parking. The parking structure component alone is almost $2 million extra of expenses.
If we did the 75 unit absorbing the cost of that parking structure within the building,
it will come out to being basically $154,000 per unit. So we're spending $10,000 more per apartment
to build the infrastructure, right? If we do the 75 units, because we were able to blend away some
of the expenses, as opposed to if we did the 50 unit. If we did the 50 unit, it would be cheaper
for me i can do the 50 unit all day long it's much cheaper all right thank you i have a question
about the entrance into the building so now that you've added the parking what is the like lobby
and egress into the main building going to be like for the tenants so rachel if you can pull up the uh
sorry and there's two there's two components to it right there's the parking garage um entrance
yeah i guess because you guys had a lot of renderings and i don't remember seeing that
on the floor plans um i can pull up this site plan too which i have a little bit further up
which might be yeah go to the ground floor plan you passed it i think yes
okay perfect the lobby is is rather small if there's two elevators there and there's
a fairly large mail room because buildings like this need need a lot of space for mail
so we have a large uh counter space for mail on the right side we have some space for one
of the exits to exit through the lobby. We had to push back the glass wall that leads into the
parking garage because I didn't want anybody walking directly into the traffic area. So
if we can, during construction drawings, you know, nip and tuck and make that lobby a little bigger.
But the positive thing is you have all these lobbies in the sky on top of it. So the lobby
at the ground floor is not going to be a place where people hang out and get to know their
neighbors it's going to happen upstairs on a floor by floor basis on a more intimate basis
and there's a large window at each lobby can be furnished as judah had mentioned especially for
elderly people who love to sit around on a chair and talk to their neighbors and uh talk about
what's happening in the world uh i think that's a better uh approach than having having a large
lobby that really doesn't have a function totally get the functional spaces for the tenants i was
just really i'm just trying to understand how people are getting in and out of the building
the functional parts that um and then trash is being stored in each individual unit no let me
go through this ray i want to go i want to leave this part go to the park perfect rachel stay on
that screen please okay so we have a drive-through garage which means folks are entering on the left
we have accommodated parking which is going to be for uh handicap accessible closest of course
to the lobby uh and then they're going to exit on the right so it's a full drive-through so there's
no there's a one-way traffic zone in that garage portion you're going to come through the lobby
which you see on the bottom part of the screen there's going to be an emergency stairwell a
fire escape there and then to the left are two elevators that can go on each up to each floor
if you were to continue through the garage you're going to see a trash room
that trash room will have the trash compactor and we'd be connected to a trash chute which will
also be on each floor and what we do currently in our buildings each trash room has a trash chute
and it also has recycling bins and we also have a place for people to leave boxes for large
deliveries that they've received and every day the cleaning crew will go through every trash room
taking out the large boxes taking out the recycling or anything that was too large to go through the
trash chute so this allows that folks aren't keeping trash in their apartments long periods
they're also not dragging trash through the hallways down the elevators out into the garage
to throw it into a dumpster it's an efficient system that we maintain really really well
okay and the two elevators there's no freight elevator it's just the two elevators
off the lobby there are two elevators but they're going they're going to be large enough to be able
to accommodate move in and move out so it's going to be almost like a freight level okay
Okay. And then the only other thing I would say is a comment, like to have 75 units, I think understanding the community wanted to accommodate seniors. It did seem like this was an ample opportunity to offer up some affordability.
and then the only other thing i would say is a common like to have 75
So our rents are already pretty low. We don't build super luxury. We try to create what we call middle market apartments. Our rents are at a really reasonable price.
But with that, we also have them maintain a really high occupancy in our building where we know that folks are happy to stay and live there for a long period of time.
The challenge with today and with this building in particular is we're not using any tax dollars.
We're not using any money that's coming in from, you know, any public works.
And we do that because we really believe in what we're doing.
