Rittenhouse Square. It's not Rittenhouse Square Street. It's Rittenhouse Square.
And then there's Rittenhouse Square. The property, as you can see, it's a corner and a through
property. So I'll show you in a second on the aerial. The property fronts on Rittenhouse Square,
the street uh to the right uh the front of it along the west side is a mozart place
and then to the rear with the north of it is um is schubert alley uh properties across
schubert alley to the north of us are on the south side of the 1700 block of locust street
um we have sandborn maps that show i mean you can imagine looking at the picture it's an old
building so i'm not telling you anything you that you couldn't learn or garner from the photo
but samporns going back to 1916 show that the building or the buildings the structures were in
slightly different configuration uh back in 1916 and then sometime between 1916 and 1946
they uh rendered they were rendered in their current um form the building was rendered its
current form three stories at the front two stories at the back and then you'll see from
the photographs, there's some open area to the north and the northeast corner, which is presently
paved, which then again backs up to what's now called Schubert Alley, used to be called Latimer
Street, and Mozart Place to the west used to be South Bouvier, which it is further to the south
of our property, but has been renamed as Mozart Place. The property, my clients purchased the
property in June of 2021. And after they purchased it, it had been used previously since 1954 as a
single family dwelling with some type of home business. Most of the time it was a doctor's
office. After my clients acquired it, the property zoned RM1, we pulled a zoning permit
and utilized it as a zoning permit for a three-family dwelling.
One unit on each of the floors, first, second, and third.
The property also has the cellar.
Because the property is zoned RM1, which you can see here in the zoning map,
the lot size is 1,650 square feet.
It's 25 feet wide by 66 feet deep.
By right, it could have four dwelling units,
given the lot size requirements in the zoning code.
with the mixed income housing bonus it could have five if
one of the units was moderate income in six units if it was one of the units
moderate income in six units if it was one of the units met the low income requirements under the
mixed income housing bonus. Overall, the interior square footage is just under 3,000 square feet,
not including the cellar. With the cellar, it's about 2,800 square feet. The property is located
in the Rittenhouse-Fittler Square Historic District, but it is not individually designated.
Here you can see aerial maps, and let me zoom in just a little bit.
Of our property, as I mentioned, as you can guess, 1,700 block of Rittenhouse Square.
We're just off the square, which starts at 18th Street.
To the across Mozart Place, to the west of us, you have the Barkley, which is, I think it's 80-some units, 85 units.
You have our property.
And then next to our property to the east, which I'm going to use the photo here, which is extending here past the building with the red door and then the next building next to it, that's 1711 to 17 Rittenhouse Square.
That is the Franklin on Rittenhouse Hotel. And it is owned by a different LLC, 1711 to 17 Rittenhouse
Square, Rittenhouse LLC, which has the same three members as the LLC that owns 1719. 1719 became
my clients owned and operated the Franklin on Rittenhouse Hotel. 1719 became available. They
purchased it. The application, even though, as I showed you with the corrected notice of refusal
from July 23rd, it says visitor accommodations. Visitor accommodations includes hotels,
motels, that type of use. The idea is it's not going to be, there's not going to be a breach
between 1711 to 17, but it will operate as a part of the Rittenhouse, the Franklin on Rittenhouse
hotel. The idea, and I'll show you the floor plans, is to have anywhere from three suites,
one for each floor, that could then, with lockout rooms, turn into up to seven rooms. There are a
number of the units, well, each of the suites has a kitchen or kitchenette, and then, depending on
the breakup, using lockout doors between different parts of each of the suites, some of the units
would have a kitchen or kitchenette. Some would not. And the idea is for longer extended stays.
And I'll have my client adopt my statements. All check-ins will happen at the hotel 1711-17
through the red door. I'll show you photographs again. It's going to be managed by the,
operated by the same entity, managed by the same entity. The cleaning staff will be the same.
Again, check-ins, check-outs will all be at a 1711 to 17, which, if we get to the provisos in CCRA's letter of non-opposition, one or two of them create a little bit of an issue for us to agree with, and we can address that in a minute.
Exterior photographs, again, this property, 1719 Rittenhouse Square, you can see here.
Now, you can see, this is the view to the east.
I already mentioned across Mozart Place, we have the Barkley down at the end of the block.
We have down at 237 to 47 South 18th, which you see here to the left, the TAN building.
That's 85 units.
To the right is 1706 Rittenhouse Square, 31-story building with 40 units.
There are a couple single families then before you get to a parking lot that's located across the street.
We do have letters of support from the owner of the parking lot, and then the two properties, the single families abutting it. The parking lot is, if you give me one minute, is 1716 to 28 Rittenhouse Square, and then going back up, the next two properties, 1712 and 1740, we have letters of support because it's owned by the same owner.
Down at the opposite, at the west end of the block, on the other side of the, to the west of the parking lot, you have the Art Alliance, which I think most people are familiar with.
And then again, you have the Barclay at the bottom photograph across Mozart Place.
This is the rear of our property.
