So, Mr. Nakamura, we have one more case, right?
Oh, you want me to do that?
Well, we have a list now.
okay okay right yep all right so mi2025-006-898 1822 chest on street mr knoxson just for the
record state your name uh mr goldberg will be handy oh okay all right
mr goldberg i haven't sworn you in yet could you please state your name
mr goldberg i haven't sworn you in yet could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g do you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client the relationship to the
property um my client is in the hallway um alan would you mind grabbing him uh well okay he's a
representative of h philly center city llc which is the 10th and there's a letter of non-opposition
with provisors from the center city residents and a letter non-opposition from council member young
and also you have given us 10 signatures from neighbors our vice chair has a few questions for
you good afternoon have you uh submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy
i do okay thank you you can share your screen proceed with the case i'm going to share my
screen and i'm going to grab my mouse just because it'll make it easier for me to
yeah are you doing the last case yes yeah okay so you're just doing this one yep
and to my left is hamza sheikh who's the representative of the tenant okay um okay
going full screen mode here so this is a special exception as the chairman noted for
a sit-down restaurant um and i defer to to hillary on this the reason why we chose to apply for a
sit-down restaurant i think we spoke about this upon application is that while this is what
typically would be a prepared food shop it's a coffee shop we exceed the explicit number of seats
that's allowed under that definition we don't have commercial cooking equipment so we're kind of
somewhere in between if you want you know however the board wants to sort of provide so this if it's
approved so why don't we just hear okay with that okay cool okay um so as i mentioned this is a this
is a coffee shop um specifically it's called the haraz coffee house um it's a it's a franchise a
small franchise that originated out of michigan um and and uh the gentleman to my left you know
can certainly tell you more in detail um but it is a yemeni coffee shop that specializes in coffee
and tea it's got a really you know large and relaxing interior um and uh of course because
the overlay we're required to get a special exception for this type of use um you know we
believe that we are meeting that legal standard we're also supported by the community group
but you know he's a he's a reputable operator that has other locations and this is a well thought
through plan that I do not believe will be any more detrimental than is what is to be expected
for a sit-down restaurant here is that letter of opposition but non-opposition excuse me from CCRA
they had the following provisos all trash stored internally until removed via Chestnut Street
agreeable and all deliveries made via 16th street which i think may have uh
may have been an error um but i'll go over our delivery schedule um it's it's reasonable under
the circumstances and what's expected for for these types of coffee shops out of early opening
hours here's a petition um they are primarily actually their only signatures from the building
the residential units above us and next to us at 1824 this was sent out electronically which is why
it looks a little bit different than what we typically show but we didn't face any opposition
that i'm aware of throughout the um community engagement process uh or or any anything for
that matter this is a slide that is sort of a description of harrah's coffee house
a little bit about this operation we're thinking that we will have about 15 employees and four per
shift we will have commercial trash pickup every day or every other day depending on the need
the renovation timeline shouldn't take too long 60 to 90 days once we have our proper permits
as far as the menu goes it's hot and cold coffee and tea traditional yemeni coffee drinks
and then like pastries and ready to go items the type of stuff that you would see you know
at a starbucks where like if it's being heated up it's in some sort of a toaster or
thing like that. We have no ventilation or commercial cooking equipment whatsoever.
As far as the delivery schedule goes, the only really sort of early delivery that we have
is croissants, which specifically come from one producer that are delivered between four and six
every morning so that they're fresh when the first customer walks in the door, which we open at 630.
And then all other pastries are delivered Tuesdays and Thursdays around 10 a.m., dry goods,
mondays and thursdays around 11 a.m and then sent us for the linens and
Mondays and Thursdays around 11 a.m. and then sent us for the linens and whatnot is Tuesdays during business hours during the weekdays. We close at 10 and the weekends. We close at 11, which is nice and something that we heard positive feedback for because there aren't a lot of spaces like this where that are open later than your average coffee shop.
