Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is yes.
I win. My vote is yes.
Number three.
Excuse me, Chair. I'm sorry. This is the reporter.
Could I ask Member Gaston to repeat her vote, please?
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Can you hear me?
I do now.
Thank you.
Number three, 2024-007-379-4913 to 15 Frankfort Avenue.
My vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
ION, my vote is yes.
And number four, MI 2024, 005-747-3513 North 23rd Street.
005 747 3513 north 23rd street the resulting resumption hearing for this matter has been
rescheduled to wednesday may 14th at 2 p.m don't worry what's the first uh pro say do you have the
number i don't think we have any on the 2 p.m list yep you can go in order okay
number one mi 2024 001 867 1112 roy street rachel pritzker is the attorney
no council
um could you please state your name and spell for the slump
for it. Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Could you identify your client,
a relationship to the property? Yes. My client is Phoenix Multisport, Inc. And joining with me
today in person is their Philadelphia manager, Lauren Johnston. And online, we have our CEO,
Scott Strode, and our Signature Events Senior Manager, Chris Bellina.
Do you waive the reading of the refusal, and do you agree with secrecy?
Have all your documents been sent in five days prior?
Please share your screen and start.
See my screen?
This is a little bit of a trick doing it in person.
Okay. So this is 112 Roy Street, which is going to be, it's really five parcels that we're
consolidating to one. So it's 112 to 20 Roy Street. And we're proposing a consolidation of
those lots. And then for use as assembly and entertainment gymnasium with eight off street
parking spaces. You'll notice that on the refusal, the zoning district is I2. You'll see when I show
the zoning maps that it's rm1 there was an accidental remapping of this parcel that's
being corrected i believe next month so it is going to be i2 and it will stay i2 but
just want to address that when you see some of the documents on the zoning page are different
the only refusal that we have for this project is for the use which again is assembly and
entertainment gymnasium, which is not permitted in I-2. I'm going to skip forward to
this is the zoning map of the property. As I mentioned, it's coming up as
um rm1 but it is i2 and as you can see this is sort of an irregularly shaped parcel
um it basically is uh these four lots here and then we're consulting with this large lot where
there's an existing warehouse before i go through um the hardship argument i'm going to just show
you the property and then explain the use of the structure and the organization behind it and then
go through hardship and have the architects come on as you can see aerially again pretty large
parcel it's on the corner of roy street and north 11th street this is a good aerial just showing
you the existing structure it's going to be a partial demo of this structure but it's mostly
going to be a reuse of the existing structure that we're keeping and used for two levels for
the gymnasium space this is the exterior of the property it's been vacant since the last permit
on the properties from 2002 so and it was a warehouse and storage use at that time it hasn't
had any permits pulled in the last over 20 years this is the first submission so talk about a
little bit the hardship on the industrial side and the industrial zoning but it's mostly surrounded
by commercial light industrial and mixed use as well more zoning posters just to show the size and
scale of this. Then go down. Just all the posters. I just to show some exterior and
interior photos. Again, this is a two story. It's 36 feet warehouse. It's about 6000 a
little over 6000 square feet, the warehouses and then the land is a little over 11000
um the warehouses and then the land is a little over 11 000 square feet once consolidated
thousands per feet at once.
just so you can kind of see it from the street
and then just some interior photos of this space also mentioned the zoning permit additional photos
inside and then i mentioned the prior permit which was granted by this board a variance
granted by this board for the use at that time back in 2002 so it just shows that there's been
since at least the last 20 some odd years a need for variance is granted for the use of
this site based on its zoning classification this site is going to be used by the phoenix
which they are not only going to be the tenant but they're the owners of the building as well
i want to share a little bit about their organization before i discuss the hardship
And also, it's worth mentioning that right across the street at 1052-54 Royce Street, this board granted a variance for the same use.
For assembly and entertainment, we're doing a gymnasium.
They did a nightclub.
We're not doing a nightclub.
But just to show that this is not out of character with the neighborhood as well.
