa bar of blue was, or is that the deck space or the bath house? It's on the, where the food court was.
Okay, it's not on the blue side. It's the other side where the food court was. Is that what you're saying?
I don't remember where the Sands of Bar was.
Because it was off of like Broad Street.
Oh, are you asking that there's an entrance through Broad Street that way?
Mm-hmm.
That entrance is closed now, right?
On Broad Street?
Because you said it was a subspace.
Yeah, so when you used to go on the first floor and go down the escalator and it was the large food court there.
Right, yeah, the food court there.