you know if people are working or have late meetings or or something like that okay this
is reviews from the fishtown location there are three locations in the greater philadelphia area
this is the fishtown one that opened not too long ago well received the other locations
i believe there's one in the suburbs and there's another one in west philadelphia
flower town and and university city so this would be the fourth location in the general
in the greater philadelphia area here's a zoning map you know cmx5 ordinarily would allow this
type of use but for the overlay here's photographs this is the front of the property we are between
boyds and just we jolie some history about the use of this property a couple interesting things
it's a historic property built in 1858 it's called the elon dunbar house and it was nominated for its
italianate style and also elon dunbar was a wealthy dry goods merchant so i think it's always
a positive when a historic property in the city is being used you know to its fullest extent it
so i think sort of ensures that it's going to be well maintained and and i think that that aligns
with the city's goals for historic properties as far as how historic how it has historically been
used. There's a permit for a salon in 2009, a men's clothing store in 2012, and from 2017 to
2020. And from what I can tell, it appears to have been vacant since about 2022.
Here's the posting photos to the right of the property and to the left.
Here's the interior. So it's a vanilla box right now. Not much going on. You can see these stairs
here. I'll go back to these and you'll see this in the plans. There's sort of a split level
layout to the space that we're utilizing and i think is um positive because of the accessibility
element that it provides for the space you'll see that on the plans here's sort of inside on
those stairs looking out towards the windows so really tall ceilings nice um you know crown
molding in the corners looks historic there it is again plans and drawings okay i'll zoom in on the
bottom plan here sort of walk you through it so the proposed occupancy based on these plans is
48 people obviously that's an issue with the current definition of a prepared food shop
the floor area of the commercial space is 2700 square feet you walk in here there's a display
counter to the right there's seating on the left you can see there are two designated accessible
seats right here. And then an ADA toilet that's on this sort of lower level, let's call it.
And then going up those stairs that you saw in the photos that leads you back to the back of
the space that has some stools, additional toilets, there's a trash room, there's an office
for management, more seating, and then storage and prep area in the back. And then there's a
a door that leads out to the the alleyway um so you know it's a large space has a you know
the capacity for a lot of people to fit there comfortably um go back out of course we can come
back to these this is just the accessibility plan for the bathroom rco meeting notice we met with
CCRA on January 27th of course those meetings are always well attended um and they were in support
of this we didn't again hear any voices of opposition we mailed that notice to many
addresses 257 of them here's the mailing certificates
the application for special exception
and the lease the lease term is seven years from the rent commencement date with one five-year
option to renew and the rent commencement date is the earlier of the business opening
to the public or 300 days from october 6 2025 so we're not there yet
and then the last thing in here should be the certificate of tax clearance
get to that a lot of paper in here for the lease okay there's a certificate of tax clearance large
balance but not due yet until the end of the month with that i'd like to um have my clients
With that, I'd like to have my clients worn in.
sure what do you get close to the microphone and make sure it's
What do you get close to the microphone and make sure it's on?
Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Hamza Shaikh, H-A-M-Z-A.
Last name is Shaikh, S-H-A-I-K-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Hamza, did you hear my testimony today?
Was it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your own?
And can you just share for the board, you know, your experience with Haraz Coffeehouse, the other locations, what sort of success you've seen from those?
Sure. Yeah, we opened the first Haraz Coffeehouse at University City at 34th and Chestnut in the middle of University of Pennsylvania in Drexel.
It's been great. We've been constantly busy and we saw that there was a need for a late night coffee shop.
so then we branched out to fishtown did the same thing at fishtown and then we uh went over to
flower town which is a smaller suburb and even in flower time we're getting some great reviews
people are really enjoying the coffee and um we think that we can continue to grow in this region
okay happen to take your questions yeah questions from the board
questions from our attorney and hillary do you have any comments from what
yeah alex raised before the code with the food things is kind of weird like it half fits in
prepared food shop and half fits in sit down restaurant so um i think it's fine going with the
in a sense that's a broader category and you know obviously someone else could come in and put in
commercial cooking equipment later um but they you know they have to go through the health
department and do that so that would kind of be the only the only thing that so the only proviso
we have as interior trash and commercial trash pickup right yes so i mean i think i if ellen i
knew like saw plans or knew how many seats there were or something then and that's where they put
it okay i think that's fine okay all right questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have a hand up from wade albert sure i will go ahead and promote them right now okay
Good afternoon. Hi, Mr. Albert. You've already been sworn in. Just state your name and start
your conversation. Sure. My name is Wade Albert. So I'm counsel for the Center City Residents
Association, just confirming that we do not oppose this application subject to the provisos
in the letter. So I would just ask that if the ZBA is inclined to grant this application,
uh that uh at the very least that the proviso is relating to trash storage be included in
the license thank you all right thank you very much anyone else in the audience
planning commission no further hands mr chair thank you
ina solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing commercial mixed-use cmx5 zoning the proposed sit-down restaurant use is consistent
with nearby properties and will not cause detrimental impacts the neighborhood beyond what
might normally be expected the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board
grant the special exception for a sit-down restaurant mi2025-006-898-1822 chestnut street
i vote yes with proviso interior trash storage and commercial trash pickup
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my booty chest with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso and mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
taiwan my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you number 12. and by the way
it looks like a great project i can go for a cup of coffee
Of course, everybody wants a cup of coffee after he tested.
