ZBA Hearing - October 28, 2026

How many, how many bathrooms are in the home?

There's only one bathroom.

one for that is there a half bath somewhere or is that a do you intend to install a half bath

that is the intention yes okay and where would the what do you think the half bath will be installed

so um there's a couple of suggestions that i was given um i was given to place it where the front

office is take some of the space from the front office and put it there or they said i could take

some of the space from the kitchen i prefer the front office i want to keep the kitchen area

just a little more open, you know, just for community, you know, gatherings as, you know,

the youth eating, celebrations, different things like that. I really want to create a very home-like

atmosphere. I don't want it to feel like a shelter. I just want it to be somewhere where,

you know, kids can rest, ease their mind and focus on what needs to be moved forward to

to support them and whatever their better living situation could be or their home or family life.

okay and can you tell us what's going on with the basement so the basement is not finished

um but moving forward that is part of the ultimate goal is to finish the basement but um right now

it's in fine condition it's just unfinished okay so for right now you would use it for storage

right now it's going to be used for storage yes and and is there a rear yard um in the open space

There is a small rear yard. I'm not exactly sure what we are going to do with it because it is very small. I can't foresee what we could do with it other than just maintaining it. But it is a very small rear yard, maybe additional storage, a little shed or something back there.

Okay. And my last question is something that you kind of mentioned. Is this a temporary, like, uh, how, how long would the residents stay there? Cause you said something about a shelter. So yes, I didn't want it term stays or we will, I will, um, keep kids if until they age out, but the ultimate goal is to find permanent housing or family reunification.

However, if that's not, you know, happening, um, I will keep kids until they age out just

to continue to keep that, you know, support, um, home stability for home.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Other questions.

I have a question about staffing.

Um, and I don't know, did we see a photo of the office?

I did.

You want me to share it again?

Yes, please.

So the office.

Is my screen still sharing?

It is.

Okay.

so this is what will serve as the office is this their form the original living room the whole

space so no this um house was originally used um it was a rooming home like yeah yeah people

rented rooms um but when i took it over i wanted to do something different okay um so your staff

will be here how many staff do you plan to have on site so just based on the ratio i know i'm

going to have to have, um, my plan is two full-time, two part-time just so I can stagger

and have the site supervised 24 hours. Okay. And then are your staff going to be responsible

for all cooking? Yes, I will have a staff, have staff that is responsible for cooking,

maintaining meals, following whatever nutritional guidelines and safety requirements. Um, even if

that includes like safe, safe serve of some form, but yes. Okay. And then is there a sort of, I mean,

other than the kitchen area and it is a larger kitchen, is there any other sort of public area

that the youth could congregate in just to, you know, hang out? Yes. So that intake room is also

going to serve as an intake. If they have visitors, like family visitors, counselors,

or what have you, that intake room will be used for that as well. This room right here, that's

the office um no i have there's another room let me show you hold on my backwards right here

and this is on the first floor it's on the first floor between the what's going to be the office

and the kitchen okay so it's like in the middle dining room of the house okay understood and are

the youth going to have access to this room when there isn't a visit or intake happening yes it's

more administrative like closed off no this is going to be um open access for the youth the

office is what's going to be um specifically for admin and yes all right uh questions yeah so um

Right. Questions. Yeah. So are you so are you going to have boys and girls or just boys or just girls?

are you so

And what's the youngest age? So I want to just have girls because this is my first time.

I'm not sure how to maneuver that co-ed. So it will just be girls.

And I'm saying 11 to 16. But quite honestly, if I have the space, then I'll I can go under 11.

I don't want to go to up to 18 beyond that. Then that's like a whole different whole different situation.

OK, you said you were an educator. What what is what did you do? What was that?

So I'm currently an eighth grade middle school teacher with the Philadelphia School District. I teach English language arts.

okay and do you plan to continue to teach and use and do this facility or are you going to

leave and i do i do plan to continue um with the school district which is why um i'm going to be

very intentional about staffing and um who will be responsible for maintaining things um i know

there's also a certain amount of hours that I have to make sure that I'm there. So I plan to

incorporate that in my schedule to make sure that I'm following, you know, the proper policies and

protocols. And programming, what kind of programs do you, are you, are you planning for the youth?

So I have a partnership with a nonprofit organization that does social emotional learning,

um extracurricular activities um small group therapy individual therapy so we already have

a partnership and i've been partnering with them for the last four years so i plan to incorporate

um that whole non-profit and all their programming into um the youth or the youth home as well

and last question where you plan to get the uh young girls from so the area of the home

is surrounded by a few different schools. So I plan to reach out to the schools and maybe form

some partnerships with the schools, reaching out to DHS to form a partnership with them and within

the Philadelphia County and Montgomery County if the need is there. So I do have a few options that

I plan once things are approved to reach out and make some connections with.

But I do know that specific area, there was about three or four schools in that area, for sure three.

Cheryl?

How many children?

The house is seven.

Seven would be the maximum that I'll be able to.

Seven?

Yes.

How many bedrooms?

It's three bedrooms.

The master bedroom will hold three.