And that was a CMX 2 parcel.
The Phoenix is a national nonprofit organization established in 2006.
And they basically provide different life fitness, wellness events, yoga, community outreach, different programming with both their organization and in partnership with other organizations and communities all over the country.
They've been in Philadelphia, correct me if I'm wrong, since 2017.
And they have about 85 volunteers here and have helped, I think, what, 15,000 individuals in their time here.
This is going to be their first brick and mortar in Philadelphia.
This is not their first experience with Philadelphia.
They're doing some projects in the 4th Councilmanic District, working in collaboration with other community groups as well.
So they're not really new to Philly.
This is just the first time they're going to establish an actual location here.
Different than other organizations that help with people who struggle with substance abuse and are in recovery from addiction, this is not a clinic or a treatment center.
this is a substance-free gym with an organization that provides group fitness boxing line dancing
rock gyms and activities like that there's no medical treatment there's no needle exchange
this is a substance-free gym and we'll go through the architectural plan so you'll see that
i think a lot of the confusion around this project which i'll talk about briefly was
just related to not understanding that this is a substance-free gym this is not a clinic this is not
something worth any kind of medical treatment. And I think that given what's been going on in
our city and across the country, organizations like this that are bringing this sort of positive
change into neighborhoods, cleaning up a blighted warehouse and offering a substance-free space
with sort of productive activities like this should be welcome. I just want to be really
clear again, this is a sober community. This is led by volunteers. They're already in Philadelphia
since 2017 and this is not a treatment center it's not a detox center we're applying for use
for a gymnasium just to show some of the community activities that they do and then
we also just included some of the outreach that we did and just this brief presentation
just to show the kind of activities and community engagement that this organization does and the
The sober component is just that they require that anybody that wants to use their facility is free from drugs and alcohol for at least 48 hours.
They have people trained there to make sure that they can identify those individuals and help people.
But it's not their mission to help with any kind of medical, but just keep a safe and sober environment for people who want to engage in athletic activities and community activities around folks who may have similar ideas.
so this is a little bit about them i want to just um if we can promote our architects uh briefly
that's evan from low design i'm going to just go through the hardship a little bit here and then
he'll go through the presentation for the architectural side so to find an unnecessary
hardship for use variants we're arguing that there are unique unique physical circumstances
and conditions, such as the irregularity of the size and shape of the lot, which we discussed
earlier, that cannot be inconforming with the code. Also, given the physical characteristics
of the existing warehouse, and also just the base zoning of I-2, the ability to use this
in a medium industrial manner, given the vacancy, the size and scale, the lack of location near
any kind of ports or transportation has made it so it's sat for now 20 years with no active
with no active uses on the space. It's an 11,000 square, a little over 11,000 square
uses on the space. It's an 11,000 square, a little over 11,000 square for parcel.
foot parcel with a 6,200 square foot building. And the other important component of this,
which I'll discuss the community outreach stuff was that, you know, there is protections under
the Americans with Disabilities Act for organizations and individuals who are who
struggle with substance abuse and have a substance abuse disorder to make sure that there's no
discrimination, both from the zoning and other perspective as far as allowing them to work and
be organized in the community. And this is a kind of space where that is exactly what the Phoenix
does. They help support these kind of individuals as long as they are sober. So I just want to
Evan Lippin from Low Design. They've been about to speak. Thanks, Evan. Can you share your screen
and just go through the plans
briefly. Hi, Evan. Could you please
first state your name and spell for the
stenographer? Sure. It's
Evan Litvin. That's L-I-T
V-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Please
proceed, counsel. Evan,
are you able to pull the plans up and just
go through them? Yes.
Thank you.
Okay. Well, thanks, Rachel.
and thank you to the board. I will give a brief presentation or brief description of the project,
as Rachel mentioned. Start here. As Rachel mentioned, we are consolidating five parcels
into one. The building will include a level three alteration to the existing building on the site.