You can see this is at the intersection of Mozart Place and Schubert.
You can see the rear of our property where I said the open area is paved.
You can see then down to the right is the rear of the hotel, the Franklin-on-Rittenhouse.
And then you can see here, this photograph, these are the backs of the properties that front on the south side of Locust Street.
the south side of locustry the bottom picture is the back of a curtis institute one of the
The bottom picture is the back of a courtesy.
curtis institute buildings and again we have and then they're also on the on the west side
of mozart place so you can see over here to the left of the bottom photograph and we do have a
letter of support again that i've said i forwarded just today we just received it from them so
So even though, going back to the zoning map, even though, so we have CMX3 to the north of us, which permits visitor accommodations.
You have RMX3, the Barkley, right across Mozart Place, and then the square.
You have a parking lot right across the street from us, and then the Art Alliance further to the west.
Our hotel is 1711, 1315, 174 properties to the west of us, abutting us to the, I mean, to the east of us.
You have 1709 Rittenhouse Square, which my clients also own, then a multifamily, an eight-unit, then a two-unit, then something that's zoned as an office.
And then again, at the end of the block, although it's RM4, you have the 85 unit building down across the street. Although RM1, you've got the 40 unit, 1706, a couple single families, two of which are included in the letter of support from the owner of the property that owns the parking lot.
So even though it's zoned RM1, you're right off of Locust Street, you're right off of Walnut Street, you're right off of Rittenhouse Square. It's not the typical RM1 block, and it's clearly the uses there are a wide mix, most of them skewing towards more intense uses or zoning classes, uses that are permitted in zoning classifications like CMX3 or CMX4, where the use visitor accommodations and the business and professional office, which would be the office for the business,
will be located here or more in keeping with CMX3 and permitted in CMX3 and in keeping with
the nature of the block. Just I have a little bit about the Franklin, the hotel that my clients
also own. You can see here the Philadelphia Weekly, one of the best hotels in Philadelphia.
They've done a tremendous job. I had for a time represented the prior owners when it was more of a
bed and breakfast, smaller hotel, but they've really gone a long way. Mainline Today, great
reviews, and then pictures from their website of the rooms. I mean, really nice, beautiful rooms
at the hotel, which will be keeping that same type of unique theme in 1719.
um let's see i have uh floor plans uh and any content here's a contextual plan again that
shows our property the structure the hotel to the east uh schubert alley to the north
mozart place to the west the barclay across the street and uh here are these are the existing
floor plans for the three-family dwelling with one of the units had a home professional office
included or permitted with it, just like the prior single family use had the home business or home
office. And then here are the proposed floor plans. So the seller will be the office. And then what
we basically did is showed how, so each of these, this is a first floor, second floor, and third
floor. We have them colored out how they can function as individual units or as one large
suite. But if you count the number of beds, it's seven beds. So it can be broken down into seven
rooms, some of which, again, would have use of a kitchen or kitchenette, some of which would not,
or could be up to three, as low as three suites. There is a deck off the rear of the third floor.
There were questions about that during the community meeting with CCRA, and one of the provisos in their letter of non-opposition, which we have no issue with, is that that deck isn't to be utilized as part of the visitor accommodation use, and we have no issue with that.
those doors, the door to the deck is locked with a key. There's no key in the property. So
there's no way for anybody to get out on, excuse me, to get out onto the deck. We have no issue
with that proviso. It's the other two provisos that we have issue with. Again, I went through
the notice of refusal. The business professional office and the visitor accommodation use are
very much in keeping with other uses on the block. Visitor accommodations obviously is identical to
the use of the abutting property to the east that we own which was granted by variance but
is operated for decades now um and then and the other uses surrounding it copy of our appeal to
the zoning board and the project information form that we submitted are included at tab six
are included at tab six as i mentioned we did have a community group meeting with ccra they
as i mentioned we did have a community group meeting
were designated by the planning commission by email back on june 18th as a coordinating rco
we here's a list of addresses to which we sent the 14 303 notice the meeting was on july 23rd
a certificate of mailing um there were what was it 554 mailing pieces uh that went out as uh for
notification for the meeting. We did have the, the meeting was held virtually. As part of CCRA's
process, they ask you to try to get letters, position letters from the abutting property
owners. Here's the template of the letter that we sent out to the adjacent property owners behind
us, to the side of us, across from us, and included the application, which I mentioned did
include both visitor accommodations and the business professional office, which was left
off the initial notice of refusal. We have, as I mentioned, the letter of support from the parking
lot and then the two properties directly to the east. Their support letter, obviously my client
or the same members of the different LLC that owns 1711 to 17, which is the abutting property
to the east support this application. And then again, the letter that just came in from a support
from the Curtis Institute that owns the property directly behind us or to the north of us across
Shubert Place or Shubert Alley. Here's their letter of support. Some miscellaneous items,
the deed showing my clients who I mentioned I was representing and own the property,
1719 Brittenhouse LLC. There's their deed. Our tax clearance, which is good through August. It
was issued August 7th and good through September 7th. A copy of our hearing notice for today's
hearing, and the posting of the photographs on each of the frontages, Rittenhouse Square,
and then around each side of the building. You can see Mozart Place, and I don't think I need
to get into all those. So again, we feel that the criteria set forth in the zoning code for
the granting of the variance, the variances requested here, are satisfied. They're,
their, you know, to utilize it as RM1 at this location. It is an option, but the reality is
that given the nature of this block and given the hotel use next door, given the music school,
the institute behind, the idea of using it for just a typical multifamily dwelling
may prove difficult, both in terms of renting it out and also in terms of its compatibility
with the adjacent or abutting uses.
