So we've been doing contract food services and catering, like you've mentioned, for close
to 40 years.
we're all wherever we go we we make sure that we're committed to the community and part of our
values and mission is to make sure we're empowering the community offering jobs and supporting
development so they can move on in helping to create the next generation of food entrepreneurs
so we would love to do that here in this community as well thank you and as i mentioned you're taking
both the lower level and the first floor correct of the building correct yes and just briefly the
lower level, which I've got the floor plan up here, this would be your commissary kitchen,
correct? Correct. And you would be providing, this is where you'd be making the food that
this is where you'd be making the food that would then continue to serve serve um serve the rest of
would then continue to serve the rest.
the business operations correct that's correct and then the first floor would be um uh in synergy
with the commissary kitchen below would be an event assembly location correct that's correct
and the idea would be to do life life cycle events there uh host host um non-profit events
weddings, other events, correct? That's correct. Okay, great. So that's the lower level. There's
trash storage down there, and that's where the kitchen is, and then there's a small mezzanine,
and then the main floor here is where you saw those pictures with the interior. That's where
the event space. Yes, yes. As far as occupancy, it's with tables. We understand it's around 130,
130, 140, with standing. With some tables, it's more like 170, 180, roughly. That's what
we've been told from the architects. We have building permits already for the commissary
kitchen and some of the preparations on this floor here. And then we are in discussions
with Temple, the hospital facility that's up there, regarding using one of their lots
for our valet operations.
We know...
Is that Einstein Hospital?
Episcopal, the old Episcopal?
Episcopal up there, yeah,
which is, I think, two blocks, Jacob, three blocks?
Yeah, one block.
We know we're going to need valet for special events
on that first floor.
Our customers are going to demand it.
We talked to the community about that,
so the valet would be on there in the front
as well as delivery area.
And that's really, you know, kind of the...
The basement will handle all your operations.
The food will go from there to all your operations.
That's correct.
Yeah, and then just, these are the boards
I know that we have in the room here,
but just, again...
Is the second floor just a mezzanine looking down?
Yeah, there's a small, what, 200 square feet,
something like that?
Yeah, it was an office.
Yeah, it was an office right there.
But that's really, you know,
KIND OF THE OUTLINE OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING TO DO. AGAIN, THIS HAS BEEN VETTED HEAVILY BY
HISTORIC COMMISSION, THE COMMUNITY. THERE'S BEEN ARTICLES IN THE PAPER. I'M JUST BRINGING UP
ONE OF THE ARTICLES. I THINK ONE OF THE ZONE BOI MEMBERS MIGHT EVEN BE QUOTED IN THAT ARTICLE.
WE'RE FINALLY REALLY PLEASED TO NOW BE HERE IN FRONT OF THE BOARD TO BRING THIS,
hopefully to to reality and to to get this going as soon as possible a question is from the board
okay um deliveries and then uh you're going to be sending this food out how is that gonna work
deliveries in terms of the raw materials to make the food and then um you know once you've made
the food uh you're going to have a distribution system or what are you going to use for that
so okay so for for uh to to actually service the second floor so we'll use the food i mean
we'll use the commissary kitchen um that's in the basement to serve the food upstairs um
if you and one of the drawings you'll see that there uh lifts that will allow you to you know
bring the food from in from downstairs upstairs but also to receive the raw materials you'll see
there's a delivery zone right there along uh kensington avenue there'll be a loading zone
if i'm correct and then we'll load in right there on harold street there's a ramp there right
yeah yes all right and for the uh cooking part of this the venting how is that going to be handled
will you repeat your question i'm sorry venting oh for the food preparation area it's through the
roof we we had we included that on the historic plans okay yeah and in terms of the designation
of this property is it locally designated i think it's individually i believe it's individually
designated historic yeah yes it is locally designated oh yes yes philadelphia historic yes
okay and then um we already we already had to go to we already appeared before the historic commission
to get the approvals um for this so is any of the interior designated at all just or is it just the
exterior just the exterior right yeah yeah okay yeah all right okay thank you all the questions
yes yep go ahead uh my question is about main
yes my question is about main entrance because i know you have two entrances to the facility
