And again, individuals who are involved in a litigation, which should not have been included or should have disclosed that to the community as a whole.
Again, just to provide, you know, zoning permits were issued for this property for three units in front of this exact board.
And due to the Act 135 nature of this and some of the other stuff that was going on related to the make safe, we had to go back through this process.
I don't know if our architect is on, but we did provide, even though it's an existing structure, we did provide plans.
We wanted to make sure after the first meeting that it was a clear layout of what was going on and what we were proposing so that the community could see it.
There's no living space in the basement.
It's basically for utility space and mechanicals.
This is the first floor. And again, it's an existing structure. So it has all the same exterior aesthetic character of that block. Kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, keeping into context with kind of some that's already there. I'll show you the photos of the interior in a second. Second floor, same thing. And third floor, similar layouts for both 222 and 226.
As the board can see, during the process, after getting the zoning permit, they did apply for a building permit for 222 West Mannheim to start the construction.
However, it was expired, given the legal proceedings that went on.
And so it has been built out to some extent with framing and mechanicals.
And we would just be looking again to finish up this work under a new zoning permit.
We would have to demolish the entire interior of this if we were going to do a single family home.
And given all the legal proceedings, the character in the neighborhood, the adjacent structures that are multifamily and the exorbitant cost that has gone on through the legal proceedings and to repair this and to even go forward with what's there would be an unnecessary hardship.
And again, it's already been approved by this board before. And 2226 was already a longstanding three unit building since 1962. I just put the cover sheet of the Act 135. I'm not going to go into too much detail about that. I don't do Act 135 conservatorship, so I don't have all the info.
but I did want to provide at least the cover sheet to the board that was where that these are
legitimate proceedings that were going on sort of in the middle of some of this process.
And I'm not sure how long Act 135 takes, but I can imagine it's not just, you know, a quick
process. And like I said, this one is resolved, and then the other one is still ongoing shortly
to be resolved. Other than that, I think I'll pause to have my, answer any questions, but have
my client adopt testimony, and then I'm happy to provide any other additional information.
Why don't you bring your client on? Is there a Akeem Presley and Roshanda Alexander
in the audience?
Akeem Presley, yes, but I'm not.
Yes, I'm here.
Yes, I'm here.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Akeem Kresley, A-K-E-M-P-R-E-S-S-L-E-Y.
Where or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Akeem, have you heard my testimony today?
Do you believe it to be true and accurate, and do you adopt it as your own?
okay is there anything else you want to add for the board
no okay questions from the board yeah i've got a couple questions oh go ahead i'm sorry
no real quick i just don't know how long did the uh your clients own the properties
and when they purchased them yeah according to um opa or atlas 222 west manheim was purchased in
09 and 226 was purchased in 2016 akeem correct me if i'm wrong because i know sometimes atlas is not
accurate can you unmute that's correct can you hear me yes
yeah uh so
clearly the proposed uses seems to me to be consistent with other houses on the block it's
a huge property and it's been a three um unit um building in the past so i'm trying to get
an understanding i know um miss pritchard you said you of course don't do the um uh the uh what
is it called receivership or whatever it is a conservatorship but how so how long has that been
going on so to my knowledge is looking at these pleadings at least uh almost two years um there
were other violations on the property that were being corrected like the make safe that this is
all on atlas and lni's website that i looked up um so i know that that was all being worked on
since 20 just pull it up
222 has been they've been getting permits since uh a decade ago alteration permits use permits
minor permits all issued, completed, or some expired. So there's been work ongoing with this
property for at least the past 10 years. And then the Act 135, Akeem can correct me if I'm wrong,
but it's going on two years now. And is there any, are there any plans to do anything to change
the front in any way, porches or anything, or they're going to remain kind of consistent with
the rest of the block yeah i think the plans are just on the interior i'm sure you know they'll
fix up if there's masonry issues um our architect chris hamill is on so if you want him to speak
to any of that detail but um my understanding is this is interior renovations and i know that a lot
of the external renovations um you know the with the make safe and the exterior windows and the
porches um those are all have to be addressed and there's permits pulled and complied with related
to some of the exterior features which probably had to do with some of the structural issues with
the make safe etc but all this has to be resolved especially given the act 135 it they had it has to
be fixed you know with the court supervision gotcha um can you go to the plans for a second
yes absolutely um can we promote chris um him i just want him yeah okay they have been promoted
the panels or could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
that we're coming back in short sure so these will all be two bedroom units it looks like
they seem to be decent size layouts excuse me um this is chris hamill i apologize for
interrupting i i'm on now could you please spell your name for the stenographer uh yes
My last name's Hamill, H-A-M-A-R-Y-E-L.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Richard, Michael.
Yeah, I just wanted to see the layout of the plans.
Again, they seem like pretty decently laid out plans, two bedroom units.
That second floor unit could have a larger living room, dining room, because you do have a pretty large bedroom.
but appreciate the fact that you're not doing anything to the front and it
keeps the character of the neighborhood so thank you
Other questions from the board?
So I have a question just in terms of what happened in the RCO meeting.
Was the RCO concerned of like the work stoppage and that this, they were able to financially pull this off?
Was that something that?
