a copy of the refusal or referral photos and her plans of the property five days in advance of this
hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes to all questions thank you you
may proceed and i see that you already have with sharing your screen good uh thank you madam chair
members okay excuse me um can you center what you're sharing please is that better yes it is
thank you okay okay as i said my name is dan reisman and i represent the applicant i'm here
also with um the the applicant is 16 front lp i'm here with the principal reed slogoff who is um and
the entity the the applicant is affiliate of pearl properties mr slogoff is a principal of pearl
properties. I'm also here with Michael Solomanov and Steve Cook of Cook and Solo. They are the
proposed operator for the property for uses of food prep and distribution, a restaurant and a
banquet hall. I've submitted to the board, which I'm showing on the screen, exhibits one through
12. They include photos of the property, plans and mats. Exhibit one also includes letters of
and support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association
and the Fishtown Kensington Area
Fishtown Kensington area business improvement district I've also included in the packet the
Business Improvement District.
I've also included...
referral so significantly we're here for a special exception from the board and not a variance
and the referral is also included in the package the exhibits I'm going to walk you first through
the map that shows the property in relationship to other properties
okay this is the property 1601 front street it's um front street is on the west side of the
property and on the north side is columbia avenue which is basically a continuation of cecil b more
on the east side is Blair Street and then on the south side is East Oxford Street and
the portion on East Oxford Street I will show you the an overhead view
you can see here this is the again the property and there's just a small cutout portion
where I'm showing right now at the corner of Front Street and East Oxford Street that that
that fronts East Oxford Street.
Here's another overhead view.
And here you'll see what I was just talking about.
And there are five parking spaces
that are part of the property.
Here's the zoning map.
And you'll see that the property is located in IRMX.
And what you'll also see from the zoning map
is there's a mix of uses in the neighborhood.
So there's RS5, RSA5, there is CMX2, CMX2.5, and CMX3.
So it's a very mixed-use neighborhood, and we think this property, which has long had an industrial use,
and the proposed use for the property fits in very nicely with the mixed uses in the neighborhood.
I'm going to show you some photos of the property now, closer up.
Okay, so what you'll see in this first picture is the property immediately adjacent to the elevated rail.
So the property is right here on the other side, and here is the L.
this is looking from Oxford Street this is the property so what as we go through the photos
you'll see that the property has uh long had an industrial use um and then in I've also included
in the materials in 2015 a permit was granted for use of the property for food distribution
and preparation by HoneyGrow.
So basically HoneyGrow has been using the property since that time as both its food
prep and distribution to its different restaurants, and then also it's been using it for its
corporate offices.
This is looking up north on Front Street.
here's another photo again with the L and the property looking north on Front Street
this is Front Street and Columbia Avenue
now Honey Grow has been vacating the property over a period of time so effectively
this property is going to be vacant in short order and my client is the purchaser under an
agreement of sale with the current owner of the property and Cook & Solo will be the tenant
under the with the new buyer once it closes on the property. This is now looking here's front
this is Columbia Avenue. Columbia Avenue again you'll see here's another commercial use right
across the street from the property now this is looking the other way from columbia avenue towards
front and what i want to point out in this photo is this is a um a bay garage rolling door
we'll talk a little more about the the um what my client has done to minimize any
impacts on the neighborhood, which as you know, is a standard for a special exception. And this
is one of them, which is all trash. The trash is going to be stored internally in the property,
The trash is going to be stored internally in the property, and all trash is going to be removed through this door internally.
and all trash is going to be removed.
The truck will pull in and then pull out.
Likewise, deliveries will also use this door to bring in deliveries for the venue.
Now, this is looking on the backside down Blair Street, and that's Oxford Street in the background.
And then this is coming back down Oxford Street to complete the circle and the property will
be on your right coming back.
And these are just surrounding, there are other photos in here of the surrounding neighborhood.
And then there's some interior photos that I've included too, and this show's currently being used by Honeygrove, but you can see it's largely vacant because, again, they're moving out, which is a concern because it's an important property siding on four different blocks, and it's going to be basically this large hole in this important property in this neighborhood.