And we also do that because we think that the way that we're designing our apartments really makes sense for the average working person in Philadelphia.
understood um okay i have just one question which is what's the breakdown of the um units i mean
how many is it one bedroom two bedrooms they're mostly one bedrooms as you can see the corner
units are going to be two bedrooms um the advantage to one bedrooms is that they can work really well
for either young folks who are working and or a couple they can't afford a lot of rent and it also
co-work well with seniors who want to downsize from a larger building or a larger property
and just want to have, you know, a clean, quiet space of their own. There'll be a few two bedrooms
on each floor, but for the most part, this is a one-bedroom building. And that'll help minimize
also the impact on the local school district. This helps minimize the impact on traffic as well,
because you won't have, you know, large families living that might have three or four cars
in these in these apartments. So I didn't get a number. So how many
two-bedroom units? There's 15 two-bedroom units and 61 bedrooms.
Okay. Thank you. Sorry about that.
Yes. So in reviewing the refusal and the plans for this, I noticed that
there and you talked about it quite a bit um that there's a roof deck and roof deck access
structures um while those are included on the plans those are not included on the refusal
um so i discussed this with ellen i and they did advise me that there really needs to be a corrected
refusal issued here um because that the roof the roof deck and the roof deck access structure
structures need to be noted in the scope of work um and based on a quick review of the plans they
may also generate another refusal.
So I would just ask that the board
hold this matter if they weren't already
because we will need to request
a corrected refusal.
That's fine.
Thank you, Hillary, for looking into that.
I think just, Chairman,
if Sloan folks from the council office could...
If you give me a chance,
I want to call for questions
or comments in the virtual audience.
sloan's not there he's raising his hand uh chairman chairman folks how are you sir
good afternoon chairman and uh zba board my name is sloan e f as in fire o lks i am uh
Representing the Office of Councilmember Kathy Lozada, room 40 for the City Hall.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, sir.
Please proceed.
I'm going to speak directly on the community process.
There are two separate and different letters from the RCUs.
The council member, the council member, I'm sorry, the council member reached out directly today to both leadership, both RCO leaders to discuss the project.
The Seventh Ward RCO has representation that's more directly affected by the project.
They have a vast number of seniors and residents that live around the project, and during the
community meeting process, they showed a great deal of interest in actually finding homes
at the project. The council member is going to support the project based on those meetings with
both RCUs and the input that she received from the residents of the community.
um of the community
okay thank you anyone else in a virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission good evening chair and members of the board
liz fuselay liz last name fuselay capital f u s e l i e r on behalf of the philadelphia city
planning commission this proposal previously completed its civic design review the civic
design review committee's advisory recommendations are not an expression of the city planning
commission's recommendation or opinion regarding zoning variances special exceptions or other
discretionary approvals associated with this proposal the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the i2 medium industrial zoning at this location this property received a variance from
this board last year for 50 dwelling units on this industrial industrially zoned location
the current proposal would increase the number of proposed dwelling units from 50 to 75.
the appellant has demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions and circumstances
circumstances of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code. Therefore, the Planning Commission recommends the board grant the requested
variance for multifamily use, maximum building height, and off-street loading requirements.
Thank you. Counsel, as our esteemed counsel has said, we're going to come back with this.
Hillary, what do you want to do with this? We'll give it a date or once we have it.
um just i would give it uh just two we'll vote in two weeks two weeks we'll vote on wednesday
at 2 p.m thank you very much okay thank you thank you i'm going to take a five minute break
but let's come up and get ready we'll be right back i i've been watching you guys sit there
2025 mi 2025 002 371 260 in west rittenhouse street
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
Mr. Goldberg, could you just state your name, please?
Alex Goldberg.
You've been sworn, if I remember right.
I have been, yeah, Alex Goldberg.
Right, and could you identify your client in the relationship to the property?
My client is Danielle Bush.
She's sitting to my left.
She owns the property.
Okay, and Danny Graham has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of the hearing?
I have.
And do you stipulate to the refusal?
I mean, do you, I'm sorry.
I'm just chewing.
Do you waive the reading number of refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
I waive the reading.
I believe there's an error.
There's something omitted.
I discussed this with Attorney Emerson.