And as such, we feel that this use is obviously identical to the use to the abutting us to
the east and is in keeping with the other uses.
And again, the zoning classification that those uses would be permitted in as a matter
of right.
I have the representative from Harman-Deutch-Noller here who can adopt my statements regarding
the architectural plans, floor plans and whatnot.
And then I have a representative from 1719, Rittenhouse LLC, also on the line to adopt my statements. That representative can also speak to the fact regarding, real quickly, CCRA's letter of non-opposition. There were three provisos. I mentioned number two, the no use of the deck. We have no issue with that.
But we also, number three, we technically didn't have an issue with that, but we were trying to work out the language regarding what owning and operating meant.
You know, could the three, even though here it's a different LLC, it's the same three members of the LLC.
It is going to be operated by the same entity.
We were working on some more details of that language.
But the main one, and it's not a killer per se, but the first one was the issue.
During the meeting, one of the members of C-Series Zoning Committee brought up visitor accommodations and Airbnbs.
As we know, with the change and the crackdown on Airbnbs, they are now being permitted as visitor accommodations.
So before where people thought of visitor accommodations as hotels and motels, which is what you normally think of, now the first thing that comes to people's minds are Airbnbs and then the concerns that community members or people have about Airbnbs.
This is not going to be an Airbnb. This is part of the hotel operated by the hotel. And the issue with the kind of temporary approval that the board has been issuing with the Airbnbs, again, most of them that I represented or presented or that I've seen or heard presented to the board are these Airbnbs that are located in residential neighborhoods, not in this commercial center, the heart of Philadelphia, next to a hotel.
commercial center, the heart of Philadelphia, next to a hotel across from, you know, 85 unit
building with other large multifamilies on the block. There's an issue, not only does it,
it doesn't fit, it's not, it's not really appropriate for our proposed use. We understand
that visitor accommodation does include Airbnbs, but the reality is this is never going to be used
as an Airbnb. My clients would never sell it as long as they own the hotel or anybody owns a hotel,
They're never going to want any type of issues with an Airbnb at that property.
They sold it to a different owner.
And the other problem is, is that from a financing standpoint, my clients are putting about a million dollars into this property to convert it into the type of rooms and the type of accommodations that are fitting of a hotel of their class and stature and their quality.
and they're just not going to be able to get the financing to do that or for that if there's a
chance in three years it would lose its approval. And I had that discussions with the attorney for
CCRA. I don't know if he, that's Wade Albert, is on the call now, but we were trying to work out
those details as far as having that, at least that proviso, if not all the provisos removed,
and obviously he can speak to the status of that if he's on the call. But again, we would ask that
if the variance is granted, we have no issue with the roof deck, the prohibition on the use of the
roof deck, so long as it's used as visitor accommodations. Obviously, if it were to be
ever turned into a regular apartment building or a single-family dwelling, I think the concerns
regarding that would go away. So, even that proviso would need to be tweaked in terms of
language. But the first and the third, we would love to agree with CCRA, and we always agree with
them whenever we can but in this case we just can't from a financial and uh from a business
standpoint and with that i'd like to have if um if you would like me to to have those um two
representatives adopt my statements why don't you have the architect first sure uh steve black
he could be promoted to panelist
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes hello my name is steven black it is s-t-e-v-e-n-b-l-a-c-k you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please please proceed counsel hey steve how
you doing today i'm good david great and um are you with harman deutsch-older architecture
i am and and harman deutsch-older has prepared the plans that we presented today
is that correct that's correct and harman deutsch roller also is submitted um the provided the plans
prepared the plans and other materials to apply for building permits the prior zoning permit for
this property for the three-family use is that correct that's correct yes and um did you hear
the statements that i made to the board today i did yes and are they true and correct to the
best of your knowledge yes they are and would you adopt them as your own yes okay thanks steve
And then the representative for 1719 Rittenhouse LLC is Sanjeev Verma, S-A-N-J-E-E-V, his last name Verma, V-E-R-M-A.
And if he could be promoted to panelists.
Jason, do we shame?
Looking for him right now.
He said he's been on since he started.
His phone number, I don't know.
I mean, it should be under his name.
His phone number might be, the number might be under 732-850-1569.
If it's not under his name.
Can we see him?
Okay, I see him.
I see him.
I'll promote him.
Let him speak now.