Shopping center is about 120,000 square feet, anchored by a ShopRite and a number of restaurants and other kind of neighborhood commercial retail.
With me today to my left is Kerry Harris, who is the property manager for Levin Management, who is the on-site, making sure that that shopping center runs efficiently and clean and safely, as well as Ashton Quinn, who is the project manager for Advanced Auto.
I think Mr. Quinn has been in front of the board several times on other Philadelphia area Advanced Auto.
So I think we've got a really good team here for this location.
We've passed up Exhibits 1 through 10, which I'd ask be incorporated into the record.
And as the Chair said, we have a nice letter of support from the District Councilperson,
and I think Alice Udovich from the Councilperson's Office is behind me.
She was at the community meeting, and we're really appreciative to have her here today.
We also have a unanimous letter of support from the community group.
I would draw attention to the fact that the group was excited about this tenant, thought this was a really good replacement for the Rite Aid, and probably just as important, has a lot of faith in the shopping center and their safety, their security, their track record, and did not see a need for this advanced auto location to have any, if the board approves it,
to have any temporary approval to kind of show their merits here because of the work that the
shopping center has done to make sure it's well run. Here's the shopping center itself,
surrounded by Knights, Morrell, and Frankfurt Avenue. Again, 120,000 square foot.
Parking field in the back, the creek, the creek in the front, creek in the rear.
um here's another view of the shopping center here is the the vacant uh right aid box um it's
been like all the right aids throughout the country disclosed i don't know i think it's
about a year and a half two years ago now the shopping center has been trying to find an
appropriate community centered retail and is pleased with advanced we're taking 8 400 square
feet of that building. It will leave a smaller tenant space that is still yet to be termined.
Again, here is the close-up. I would note that the ShopRite is next door to us.
That is the leading tenant here, and the shopping center was very concerned about making sure that
this tenant did not in any way impact ShopRite and that experience. That is the crucial tenant
there. And as we learned from the community, this is a major shopping center and a supermarket in
the neighborhood. Here's some pictures of the surrounding area. Here's the inside of the Rite
Aid. That's empty and vacant. It is zone CA1. This use requires a special exception, as we talked
about. And here is our zoning referral for the use. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to
to ashton to talk a little bit about advance i know you've heard about advance but uh a little
Heard about advanced, but a little bit we've heard.
bit we've heard yeah no i'm sure could you please state and
Yeah, no, I agree.
Sarah, could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer?
If you would pull it closer to you.
Ashton Quinton, A-S-H-T-O-N, Quinton, Q-U-I-N-T-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
And Ashton, can you tell the board your title with advanced?
Construction project manager.
And in that capacity, what is your responsibility?
these? I handle the construction and development of all new retail stores. Including obviously this
location? Yes. Okay and briefly what drew advanced to this location? The proximity to the anchor of
ShopRite as well as the the traffic and the need for auto parts in in the area. Great great and
can you just I have a floor plan but just briefly talk about the products and services that are
provided in an advanced auto parts location? Standard aftermarket auto parts. We provide
complimentary services, windshield, wiper replacement, battery replacement, and diagnostic
testing. And just, yeah, standard parts from car wash fluids to brake pads, calipers, oil batteries.
Okay. And as far as oil, there's no oil changes that are provided there correctly?
That's correct.
We only do disposal of oil from previous customers.
And that was actually something that the community was happy to hear, that there was a place for oil to be disposed of in a proper, safe, legal manner at this location?
That's correct.
Great.
Employment, what would you see as far as the number of jobs that might be created here for this location?
Between 12 to 15 potential positions for this location.
And I know the idea is to try to hire in the neighborhood?
Correct.
And we talked with the community about trying to promote employment opportunities if this is approved within the community group that hurt our case?
Yes, with coordination with the landlord or the property owner, we would post signage to just let the community know that we are hiring.
And I know this issue has come up in front of the board.
Every location is different.
Every shopping center is different.
But there always is this, there is a general concern that customers will purchase a part, go into the parking lot, repair the car in the parking lot, and then there's trash or debris like that.
Can you talk about, like we talked about with the community group, on the tenant side, you would discourage that?
And then I'm going to have Kerry talk about, on the landlord side, how we've talked to the community and the council person about how that would not happen here.
Yeah, that is correct.
In discussion with the operations team, we're in agreement to posting signage within the space and outside of the space, if allowed.
and just letting, you know, any potential customers know that, you know, no repair work is done
outside of the, on the premises of the property, outside of our team members doing the standard
complimentary services. Great. And the idea would also be to communicate with the shopping center
owner to make sure that this is enforced. Yes. Okay. You heard, you heard the rest of my,
my testimony, correct? Yes. And was it true and accurate? Yes. Do you adopt it as your own? Yes.
I would ask, does the board have any questions?
Questions from the board.
So we've seen you so many times recently.
I guess my question is, this is the first time I heard about the complimentary services.