As I mentioned, the operator of the property is going to be Cook & Solo, and we've included materials on their background.
For those of you who are not familiar with that, they're the owner of the Zahav restaurant.
They've won six Beard Awards.
They were actually just issued a new award yesterday from Conde Nast for their Laser Wolf restaurant, which is in Kensington.
Here's a list of their different restaurants, which you're all probably very familiar with.
The Condé Nast Award was one of the best new restaurants for 2020.
It opened in 2020.
And I said, is that in Philadelphia?
And I looked up and the award was actually one of the best new restaurants in the world, believe it or not.
So that just shows you what a terrific operator Cook & Solo is.
And on the ownership side, it's Pearl Properties, who is one of the very prominent and respected developers in Philadelphia.
And we've included their they've been investing in the city for years and we've included a number of their projects as well.
Mr. Richman, I appreciate your testimony and you can summarize.
I think we got a pretty good understanding. And I did read about the award that they received in the world.
Yes, that's right. In the world. Yeah, that's really it. We've included the only we have a floor plan in there and my clients available on the architect, John Weckerley, to answer any questions about that.
The only other item I'll point out is that in Exhibit A7, we've included in detail the operations of the property, the benefits to the neighborhood, but also all the operations and how they've been geared towards minimizing any negative impacts on the neighborhood.
But a plan shows various parking lots that will be available for the patrons of the of the restaurant.
And of course, aside from the significant investment, we think that that may easily satisfy the standards for a special exception, which is that the proposed use will not have a greater impact than a typical use of this type.
And as I mentioned, and for that reason, we have letters of support from the RCO and the Business Improvement District as well.
And that's my presentation.
So my client's available for questions, and I would also just like to ask them, if I may, to adopt my testimony.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Stephen Cook, if I could call you as a witness, please.
Yeah, Mr. Cook, please identify yourself with the record, spell your full name, and we'll swear you in.
Steve Cook, S-T-E-V-E, last name Cook, C-O-O-K, 1614 South 4th Street, Philadelphia, 19148.
You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Mr. Reisman?
Yeah, Mr. Cook, just a few questions. You have heard my testimony, is that correct?
And you've reviewed the exhibits, is that correct?
and is my testimony and are the exhibits true and correct to the best of your knowledge
yes and do you adopt them as your own i do okay thank you and mr chair if i may um as i said mr
cook is the operator of the property i would like to ask reed slogoff to adopt my testimony as well
given that he's the owner or he will be the owner of the property please proceed
please proceed uh mr slogoff if you could please raise your hand call your full name and i'll swear
mr slogoff if you could please raise your hand
Thank you.
you in if you're out there sir please raise your hand so you can be sworn in here we go
it's been a lot to speak sir sure reed slogov r-e-e-d slogov s-l-o-g-o-f-f
do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you mr reisman just slug off you're a principal of the buyer and to be owner of the
property is that correct yes and you have heard my testimony and reviewed the exhibits that i've
submitted is that correct that's correct and are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge
yes they are and you adopt the testimony um and statements thereof uh as your own i do thank you
thank you thank you no more questions mr chair thank you thank you thank you again and congratulations
on the award um any questions from the board no no no anyone else would like to testify in this
case? If so, please raise your hand. Mr. Chair, Mr. Sloan, folks, as his hand raised, I will
allow him to speak at this time. Mr. Folks, please wait to be sworn in, sir.
Good afternoon, Chair Machico and members of the ZBA board. My name is Sloan Folks. I am from the
office of Councilman Maria Keyones-Sanchez, room 508 City Hall. Mr. Folks, I'm looking for you
here this morning. Have you been sworn in yet? No, sir. I have not. Okay. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do, sir. Thank you. The applicant
having met with the coordinating RCO and receiving a letter of support, the councilman offers her
support for this special exemption. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else to testify?
no further hands at this thank you planning commission
good afternoon board peter bernard for the planning commission
this property is indicated for industrial commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan
there is no unusual impact as part of the proposal accordingly we recommend that this requested
special exemption be granted. Thank you. MI 2021-009. Start over again. MI 2021-000948-1601
North Front Street. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes.