I'll let her sort of fill in the details on that.
Yeah, so.
Don't you love when she finds things that are missing?
I just.
So in looking at – so the applicant in this case had applied for an amended refusal to have commercial space with uses in the CMX2 zoning district, and unfortunately the way the refusal was worded, it's still listed as vacant commercial space, but it's a vacant CMX2 commercial space, and it didn't give a refusal for those CMX2 uses, which it should have.
um it's clear from the rco's letter that they understood that that's what the applicant was
asking because they asked for restrictions on those uses um so i had suggested to mr goldberg
that um this is something that could be addressed via proviso um so if the board is inclined to
grant we can just hold this for a week and i can put together some proviso language just to be clear
um what's what's being granted yep so thank you sure sounds like a plan
okay um can i be um promoted as a panelist
you haven't you will be very soon
thank you
all right um so 216 west rittenhouse street is the address this is an rsa5
property really in name only. I think that the zoning should probably be changed for this
property. It's got a long history of a residential unit on the second floor, a commercial space at
the front, and this is a long property. Marion Street is the cross street. You can sort of see
it on the left side of the image here. There's an office space there that my client and her husband
have used for their own uses and a garage that my client and her husband have used for their own
uses, they want to go through this process to basically formalize the zoning so that
formalize the zoning so that they can rent those spaces out if they wish here is the notice of
they can rent those spaces out if they wish.
refusal we have multiple principal uses on the parcel we have that vacant commercial space we
have a business and professional office we have a wholesale distribution and storage use really it's
a garage my client's husband is a contractor he keeps his construction equipment there but i think
they would be be interested in allowing you know a tenant to be able to do the same there
and then a single family there's an apartment above there's been a history of permitted you
know commercial uses here but because it's an rsa5 property anytime the commercial use changes
you have to go through this props process in 2017 there was a bmw service center 2018 was natural
Root Salon and Extension Bar. 2019 was a facial, skincare, and lash extension place. None of them
lasted very long. They'd prefer to have some flexibility to finding a high-quality tenant
that will be there for a long time. That's the reason why we're asking for that CMX2 commercial
space. As you'll see on the zoning map, that commercial use is contextual. We're adjacent
to CMX2.5. We're across from CMX2. That's how we landed at the CMX2 use. Here's correspondence
from the coordinating RCO. They were in support. It was a well-attended meeting. They had two
provisos. The first one was that they asked for us to not have any commercial uses that are
prohibited in the overlay that falls on this property. So we have no issue with that. The
overlay would not allow it. And then no sale of smoking products. My client is not interested in
having that type of business here. So we have no issue agreeing to that as well.
here's a zoning map so again corner of rittenhouse street and marion street there's very large
apartment buildings directly across from us that one's under construction and then to the right of
us that one's complete you know this corner intersection here there's kind of a lot going on
and very clearly um you know this has a long history of commercial use at this site this is
the front of the property. It's been vacant for some time. Here it is in 2011, that same
commercial storefront. As I mentioned previously, there's been a mix of commercial uses in and out
of there. My clients also own 218 West Rittenhouse Street. Here is the Marion Street perspective.
So you have these two garages here. That's where that wholesale storage use is going to be as
proposed. And then there's a door right here sort of where my mouse is and that's where the office
space is. And I have interior photos of all this to show you. Here's the posting photos from both
street frontages. Here's that large apartment building to the right of the property. Here's
the one directly across. This is to the left of the property. Here's Marion Street to the right
and Marion Street to the left. We're not proposing to do any construction at all to this property
aside from the future tenant build-out that'll be in the commercial space this is the apartment
rather nice they don't have any tenants in here at the moment this is a listing photo
they have had tenants here in the past and that apartment is about 800 square feet one bed one
bath here's the commercial space vanilla box it's about 750 square feet and it does have a bathroom
here's the office space uh it's about 800 square feet and it has a little loft as well that you
see that staircase running up to a little kitchenette
and here's the garage also has a loft you'll see on the plans there's two garages they're