Okay. So, am I especially squishy?
Was my 20, 25, 0, 0, 7, 1, 8, 6, 36, 15, spring garden street.
How knock them since the attorney, Mr. not to me already been sworn to state your name, Alan.
Occamson and could you identify your client a relationship to the property? Yes.
keely and um there's a recommendation support from mantua civic and a letter of non-opposition
from palton village civic association you also have a petition of 17 signatures eight of which
are the immediate block and our vice chair has a few questions thank you good afternoon have you
submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing we have and do you waive
the read another refusal and stipulate to as accurate i do okay thank you you can share your
screen proceed with the case i think the next time we do a food establishment we'll have to bring
i think the next time we do a food establishment we'll have to bring bring physical exhibits
bring physical exhibits
we uh we had uh we just had ethics in so we
ethics gave us a lecture a little while ago you have to see the quality of the product
and experience um all right so this is a visitor accommodation request uh by the owner of 3615
spring garden uh street uh she lives there so um uh the reason why we're here today is that it's a
multi-unit uh building and so when she originally applied for zoning she you know she's applied and
obtained a limited lodging license but it's you know multi-unit um and it has been a rooming house
in the past so you'll see from the exhibits well first of all we have a support for mantua but
the other RCO asks us for two provisos, which are non-enforceable, but we'll comply with them.
First is to plant a tree in front of our house. And the second is to replace that front door to
something that's a little better than what's there. I believe they wanted something a little
bit more historic looking, and we have no objection to that. But those were their two
conditions. We have 13 exhibits here. Again, my client lives at this property. I think it's a
bit of a quirk in the zoning codes you know when you have these like multi-unit or rooming structures
but we're seeking visitor accommodations for a temporary variance of three years
we met with the community overwhelming support for this project my client lives there she also
hired someone to help manage her property who specializes in airbnb use we again my client
also got a petition of nearby neighbors as you can see property history again this was a rooming
house at one point uh some time ago of eight so there's seven bedrooms you know and then her unit
which has is the only one the kitchen that would be the eighth room so um not out of character to
have airbnbs nearby as you can see a few on haverford avenue and then maps of the area we
are an RM1 property. We're a significant size lot of almost 1,800 square feet. So we're not
taking an RSA5 property and making it an Airbnb of this sort. This is an RM1 property which will
allow four units, three bedrooms in each unit, which will allow 12 bedrooms. We're not looking
to do that. Photographs of the property, proof of posting for today's hearing, the back of our
property uh spring garden street to the right of the property to the left of the property you can
see there's a big apartment building across the street from us interior photos again very well
maintained like those those nice oak hardwood floors uh that you see in the more traditional
row homes in philadelphia she keeps it very clean and then very straightforward well
So here is bedroom. You walk in, here's bedroom number one. Then there's a door here. This is
basically her suite where you have a bedroom, a bathroom, another bathroom, a kitchen,
and her back porch. She's the only one with the kitchen. And then every single floor has like
three bedrooms on there, three separate bedrooms and different bathrooms and stuff,
such like that that's how we get to eight bedrooms which was the previous uses of rooming
house so how many are how many are you looking to rent out her just hers no this the other seven
so she stays she stays yeah she stays there um herself she's you know she's in finance and she's
like well let me leverage you know the fact that there's seven other bedrooms here and i'll rent