That's a great question. Yes. And as per the Act 135, one of the things you have to show to the court is that you are able to actually make those repairs.
otherwise they will provide conservatorship to someone else to do those repairs so
with the court granting the current owner the ability to keep the property he did have to show
his ability to move forward with the construction but that was a concern and we did address it and
Akeem was pretty like vulnerably truthful about the financial concerns that he was dealing with
when he first acquired the property I don't think that he totally understood all that was entailed
given some of the structural issues with the property, but yes, absolutely. And he did state
that he was able to do that, which is why the conservatorship didn't move forward against his
interest. That was for the 222 property, but you're talking about two now. So the 226 is still
in the conservatorship process, correct? Yes, it's at the end of it. Okay. So I guess my concern is
Is this too much to have two units going now?
Moving forward with two, if he's okay with doing two, two, two,
then there will not be any kind of stoppage and stuff
because apparently there's some history with the way this property
has been upkept with the RCO letter and the RCO comments.
So there's been some concern about that.
Yeah, I think that's a fair question.
Akeem, I don't know if you want to speak to that directly
to board member graham related to the ability to uh renovate both of these buildings um
at the same time and and avoid you know additional stopping given that was one of the main concerns
yes yes i have the ability to um to do both at the same time and that's what i had to prove to
the judge the only thing that stopped them from closing the case honestly was a mail slot i had
the mailbox and they wanted me to put a mail slot so that was the only thing that stopped
226 from being closed out which I sent my attorney over the pictures this week so it should be closed
as of now it should be closed already 226 should be closed too that was the only thing that they
wanted was a mail slot versus the mailbox and to be clear it's a different attorney than than myself
other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
Hillary Emerson
I didn't
know if Ms. Prisker
wanted the owner of the other property
to also adopt her testimony
yeah Akeem is
Roshanda on
I'm yes
they have been allowed to speak
hi I'm here
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Roshanda Alexander, R-A-S-H-O-N-D-A, Alexander, A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R.
Where or affirm the tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, Counselor.
Ms. Roshanda, have you heard my testimony today?
Do you believe it to be true and accurate, and do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any hands raised mr chair questions or comments on um uh planning
may we board with the planning commission these comments will be for 226 manheim and 222 manham
street the concept comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa3 residential single family
zoning at this location the proposed use is consistent with documented prior use
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variances for three
family dwellings um i'm going to vote for both uh mi20 just want to make a quick note for the
record. I'm sorry I missed it before. Because these are RSA3 properties, there should have
been refusals as well for not having accessory off-street parking. So I just want to note that
for the record that they were missing. Thank you. Number four, MI 2024-003-186-226 Manheim
Street, and number five, MI 2024-003-187-222 Mannheim.
MI 2024-003-187-222, Mannheim.
I vote yes for both.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes for both.
Teneda Graham, my vote is yes for both.
Iowen, my vote is yes for both.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes for both.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
All right. Number six, MI 2024-003-335, 621-25 Reed Street.
Leonard Alteri and Michael Phillips are the listed attorneys.
A letter of opposition from Pashon Square Civic and a letter of opposition from Council Member Squillin.
Michael Phillips is coming back at us.
Afternoon, counsel.
Hi, counsel.
Could you please state your name as spell for the court stenographer?
Good afternoon, Chairman Bergman, members of the board, Michael Phillips, P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S,
with Claire Harrison Harvey Bransburg, 1835 Market Street, 14th floor, Philadelphia PA, 19103.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
I do, Mr. Chair.
Did you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
I'm here on behalf of 621 Partners, LLC, which is the owner of 621-25 Reed Street.
Yoav Shifman, who is a principal with 621 Partners, is here as a witness.
I also have available to testify Veronica Bloom with NPN Realty.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Good afternoon, vice chair. Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
All right. Can everyone see my screen?
We can. You might want to make it a little bit bigger, sir.
So good afternoon again. Michael Phillips here for 621 to 25 Reed Street.
This is a CMX2 zoned property that is located mid-block in a C of RSA 5.
The CMX2 designation likely has to do with the fact that it is a former garage.
And you see the curve here.
This is the property that I'm, my cursor over this.
Again, it's the property here that I've highlighted.
um this is the rear along earp street and i will give you just some additional orientation so here
um is the the property 621 reed again like i said it's in a sea of rsa5 in a very residential
um single family and uh and multi-family uh area um and my client purchased this property
in 2020, but went under contract in 2019. And we went under contract, we originally obtained
plans and the permit that you see in front of you in September 2019 to adaptively reuse this
former garage that was, you know, again, used as a garage in the 40s. It was a furniture warehouse
in the 50s through the 80s, and then it was an auto repair garage with retail sale of used
automobiles from 1987 until the time my client purchased the property. We received an as-of-right
permit to construct a four-story addition on top of the three-story existing building,
utilizing the low-income affordable housing bonus,
which yielded an additional seven feet of height
as well as four additional units
for a total of 12 units.
The units are, these are the approved plans.
The units, there are four on each floor.
And so this is a typical floor plan for each of the floors.
It's occupied, being utilized on the second through fourth floors.
What we're here for today is relief concerning the first floor and the requirement of the CMX.
concerning the first floor and the requirement of the CMX2 commercial use along the first 30 feet of depth of the building.
These are some interior photos that show this current first floor use.
And, you know, it was never the intention to use this for residential, but it quickly became clear that along the 600 block of Reed Street, there just is no viable commercial corridor here, and it's become increasingly difficult to find a tenant.