The other two bedrooms will only be two each.

but i think that's assumption because do you know what the square footage of the front bedroom is

i do not have that offhand um i know that i had to when i had someone to come and look at the

property um that was a suggestion those numbers was a suggestion based on um the contractor

looking and looking and someone who's already familiar with the process so based on the sizes

as that was the suggestion. Occupancy is based on square footage to some extent, but

you're talking seven with just one bathroom? Yes, and the plan is to also, as a suggestion

from the contractor, to incorporate that half bath downstairs, which we're considering either

using part of the office, taking some of the space from the office for the half bath,

or maybe a little space from the kitchen. Okay, thank you. You're welcome.

questions from our attorney no questions at this questions or comments from the virtual audience

yes mr chair i have a hand up from

three five five two i will allow them to speak

okay

hello good morning

adrian adrian yes good morning could you please spell your name for the stenographer

yes adrian my last name is spelled fernandez f-e-r-n-a-n-d-e-z

right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

yes please proceed okay um overall we are opposed to boarding houses of any type because

we've had a lot of problems with them especially with people who are formally adjudicated or coming

formally adjudicated or coming from being incarcerated, whether they're minors or adults.

from um being incarcerated

read it.

I'm a little confused about the owner is listed as a different person than the applicant,

so I'm a little confused about who would be the ultimate responsible person for this address

and if the owner is even at the hearing.

Overall, we're requesting a two-year temporary variance for this.

This proposal, one problem is we don't know where the occupants are coming from and if any are adjudicated.

We have a lot of problems we've had this year with truancy with young children, as young as 3 to 14.

The older children tend not to be a problem with that.

um we currently have we currently have um police roll call complaints for ongoing problems with

um running around till late at night and also damaging um damages to property that are

significant cars and homes um we're asking for the temporary two-year variance for special

exception and also if the occupants can be limited to just three occupants based on the fact that

The owner is not running the business, and also these houses usually are about, even on the outside, 14 feet wide, so usually the largest bedroom is going to be something like 13 by 12.

there should be one child per bedroom for children who do not know each other especially in a case

where sexual assault is a problem in these boarding houses for children. So if there's

three bedrooms there should be one child per bedroom for respect and safety of the child

and also the experience the lack of experience of the operator. I didn't hear a trash management

plan because another problem we have is um children who are supervised just throwing trash

through the neighborhood and this has been um problematic because the mayor has done a lot

to increase um street cleaning trash collection in this neighborhood it's working but our problem

is that as soon as the city finishes sometimes going through a street five times to clean

sidewalks alleys everything the unsupervised children come right behind them go to corner

stores and just throw trash all through the neighborhood including spent scooters and things

that are dangerous for people to trip over um so once again asking for a temporary two-year

variance the limit of occupants to three minor children all right thank you very much thank you

um you're welcome um anybody else in the virtual audience no further hands mr chair go ahead i have

quick question um do you have the support of the neighbors adjacent to you on both sides yes i do

okay questions from our planning commission comments

uh madison matera planning commission staff comprehensive plan recommends no change to the

RSA 5 residential single family

zoning at this location.

The city changed the zoning in this neighborhood in

2006 and a council requested map change.

The appellant has shown that the proposed

group living will have no detrimental impact

beyond what might be expected.

City Planning Commission recommends the board grant

the proposed special exception.

Cherise, what I'm going

to do is we're going to hold the vote on this because

some of the issues are involved and just try to work it

out in our heads, but we will vote on this

the 4th, next Wednesday

at 9.30 a.m., okay?

Okay. So I don't need to respond to any of the concerns. It's all up to you guys from this point.

Okay. To point it's up to us and we're going to try to find what's right. Okay. Okay. Thank you

very much. And thanks for getting on the phone. We appreciate it. All right. Thank you for your

flexibility with my little technology issue. Okay. All right. All right.

it's your first case right yes all right so mi2026 002 963 1300 market street adam laver

is the attorney mr laver could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer

good morning chairman bergman and members of the board adam laver la v as in victor er

of Blank Rome, LLP, One Logan Square.

Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth,

nothing but the truth?

Yes, Chairman Bergman, I do.

Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?

Certainly.

Blank Rome represents Wanamaker Market, LLC,

and 1300 Market Owner, LLC,

owners of the condominium units that collectively comprise the historic John Wanamaker building.

owners of the condominium units

that collectively comprise the historic...

Okay. We have a letter of unanimous support from Washington Square Civic Association,

and we also have a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla. Our vice chair has a few

questions for you, sir. Thank you. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14

days in advance of this hearing? Good morning, Madam Vice Chair. Yes, we have.

And do you wait the reading of your, oh, you have referrals?

Yes.

Yep, you have referrals.

Do you wait the reading of your referrals and stipulate to the accuracy?

Yes, ma'am.

All right.

Thank you.

You can share your screen and proceed.

Thank you.

I'm really excited about discussing this project with you today.

the Wanamaker building is at the heart of the Philadelphia being those of us who are Philadelphians

and those who are new everybody loves the John Wanamaker building it is in the process of an

exciting mixed-use transformation including members of the board prior permitted approvals

for multi-family residential living which will comprise over 600 apartments this is cmx5 zoning

and most of what makes sense is is already approved and we're happy to share with you

and others who who have an interest regarding the two entities that i mentioned that i represent

They are special purpose entities that are affiliated with TF Cornerstone, but I'd also like to mention that TF Cornerstone is partnering with local partner Altera Property Group on the transformation of the building.

And Connor Burke is sitting here with us in the hearing room.

He is a principal at Altera Property Group.

I also believe that virtually we have Jonathan Brough, principal of JKRP Architects, who has worked with us on this project.

It almost seems silly to share some photographs of the property with you.

However, the importance of this property speaks to the critical nature of the site, the center.

It truly is right at the center of Philadelphia, just across from City Hall on Center Square.

And it's a magnificent treasure of a building.

And we are very fortunate to have the investment of these developers who have the experience coming in and putting before you a really amazing transformation.

so all of these photographs no doubt look familiar to you but maybe like me you're missing

what i'm about to show you in a moment where's the eagle the eagle thank you mr chairman