So again, more like an apartment building than a hotel.
All these units have full kitchens and they're very spacious.
I mean, a family could, you know, a young family at least
could really comfortably live in most of these units.
So that being said, I'll go back to the photos.
And if you do want to spend more time on the floor plans, just let me know.
I think we're fine.
So this is that lounge, which I did mention in there. Oh, man, sorry. Very jumpy today. My mouse. OK, so this is the communal kitchen. And again, this, you know, this room will be sort of for reservation, but, you know, will be available for people to rent.
And this is really, to be frank, an amenity that is more geared towards people that do live here longer term.
This is this is not being rented out on like a short term basis or something like that.
It's an amenity for tenants. And again, it was planned sort of when we built this out from the from the jump.
And here are the units. This is a typical upstairs hallway.
so this is a kitchen in one of the units um you know with somewhat of like an open concept floor
plan really nice uh floor to ceiling uh glass doors for the juliet balcony just another vantage
point on a different unit which i think has a similar thing going on but horizontally flipped
yet another kitchen in a different unit i think that's the same one there
This is one of the two bedrooms in an apartment with a nice closet and the windows and space for the HVAC service box to go into there.
Brandon, I think we have a good perception of what the building looks like.
So, Mr. Chairman, let me just close.
I'll stop sharing my screen.
You know, let me just close with a, you know, brief pitch on sort of why I think the folks at the RCO meeting sort of went for this and supported.
So, you know, there is someone who might live in Center City, University City, right?
If they have a family member coming from out of town visiting them or maybe more than visiting them,
Maybe they're an elderly person who needs, you know, in-home care or support temporarily.
You put your relative up in a hotel, right?
There's a lot of them in Center City and University City if you don't have space for them.
And they stay there and, you know, it can be months, but, you know, at a hotel or a furnished, like, executive stay apartment, like Roost, if any of you are familiar with Roost on Chestnut Street, you kind of can customize.
I'm going to be here two weeks. I'm going to be here two months. And the management makes an arrangement for you. So that's what this will bring to a neighborhood that has none of that, where if your family member can't fit in your house, they're staying miles away downtown.
You know, that is sort of the core benefit. And there's also, to be candid, and I don't think this is a surprise to anybody, plenty of folks in Philadelphia with the rental crisis we have right now that get priced out or otherwise have to move out of a unit and need somewhere to go.
And we can be somewhere for them to go without committing to a full year lease.
But if they want to do that, they're allowed to.
That's the benefit of sort of the dual use permit.
We will take people on regular leases.
So I just wanted to conclude with that.
So is your client here?
All right.
Why don't you bring your client on and adopt your testimony?
Simon Shane is who we're looking for.
Simon.
Please accept a promotion to panelists.
Hi, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Simon, if you can, just unmute yourself and turn on your camera.
You're on mute right now.
Thank you.
Would you state your name and spell it?
S-H-I-M-O-N is my first name.
S-H-A-I-N is my last name.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, to hold truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Brandon.
Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Simon, first of all, are you authorized to speak on behalf of Fairhill Lofts, LLC?
Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Simon, first of all, are you authorized to speak on the...
And you're one of its owners?
Okay. Did you hear my testimony in your case this morning?
Sorry.
Did you hear my testimony in the case this morning?
I did.
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
It was.
Okay. I just, Mr. Chairman, have a couple of very brief questions for him to add a little color. So the story that I sort of told there about needing to pivot, you know, as this progressed based on what was going on on the block, was that true specifically?
Okay. And then lastly, can you touch on in your own words, you had mentioned to me that you're not only going to have a building management company for regular property management, but you will have a sort of unit turnover company that separately, you know, cleans and sterilizes every unit after it's occupied. Can you identify who that is and just speak to that for 20 seconds?
sure uh yes there's a company that is uh community-based uh with employees all from
the neighborhood uh the name of the company is cozy um one second clean up and touch up crew
llc i apologize clean up and touch up cool llc they are community-based members who will come
and you know take care of every turnover that's needed and we also have a security cameras
everywhere and we have a security team that's watching the cameras 24 7 so if there's any
spill or any mess or anything any incident uh the the they're in constant uh they're on top of it
24 7 and you know either in touch with myself or my team or the management company or the uh special
clean-up and touch-up crew LLC company.
And you already have other properties in Philadelphia
where you put these things into practice
with the management and the security cameras,
so this isn't new to you, is it correct?
Correct, correct.
Thank you.
So, Brandon, I'm going to open it up to the board,
but real quick question.
So you view this building as a mix.
You could stay there a day or you could stay there a year.
I'm going to say yes, with the exception that
I think a day is shorter than we're looking for, right?
We're looking for a few days and an absolute bare minimum and more likely a couple of days.
All right, questions from the board.
Yes, I have a number of questions.
And I guess one, when the property was purchased in 2021, were you aware at the time that the majority of this block was public owned land?
I'm going to let my client answer that because I wasn't in the scene at that point.
I didn't do specific research on who owned the land.
I just know that there was a lot of empty lots on this block, on the next block.
You did no research to verify that every property except yours was owned by the Philadelphia Land Bank when you purchased the property from PWD?
I did not, no.
And then what was your plan in 2021 when you purchased the property for the site?