is the uh herald street or not herald street sorry is the kensington avenue entrance
going to be the main entrance for any guests that come for an event
it's the the huntington avenue side of the building the huntington avenue so the with the
stairwell right with it you can see there's a there's an ada ramp along that side okay excuse
me chairman i don't know what the gentleman just wanted oh i'm sorry could you please state your
name and spell it for the stenographer jacob roller get a little closer mr roller jacob roller
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed
continue did did you have more questions specifically no i was just because i see this
but your drawing currently is cut off so i was trying to understand like there are patrons coming
in you've got i see the deliveries are on the herald streets are like at the corner on the
street side yeah you can see we have sort of a a stair and a ramp there okay i see that to be all
highlighted the different the different areas and then what's the plan for your employees because i
understand that when you have guests you're going to have valet but what is your plan for and how
many people do you anticipate are going to be at the facility like on a typical day so on a typical
day um we on a typical day like full-time employees will be anywhere from like 10 to 12 employees
and then because this is event driven you know we'll have a plan we we have a plan throughout
Strother Enterprises would rehire and recruit initially it would be for the community and
that would be the goal again they would be per diem employees like catering staff yeah and it
is the idea that you're only going to be catering for events that are held at this facility are you
going to be using this facility as a basis to do catering for other events outside of the facility
um it could be for both it could be for on-site and off-site catering so that's the way we would
look at it okay it's the idea really is to have this operating five or probably more than five
days a week yeah so that's what i was wondering so like if we like if it's fully staffed you've
got 12 people i think my question is given that there's no parking on site what's the plan for
the parking for the people that are here every day for the um community or for your employees
for the employees well they would either have to find uh parking i can't say that fully thought
through that yeah but either they would find parking most of our employees currently um they
commute to work um the disc or septa there are different ways to do it but we i can't i can't say
that i'm going that far with it um but it is so very close to public transportation that's what
we would encourage okay and where are the dumpsters or or what is the trash um removal plan
so right there to the left of the building you'll see that gated area there will be
uh trash receptacles and areas storage area um on the harold street side of the building
there's a there's a trash storage room in the basement and then the trash comes up there and
then it goes out oh yeah yeah it's going to be yeah there is if you look on the basement plan
there's a whole trash storage uh room that's been um approved out for for that right questions or
comments from our attorney no questions at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning commission just afterwards just um adopt my testimony well sorry go ahead okay but
mitasha you you heard my testimony and was it true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own great
and then jacob
I also adopt your testimony, Brad, and I just wanted to point out, you know, since we are here for hardship, that, you know, this is a very unique building, very difficult to reuse, not easily adaptable into, you know, residential uses or other more conventional uses.
You know, this is a very special space, and, you know, to use it for events is something that has proven successful in past adaptive reuse situations here in Philadelphia.
And, you know, we would greatly appreciate the relief here.
And as you said, it's been empty now for decades.
35 years?
Plus, at least, yeah.
It was used as a bank from 1909 until sometime in the 80s or 90s, and it's been vacant ever since.
It has not shown to be possible to reuse it in other manners.
you know possible to reuse it in in other manners planning commission here i'm sorry
to interrupt this is ian haggarty we do appear to have two remote participants who have their hands
raised i'm going to promote elige crawley to panelists now all right
i could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Hello. Hello. Can I be here? Okay. I most certainly could you please state your name and spell for my name is Laji Crowley. First name is L. A. G. E. last name is Crowley C. R. A. W. L. E. Y.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth. Nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do. Are you a neighbor? Do you have an interest in this project? I am a neighbor and have interest in this project. Please proceed.