So if you can go back to the site plan and where you see the depiction of the store,
could you tell me which spaces are going to be utilized for that complimentary service?
like from your employees so in on a reality standpoint um the complementary services would
be outside of any ada spaces wherever our customer parks that is close to the front of our store so
if you get if you show a better picture there's a there's a fire lane i guess and then there's a
couple of parking spaces and then there's a side you have a side portion of your building as well
so um where would the people who wanted maybe get their battery checked where would they park
like and will you indicate that this is for that particular use so yes we will have some
uh it's kind of a temporary signage it's not permanent signage so anybody that's a customer
in that shopping plaza can would be able to park there but it would be a dedicated couple of spaces
um as shown on the plan indicated in i think that's yeah i think actually we actually the red
there'll be spaces that are specifically identified for these types of services yeah
that are as continuous as possible to the store but not blocking ingress egress or the fire lane
in front of you know the stores itself so i we actually put the red on there just to try to
We actually put the red on there just to try to indicate to the board and to the community group where those spaces would be, and there's sufficient parking there.
indicate to the board and to the community group where those spaces
And from the testimony, like I said, we've heard a couple statements before about some of the locations and, what was it, shade tree mechanics?
That was a new thing.
That's a term I've learned as well, yes.
I just learned that a couple of times since you've been here.
So what's different in this location than the other locations that you won't have that?
No trees.
No trees.
So for, so for this one, we have a direct landlord involvement and the landlord is very proactive in regards of securing the site and Kerry can speak on to that.
And we, we, I'm going to, I'll ask Ms. Harris to speak in a second, or maybe we can do that right now.
But, but it was, this was, Hey, this was a topic of conversation in the community.
um and um alice is here yeah she was at the meeting she specifically asked this question
and if you look in the letter of support it specifically says this we discussed this issue
that the community was comfortable enough with um this owner uh this property manager the work that
kerry's been been doing that it did not feel that there was a need to have uh you know temper or
anything like this it was you know clients always tell me oh everything's great and then you get to
the community group and then you find out it is or it isn't we found out that they're really happy
with the way the center is operating um and that's why they specifically put in the letters could you
please state and spell your name for this stenographer certainly kerry harris k-e-r-r-y
harris h-a-r-r-i-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do counsel yes uh miss harris can you please uh good morning state state close to the mic
care to get in the way there. It was doing well until then. Can you provide the board with your
title and the responsibilities with living management? Certainly. So I am the property
manager for this particular site, Morrell Plaza. My role essentially is I complete
monthly, so bi-monthly site visit. I actually have employed security on site.
We also have video surveillance in areas. I interact extensively with all the tenants that
are on site to ensure that, you know, just tenant are being followed, like tenant responsibilities
are being followed just to make sure that I'm also meeting their needs as well. Again, we do
have security. We have a security company that are on site that reports into us that provides us
with a tracking sheet.
We have touchpoint security.
So in each area, zoning area,
they're able to identify to us any issues at all.
And so, yeah, the site itself,
I'm very comfortable in terms of just the maintenance of the site.
We've just recently built and paved a good portion
in front of ShopRite and ExtendOn.
So just the upkeep of the center just to make sure that the aesthetic
and the climate is intact.
And the day-to-day, you talked about security,
but there's also active maintenance and cleaning of the center?
Yeah, so we do have vendors that do daily sweeping.
So it's our contract with our sweepers
and our parking lot porter service
is such that they have set a certain schedule
which complete in the daytime
and also overlap in the nighttime
just to ensure that the lot is being maintained also we work really well with shop right because
there's some sections including their cart port that they're responsible but there's an overlap
where we're also making sure that they're maintaining that as well right and how would
tenants communicate and how would you communicate to tenants back and forth so yeah that's
Straightforward. I'm actually, my card is being, has been distributed. So they actually do know my face, but essentially we get emails. We do have a tenant port that for any work orders that would be requested. We do have a grip on that. And again, we have multiple vendors that service that property that we are in line with.
have you more questions
questions from the board
what are these
services the complementary
services
complementary services
whatever
what are they
windshield wiper replacement
battery replacement and then the computer
diagnostic testing
so if the check engine light goes on
you can go there
they hook up the computer
And then they tell you what's wrong and either you're going somewhere else or, yeah.
and then they tell you what's wrong
and either you're going somewhere else
and these were all
And these were all services the community was really happy about because it's, people's
check engine lights go on all the time.
And does that mean $2,000 or 50 bucks?
Right.
And then the red that you're talking about, this is behind the store where these parking
spaces are for people who are going to access those services or can they just park anywhere?
that's in the main parking
in front of the store right in proximity
in front of our space
a couple of spaces in front of that closer to the building
those are 88 parking spaces so we
can't really touch those
thank you
I think I have a few questions probably
mostly for Ms. Harris so kudos
to you as you learned
our questions
so you know we've had a lot
of conversations this is probably the fourth
time advanced auto parts has come before us this fall and this is the first time that the landlord
for the lot has been at the hearing and i think a lot of the questions and the concerns that come
from both the community and the board are things that advanced auto parts can try to mitigate but
like it's ultimately going to be up to the property manager to regulate it and i think you know we've
had a lot of conversations about shade tree mechanics and what's going to be the process
and their oversight to make sure that they are not operating outside of the store
and leaving debris and garbage and taking up parking spaces in the community?
I know you've mentioned the security, but what are going to be the protocols
that you guys are going to have in place to address those concerns?
So on the management side, our protocol, like I said, I audit the site biweekly.
We have a porter service that reports into us that are there daily and any issues at all.
Our security, while our security is premium, but we do have the levels of checks and balances.
And one is definitely our cleaning service and our porter service.
And then I think the second question I have is we've talked a little bit with Mr. Harwell about potentially either adding in designated parking spaces where they're going to do this work.
we've kind of referenced some of the grocery store pickups or even like the target red spots