This same building was the plan, but the plan was more for long-term tenants.
and then what specifically shifted the plan because i think i'm having a hard time understanding
hardship i'm saying a self-created hardship where a building was built on public vacant city-owned
land and a part of the city that had been in that use for a really long time and you're now saying
oh i built the building it's not even complete yet and i can't rent it out
so i'm trying to understand like we didn't yeah we yeah i mean it's it was basically when we
built it when we bought the property in 2021 it was at a time that the area was developing block
by block um we ourselves developed properties on north 4th street north 5th street germantown
um you know so we we built we we ourselves developed properties leading up to that and
as we we were actually one of the first developers in the area but as we started a lot of other
people joined us as well and not just joined us they obviously did much more than us and that was
our understanding was okay here's another one it's another two blocks out and it's gonna you
know it's it's it's uh it's expanding the area is expanding um and and then you know sort of
the construction, you know, construction costs went up and, and, and, and interest rates went
up and construction slowed down and it just stopped, you know, pushing out towards there.
And we ended up our, you know, left alone over there. And we're, we're, we're always
We're always in contact with leasing agents and, you know, they, you know, when we brought them in fairly early and they looked around and they said, yeah, you know, nobody's going to, you're going to have a really hard time bringing in, you know, fully long-term tenants here.
in contact with leasing agents and, you know, they.
Yeah. And then so with the short term rental or the visitors accommodations, what percentage of the building are you sort of planning is going to be either the short term rentals or the temporary users versus a more long term tenant at any given time now with the with the new plan?
um i mean i don't have a specific it's really going to be based on demand you know if we
if we bring in long-term tenants we'll take them uh but anything that's not taken up we'll do
short-term until we can you know either you know we'll see how we're which one is more demand and
that's when the way it's going to go we'll probably go floor by floor are you all intending or
planning to accept vouchers for long-term tenants um we accept vouchers on our other properties
and we we're very happy with that specific one though yeah so i mean i'm saying we're we are
open to vouchers on this on this specific property okay and you're in so i guess if
you're accepting them at other properties you're already uh approved as a as a pha landlord yes
um board member win i just want to clarify one thing it does not at all sort of refute
you know your statements or your questions um but the city or pwd um they were not a direct
seller to my client on this property the city did own this property but there's an it was an
intermediate owner for actually quite a long time so my client bought this from a private property
private party. Gotcha. Understood. And then my last question is about the green roof. So
are you, I saw a permit from 2021 that shows that the building was going to have a green roof. I've
noticed just from the aerials you showed in your presentation, it doesn't seem like that is still
the case. Was that removed from the project scope? That is still in the project scope. That's
something that we're going to do towards the end of the project so that is still happening okay
yeah other questions do you own short-term rentals around the city already um do we own
short-term rentals we we don't own any short-term rentals ourselves we do have another uh we do rent
out a few units to someone else and they short-term you know they rental they rented out
short-term. How will you deal with issues related to short-term renters considering
the surrounding neighborhood? I'll let my client answer. How are you planning to vet
your renters considering what's sort of the activities that are happening directly around
on the building so that building doesn't turn into a brothel go ahead simon yeah i don't want
to step go you can answer that go ahead sure so um we do i mean for airbnb you do there is a you
know you do vet your client people that make the bookings as well they make a request and you have
to approve them and you and you get to see um background information based on previous um
short-term rental owners, as well as we also have specifically over here, there's not a lot of
outdoor space. There's no roof access. The porches, if you look in the pictures, are really small.
They're about 18 inches to 24 inches wide. There's no room for outdoor parties. And we do have video
cameras. So if we see more people than are allowed into each unit, we automatically call them and
tell them that they have to quickly either leave or they will be, or they will be, you
know, their booking will be canceled.
And then we have a security company along with the police that comes there and make
sure that that happens.
I just wanted to say, Board Member Johns, that Simon is a Philadelphia resident, so
he is not clueless as to the issues facing some of our neighborhoods.
Okay. Questions from our attorney?
Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience or the current audience?
I see no hands.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chairman and Board Members.
David Fechtow with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and Board Members, the comprehensive plan recommended a change in zoning at this location
from I-2 medium industrial to RSA-5 residential single family.
In a 2017 zoning map change, the city changed the zoning to...
In a 2017 zoning map change, the city changed the zoning to RM1 residential multifamily in community requested map change.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code.
A 2020 zoning ordinance passed by city council, which regulated short-term rentals, did not change the basic rule prohibiting full-time use of a dwelling unit as a short-term rental.
This type of absentee management, where the owner does not live in the unit, has been illegal since the first short-term rental zoning regulations became effective in 2015.
What's changed since the passage of the 2020 ordinance is that there is now a licensing and enforcement mechanism.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variants for visitor accommodations.
So number 10, MI 2025, 000334, 2523 to 41 North Fairhill Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Mr. Chairman, I just want to put on the record because Mr. Fecto used the term illegal.
There's no illegal activity.
that's why we came to you to seek permission. Okay. That's it. I heard what you said. Thank
you. Thank you. Number 11, MI 2025, 000383, 3627 Wall Street. David Orphanides is the attorney.
David Orphanides will be joining as a panelist.
morning mr shannon members of the board council are you okay to go on i am okay all right could
you just state your name for the record certainly my name is david orphanides last name is spelled
o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-e-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do um could you identify your client the relationship to the property certainly my clients
are Eric and Catherine Johansson,
and they are the owners of the property,
husband and wife that own the property
and live in the property with their children.
I notice there's a recommendation of support
from the Manchewa Civic Association.
That is correct.