bathroom and this is the facility and the front where the ground paper is that's the entrance
And then all the way here is another exit.
That's out the rear?
That is the rear, yes.
So why don't you try and explain to us what takes place here?
It's an indoor playground for children.
It's a safe environment, and it provides development.
It's not like a daycare?
No, it's not.
Children come in on a three-hour period.
They do certain activities to stimulate developmental needs.
It's usually for children between the ages of 3 and 10.
And the application for a special exception is just to allow them to have events there, such as a tea party or a birthday party.
Right. And what hours of the day will the place operate?
Between 8 and 6 p.m., 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Okay. And, okay, questions from the board?
Is there going to be a kitchen on site?
is there going to be a kitchen on site no no kitchen on site none at all no and then is there
No, no kitchen.
going to be any type of like uh i guess what's the trash plan for when there's a pen of it or
so there is a section to the side that is exterior and the trash will be placed there
it's not in the play area where anyone would go and trash will be picked up by a private
sanitation company they have access to the rear yard for play also or is it not at this
time. There will be a time, we hope, as things go on and progress, that there will be an exterior
usage. Questions from our attorney? I just wanted to confirm. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Question.
uh so what the spaces and when you say play area what is going to be
in there that these children are going to play with or on or it'll be um
i'm sorry no i mean how how is this going to work i mean all i'm seeing is an empty space
So the question is, this is going to be an indoor playground, as you said.
So what's going to be in the premises for the children to play with, play on?
How is this going to work?
At this time, the plans are in the back.
There will be three arcade machines for the children to play with.
As you move a little forward, there's going to be a section, a playhouse section, just general structure, not something huge or heavy.
and each one will have a different theme one would be for a veterinarian the middle one is
for entertainment theater and the other one is for construction zone there's a little section
where they have the dress up and they can do the dress up there there's also going to be a section
for shopping such as supermarket and that will be to the side as you move forward there is going to
be a small large um equipment area not large equipment but large plate area and the equipment
will be less than five feet in diameter because it's circular um and as you move forward
there is i don't believe there's anything for it at this point in time and then there's a section
for parents to be seated at in the reception area i'm sorry the middle section would be for
the parties if they were permitted. Okay. And how many children are we going to have in here at any
given time? Less than 30. We do not expect to have any larger than that. I don't think that
the capacity will permit it. And what's the square footage? I'm sorry, I had that. I don't
have it in front of me right now. If you give me a moment, I can look it up. Sure. Thank you.
Does this variance that is being requested, and I guess this may be to Hillary, allow
us to restrict the age group?
I that would probably be very difficult from an enforcement perspective right I thought I heard
the ages were like three to ten right correct I'm assuming that they'll they'll be the groups
will probably be kind of age segregated if you will like you wouldn't have the three-year-olds
necessarily in there with the 10 year olds but i'm not sure no you are correct we do not want
to create a hazard i i know you're looking for the square footage um is this by appointment
or is it just walking by appointment they will have to pre-register okay so they're they're
registering like not every day just once in a while or is this an everyday thing for
after school or whatnot or that's preschool some of them obviously but exactly for the
after school children it would be um in afternoons or on the weekend of saturday
okay and and it's difficult drop off right there too so is there a plan for uh loading unloading
the children well in that area there is on street parking most of the children are in a walking
area walking distance as i recall there are three um schools in the area two public one catholic in
there's one down the street that's being built. Thank you. And also there are other community
thank you and also there are other community um centers in that vicinity so could you estimate
the square footage i'm going to say 1400 i tried to look it up on philadelphia atlas and i cannot
find it okay cheryl any more questions uh no thank you all right our attorney hillary emerson
So, did you want to bring on your client to adopt your testimony?
Yes, I would. Thank you.
I think she left. Oh, there she is. There she is.
I apologize.
Make sure the mic is on. You'll see the little green button, and then get it as close as possible.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Could you do me a favor? Is that one?
Okay, yeah.
Antoinette Williams, A-N-T-O-I-N-E-T-T-E, Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Counsel, please proceed.
Did you hear my testimony today?
Okay. And was that testimony true, to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt my testimony?
Okay. Do you have any additional comments?
I wanted to actually further describe the indoor, some people call it a playground, some people call it a play space.
What it is, is a recreational activity for children, to parents to bring their children and for children to have an alternative.
It's called sensory because we actually have a lot of autistic children in that area.
A lot of parents are looking for a place to bring their autism children.
There are not a lot of places for autistic children.
So what we do is we do provide classes.
And when I mean classes, they're 60 minutes of sensory activity.
We bring play therapy.
We bring occupational therapists.
We bring physical therapists.
They will be allowed to come in there for that allotted time that their students are assigned for.
We also have what she was describing, the Imagination Village, which is actually part of children.
Again, you have three sections of a house where there are, as she described, the construction, the theater, and there is the veterinarian, where, again, children are using the imagination.
There is no technology in this location because, again, I'm very, very determined to get these children to start being more creative and to be more imaginative with their thought process.
We have a lot of sensory because, again, children are so used to technology that they cannot understand the five senses that we have.
So this is why we are adamant as trying to open up a facility, and I mean recreational place, for giving these parents another alternative for these children.