um so first off hello to everybody we've spoken at the neighbors meeting and got some information
on what was going on and as a homeowner and a property owner on harold street i'm excited for
the new life that this brings in and ideally it removes a lot of the drugs and prostitution in
the area i know that's bigger than just this location and more of a partnership with the city
but excited for that um i can't say i'm excited for this event space but as a resident i am
terrified of what the event space can do for the parking in the area um harold street is already a
one-way street supporting homes also we have maybe two or three new developing apartments in the area
uh i am aware that maybe permit parking may be permitted um that's not exactly something i'm
excited about uh i am aware that this location will be open as late as 12 p.m uh which i'm not
exactly excited about especially as a father of a three and a five year old that that can get
really dicey on a given day um so i am kind of apprehensive about my yes um again excited for
what is to come but i also still have a lot of worries that are unaddressed uh we have gone over
things like putting up the gate which has helped but has also shifted uh some of the people that
hang out there we have some pictures here in your slideshow that kind of demonstrates the activity
there. So I think that there is still more work to come before getting to this point that this is a
thriving wedding venue when you have drug activity and prostitution going on in the corner. So again,
the gates that have been put up have been helpful, but I feel like the property overall is going to
need a property manager, someone that can be consistently keeping up with this. And so that's
my number one concern also someone spoke on it earlier um and i think i'm forgetting my place
we spoke on parking and yeah i'll have to leave it at that because it's slipping me but just on
my concerns there as a resident on this location all right thank you much thank you for taking
time to call next hand please hi chair we have a hand up from britney sanchez they're being promoted
with the panel. Hi, can you hear me okay? Could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer? Yes, my name is Brittany Sanchez. B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y-S-A-N-C-H-E-Z. You swear
referring to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth i do um are you a neighbor yes i lived
on harold street directly across from this building please proceed um i went to the community meeting
on in april and spoke with these lovely people here i think that natasha's idea is something
that can really change the community and would be great however i do have concerns um jacob roller
and Brett Feldman were specifically spoken to that the community support came with demonstration
from that last month of showing how much they cared about our community and the fact that
their building has been abandoned for so long and there's no one there taking care of it which has
led to this drug activity, prostitution, dealers, feces and urine all outside. They have shown none
of that. The pictures that they uploaded here of the fence being put up is only on the front
part of that building but i could go outside right now and show you what it currently looks like
um so what was posted here isn't accurate to what's actually happening outside why i think
a wedding venue would obviously make some type of change because this is something that you would
have to maintain 24 7 in order to have people who want to actually have their wedding here
i don't think that they held up their end of the bargain of showing that they were committed to
improving the environment to show the potential of this space and to continue to have community
um the potential of this space and to and to continue to have community support behind them
support.
thank you um mr film do you want to respond absolutely um we i think you saw the pictures of
we've spent and take all you can answer this more we've spent thousands of dollars on that fencing
and the maintenance of that fencing over the last month month and a half um you know to to do
everything we can do to try to secure that that building. I mean, and we were repeatedly in touch
with East Kensington Neighbors Association about what we were doing each step of the way over the
last month and a half. So it's been our intention to to resolve any concerns. Anything further on
that? I was just going to add, you know, parking. I think people have mentioned that is a concern
is why we've been, we have sort of a, you know, early confirmation from Temple University Episcopal
campus that they have excess capacity at their facility, which is, you know, as you guys can see
on the map is right there a block away. And so we do intend to utilize valet service between, you know,
I think most people coming to events there, if they're driving, they would take, they would take
use of that valet uh were also of course you know directly adjacent to the huntingdon station on on
the l uh as far as the fences we we heard that feedback from the community we went out and and
as brett said spent thousands of dollars to purchase and install fencing on on either side
of the building and uh you know the the greater conditions of of kensington avenue is is a much
greater problem uh than than you know just that that but we hope to be part of the solution
also i own this building for decades yeah all right thank you um planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a changing
zoning at this location from the current cmx 2.5 commercial mix use to cmx3 the proposed used to
be allowed by special exception under the proposed zoning the appellant has demonstrated that the
proposed use will not cause detrimental impact beyond what would reasonably be expected the
planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variance for event assembly
facility thank you um lynn um first floor in basement only there's a small portion on the
second floor that they're not using right okay thank you mi2025-007-849-1801 east huntington
street i vote yes with proviso first and basement floor only michael johns my vote is yes with
proviso great adaptive reuse for this building cheryl guest then my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tywin, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you.