Congratulations and good luck. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Calendar number 0950-210 North 3rd Street. The Attorney is Rachel Pritzker.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name, please?
Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you. I'm going to share my screen.
so this is two two one zero north third street um i'm going to bring the zoning map the only
refusal we have here is for a multi-family uh for three units this is an rsa5 property however
it's on a block that has only one other house every other lot except one is owned by the city
and is vacant. So we are proposing three units on this site. We also have the list in front of the
board of all the other vacant lots on the block, as the board can see, and I'll bring up Atlas in a
minute. This is our property where the blue is. This is all vacant. This is all vacant. This is
all vacant. So there's only actually one structure near our property on this lot, and then there's an
near our property on this lot and then there's an industrial building so it's a significantly
industrial building. So it's a significant
vacant plot and again most of the adjacent properties are actually owned by the city
um and i'm not sure if there are plans to redevelop them but as for the moment
our project is the only one that proposes uh development on this site um i will show the
zoning maps um
As the board can see, RSA 5, however, again, it's directly adjacent to some RM1 here and industrial and provides for a significant amount of vacancy on this block.
We have plans for the project. Here's the zoning posters, as you can see, the notorious city fences around their lots and then ours as well.
um and again just the amount of vacancy in this block in particular um do you see scott murray
just want to promote him to review the plans while i kind of go through our hardship here
essentially we looked at providing ground of new construction single family given um you know the
large size of the lot not irregularly large but considerably large um in addition to the fact
There's a significant amount of vacancy on this block, in addition to considerations about more affordable housing and also price points that meet the general demographic and socioeconomics of this neighborhood.
A single family would have been priced significantly higher than the medians here.
Additionally, there is some precedent on nearby blocks for RM1, and there's other blocks that provide for RM1 by right, specifically, you know, beginning on the west of North 6th Street,
which permits multifamily virate which undercuts the viability of single family on large blocks
like this covered in vacancy. Additionally as I had mentioned we reviewed the comprehensive plan
as per usual and the plan really points to that this is really in a vacant hot spot on pages 23
and 45 of the 2035 comprehensive plan. We believe that new construction would align with the plan's
goal to reduce vacancy in the district and again all the immediate neighbors are vacant so there's
not much there's not any precedent on the block for ground of new construction in RSA 5 that has
been viable in the last let's say a decade to be kind we met with the RCO which is was the Norris
Square Civic Association and they were supportive of the project non-opposition accepted with
conditions. Some of the conditions that they were worried about was like potential density
and potential parking issues. They acknowledged that there was no issues with density and parking
right now because the block is vacant and they acknowledged that there's only one house there
and that the industrial site is sort of directly across the street, a very large industrial site,
as you can see here on Atlas, takes up most of the other block. And as you can see, their parking
lot is empty and there's not a whole lot of parking on the street that's being taken up.
They did want us to work with the land bank to try to acquire the vacant lots to provide
parking or green space.
And we had said to them that we were happy to work with them and the council office and
the land bank to see if that was something that was available to us, but again, weren't
really able to commit to for sure acquiring city-owned lots, as the board is well aware
that that's a pretty detailed process that involves a little bit more time and planning,
but we were open to that with their support. They also wanted us to find a lender who would
approve a deed restriction for affordability. We had told them that we were actually pricing
the units below the median of what's even available in that area, which was a real
conscious choice because the developer in this case actually lives in the neighborhood
and owns a home in the neighborhood, but that we weren't able to
commit to a deed restriction on affordability. At this point, typically you need a little bit
more density in order to feel, I guess, comfortable putting a longstanding restriction.
And honestly, for the financing considerations of the project and the consideration for
affordability that we were already providing, we had said we would work with them, but we didn't
want to preemptively put a deed restriction before we even got through the process enough to
understand if that would hinder the you know the way that a bank would look at this project for it