We do have, I heard you mention about parking.
We have already discussed possibly to have a parking sign where parents can go to the Cambria.
There's a Cambria section where parents can park there.
um as far as the tea parties um you know sometimes parents want it's a cold day you
want to take your children to an activity we provide that where it's a safe environment
parents can interact with one each other you can see children and you are safe in that environment
and i can go on and on but i'm going to conclude with that thank you very much i appreciate your
testimony yeah i just wanted to verify one other thing this the proposed space and because it's
only part of the building it's unit 1f is that correct that this is proposed in yes just uh
first floor okay thank you thank you questions or comments from the coordinating rco
i see no hands chair district council person i see no hands chair anyone else in the audience
i see no hands at this planning commission
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning. David Vecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from CMX2, commercial mixed use, to RM1, residential multifamily.
The City rezoned this commercial corridor in 1973, and a Council-supported map change.
The ground floor space does not appear to be large enough for an assembly and entertainment use, and it is mostly in a residential section of the Richmond Street corridor.
we would suggest the appellant look into applying for an event assembly use instead which has lower
impacts than the larger assembly and entertainment category if this use were to go vacant the
assembly and entertainment use would allow other types of large gatherings given the character of
Given the character of the immediate block face and the lack of space in the ground floor of the building, the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed special exception.
the immediate block face and the lack of space in the ground floor of the building the city
Okay. MI 2025, 003, 714, 3062, Richmond Street, I vote yes with a proviso. Use limited to Unit 1F.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes
with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso
Iowen, my vote is yes with proviso
Thank you both
Thank you so much
So MI2025-007-116
1701 Market Street
Adam Laver is the attorney
good morning mr labor good morning mr chairman and you please um okay i'll wait till you get
set up there thank you moving as quickly as i can here we are
very good all right could you please state your name and spell it for this stenographer
Yes, Chairman Bergman, Adam Laver, L-A-V, as in Victor, E-R, of Blank Rome LLP, on behalf of 1701 Market, LLC, an Altera property group entity.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
So, Mr. Laver, we know a great deal about this case from your prior testimony.
so if you would keep the point
knowing that we know most of what you're talking about
and try to get to what you think is important
and our vice chair has a few questions
Hillary, is that okay?
Good morning
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing?
Good morning Ms. Graham, yes we have
And do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
We are not able to waive and stipulate
Okay. All right. Thank you. You can proceed and explain that further.
Thank you very much.
There we go.
Excellent.
This will be a little of deja vu, but I will try to go through it quickly.
As I mentioned, we have the privilege of representing the owner of 1701 Market Street, Altera Property Group, and its co-founder and managing partner, Leo Adamondo.
Joining me today in the hearing room itself is Jared Kern, Director of Mixed-Use Development for Altera Property Group.
Also joining us virtually from Altera Property Group is Mark Cartella, who is the Senior Vice President of Development and Construction.
construction. We're looking here at an aerial photograph of the subject property, and where my
cursor is would be the entrance to the apartments that the board is familiar with. You know that
this was formerly an office building. You know that this is in the heart of the Center City
uh district you know that uh this is cmx 5 zoning which i'm showing here on the um uh presentation
and that zoning permits for the conversion of the property were approved entirely within
the parameters of the zoning code
moving forward advancing through some other testimony mr chairman and members of the board
here you can see the new entrance to the residences located off of market street along the western
facade of the building residents have started to move into the rebranded 17 market west
apartments, but no building identification signage is there due to L&I's interpretation
regarding table 14904-1 of the zoning code. Here are the conceptual renderings of what
Altera has proposed, a day rendering and an evening rendering. What you saw were three
flat wall signs grouped together to include the building logo and identifying the building
as 17 market west very similar to any other apartment building in the city of philadelphia
in terms of having identification to the entrance what is dissimilar however from those buildings
What is dissimilar, however, from those buildings is that this is located in a sea of office towers where there are not other residential buildings.
is that this is located in a sea of off
The Notice of Refusal cites Table 14904-1 and reads, whereas the maximum sign height is the lower of the roofline or second floor windowsill, and the signs extend above the second floor windowsill.
We've had testimony which has been incorporated on this topic.
I won't go into that. There are no refusals, however, regarding signage size or quantity
or illumination. That's really significant for the matter before the board today. No refusals
regarding signage size, quantity, or illumination. The sole issue before the board concerns this
interpretation on maximum height being lower of the roof line or the second floor windowsill.
The entrance to the building is the lobby.
You can see an interior photograph of the lobby showing a high ceiling, single-story space with bands of glass.
The lower-level windows that observers would see from the exterior are ground floor glazing in a banded style.
And here you can see the site plan that has submitted showing the proposed placement in the upper left-hand corner of that signage,
which, accepting for purposes of the hearing today L&I's notice of refusal, otherwise meets
all code requirements in every respect. There are three components to the signs.
Component one is 48.15 square feet. Component two is 72.66 square feet. Component three
is 60.22 square feet. That's what's in the small type on the screen in front of you.
The elevations show the lobby area, the proposed placement of the signage.
This is relevant to the issue before the board.
It is proposed for between 24.5 inches off the ground and 44 feet 6 inches off the ground.