And as Rachel mentioned, the only refusal in this project is for the proposed use as a gym
and community space with eight accessory parking spaces, including one accessible space.
The building is in shell condition today and requires a significant amount of work to stabilize
it. While the building is in rough shape, this project will not only bring it back to life as
a piece of Philadelphia industrial history, it will now include an active use. The project will
include a significant masonry restoration, new windows, and storefront including along the full
extent of each street frontage on Roy and 11th Street. It includes an outdoor landscaped courtyard
including several murals. There will be ample exterior lighting. Signage will be part of a
future zoning submission. We're not going to discuss that today. And trash will be stored
inside and removed by a commercial service. The interior will maintain many of the industrial
elements of the project, including exposed brick and structure. These spaces will be repurposed
to include an open gym space, yoga studio, a lounge, and various gathering spaces,
locker facilities, multi-purpose spaces, small offices, and other ancillary spaces.
The Phoenix is making a significant investment in this building and location, taking on a complex restoration project.
When completed, this project will both preserve a unique piece of this neighborhood's history while repurposing it for a much needed highly beneficial use that will bring vibrancy to this block of Roy and 11th Street.
And I'm just wanting to share a few renderings to give a sense of what the interior will look like once completed.
This is the main interior gym space. We'll be creating a small double height space
within the existing structure to get a sense of the new entrance
and the investment that will go into windows and masonry.
There will be much improved street frontage and street presence with eyes on the street and a
clear, active use and transparency, and the landscape courtyard that will be used for
various uses ranging from exercise to other group activities.
And I will leave it right there. Thank you. I just want to make sure if the board has any
questions for the architects. Why don't we wait to see at the end of your presentation and we'll
see what kind of questions i have okay um i'm gonna just um re-share my screen to just go through
so we met with um the nice town table improvement team back in may and we did a virtual meeting with
them um and sent out notices to everybody who lived within 250 feet of the property on the
same block and they authored us two days later a letter uh three yeses and two nos at that meeting
there's three yeses and two no's at that meeting i was present um lauren was present or chris was
i was present
present um and the only concern was that um there was a neighbor on the call who was sitting with
another neighbor who wanted to ask some questions in person so they asked us would you have another
meeting because there was low turnout you know um to to answer some questions we said no problem
that meeting um was supposed to be an informal q a as per the emails um it was not supposed to be a
formal meeting as there was no notice then i would have sent formal notice for a second meeting
i also was not in attendance at that meeting because it was an informal q a and i didn't think
that the attorney needed to show up for an informal q a between what will hopefully be a very uh well
respected community partner and the community um and they ended up not only uh and the rco was not
supposed to attend that meeting, they not only ended up attending that meeting, they
ended up authoring a whole new letter for that meeting and bringing people to sign a
petition in opposition of this. The letter that they, the petition that they sent, which
I have emails going back and forth, you couldn't read half the names, there was no addresses,
there was no signatures, so I couldn't verify if the people that attended this meeting had
even been in the community, where they came from, you know, so we could make sure if they
were not getting mail or whatever. And again, like I said, I wasn't there because it was
supposed to be an informal Q&A. After that meeting, our organization decided to author a new letter
that they submitted to the council office with 24 people and opposed and one yes. And as you can see
on the screen, was the Q&A meeting with the near neighbors scheduled? We did. We told them when it
was going to be scheduled and made sure that we knew that this was going to be no formal notice.
This was a Q&A with the near neighbors to ask more questions about it after we had a yes
vote and support. After they got that letter, I wrote them and said, hey, listen, there's a lot
of inaccuracies in this letter. First of all, saying that I was there. Second of all, you guys
weren't supposed to even be a part of this. And they said, oh, no, we're just authoring the letter.
Your team is the ones that told us all this information. Well, obviously, that was not the
case. And we tried to go back and forth. Instead, where we kind of got nowhere, we decided to hold
a couple other informal meetings with people who really did want to know more about how we were
going to work together, answer concerns that they had. And really, the only opposition was them