We recognized this early on and actually sought relief from the board back in 2020 for initially four additional units on the first floor, which would have brought this to a total of 16.
We brought that not only to the community who was opposed to that plan as well, but we went and appeared before the board in November 2020.
Now, just a little additional context. At the time we're appearing before the board, we're in the middle of the pandemic. So even, you know, finding a commercial tenant was even more difficult here and it was exacerbated.
There were conversations at the board about whether there could be a compromise. Now, parking is at a premium in South Philly. We are not required to have any parking as a CMX2 parcel, but we looked to do a compromise where we would only increase the density by two additional units at the rear.
And I will show you the plan. So we would just do two units, 943, 945 square feet at the rear of the property and provided some parking at the front for four cars.
And that would alleviate some of the additional stress on the neighborhood.
Um, that plan as well, uh, was rejected by the community. They felt that we had not, uh, made a concerted enough effort to locate a commercial tenant, um, for this property. They wanted us to look at, um, artist, uh, loft uses and, and a whole array of commercial uses, um, and, uh, were not opposed, were opposed.
Now, one other thing that is important to point out is under the South District plan, under the comprehensive 2035 plan, this area in particular was called out for rezoning.
And I'll zoom in. It is this. Circled in blue and specifically our property is this one right here that is highlighted or that is outlined in black.
And you'll notice that this is, they say it's, you know, changed from RSA 5 to RM 1 to match the existing multifamily housing in the area.
But here, you know, we have that out of context, out of place CMX 2 property.
Now, if we were RM1 at the time we submitted the initial zoning application with the affordable housing, we actually would be allowed to do 15 units by right without any parking.
Here at CMX2, we are seeking, again, 14 units total, 12 existing plus two, and then to add the four additional parking spaces.
Now, when we went before the community the first time, we didn't just come in without any support.
Now, the RCO, Passy Young Square, has opposed us.
But in terms of the neighbors, we had a neighbor petition of support.
And if you look at the addresses, I mean, these are from the individuals who live at the multifamily condominium building right next door to us at 617.
We have people on 641, 623. The president of Passion Square Condos at 617, who unanimously supported the use and who all want a residential use.
Again, this is a mid-block property at 621 Reed Street.
You'll note that even after Patchy Young Square voted to oppose, we went with an additional neighborhood letter of support that clarified that the individuals directly impacted along Earp Street, Reed Street, disagreed with Patchy Young Square and did not want a commercial or industrial use at the ground floor.
Now, admittedly, it's not up to the individuals whether a commercial use should be allowed on the ground floor.
We know that it's zoned CMX2 and that it was our obligation to put a commercial use, and we attempted to do so diligently.
attempted to do so diligently. But there's a hardship because there is no viable commercial
But there's a hardship because...
tenant that we've been able to locate here. Now, initially, my client is a broker that listed
himself, was unable to find a suitable tenant. And for the past three years, since November of
2021, the property has been listed with Veronica Bloom of MPN Realty.
Over the past three years, there have been a total of 48 outreaches about this property
in particular, so less than two per month.
And those are just people reaching out.
It's not anything where these are individuals who are all extremely interested in the unit.
But there has been some interest from people.
Unfortunately, none of the interest has been for a permitted use.
We've had individuals come and want to do automobile conversion, electric auto conversion.
We had a storage and mechanic who wanted to use the space.
We had an arcade concept who potentially wanted to look at the space.
However, it was too small for their uses.
There was a CrossFit, which would fall under personal services. However, after further discussion with the CrossFit studio, that wouldn't work either because it would be extremely disruptive to the 12 individuals who live above.
Apparently, when you do CrossFit, you drop the weights on the ground, it reverberates all throughout the building, and the use wasn't conducive with the existing multifamily.
So after three years of taking another stab at finding a commercial tenant, we've just been unsuccessful and we're coming back before the board with the plan that does make sense, that is less impactful, that is consistent with the multifamily in the surrounding neighborhood, and that also utilizes the existing curb cut and garage to provide some relief for parking.
I believe the I've heard, you know, Mr. Chair, you've asked, you know, what is the situation with the community?
Why are they in opposition? And I believe in this case, it's because the community believes that we've already maximized our density.
We got our 12 units, went through the, you know, the buy right payment in lieu and that's it.
We shouldn't get any more. Discounting the fact that if it was RM1, we'd be able to get the additional units.
and discounting the fact that we tried to do the right thing here.
We attempted to develop this property consistent with the CMX2 zoning
and have been totally unable to find an appropriate commercial user
or any commercial user who's interested in this first floor.
I'll have Ms. Blum come and she can attest to this as well,
but the first floor unit is-
Mr. Phillips, before you go on,
did you take this plan back to the board too? How many times have you been to the board before?
This board? Yeah. Only once. Initially, when we came before the board, it was a four-unit plan.
Former Chair DiCicco suggested that we try to reach a compromise that would provide some parking.
So this plan, specifically with the two units and the four parking spaces.
Yeah, but then you said you took that back to the RCO and they rejected that?
um they rejected it the first time three years ago and they've rejected it again now three years
later um so and my client does not want to have a uh vacant uh first floor use we believe that we
want to to uh get this leased up get it to a productive use um it's listed right now for
17 and 14 cents a square foot which is actually a little below market rate market rate within
in the neighborhood, as Ms. Blum can attest to, would be $20 a square foot. As you get on the
commercial corridors, you can get up to $25. But, you know, based on the $17.14 a square foot,
you would think we'd be able to find somebody interested. But there are also logistical issues
with the property being mid-block. It's not conducive for a grocery use because of deliveries
and because of the difficulty accessing. So, you know, as of 2024, there have been a total
of five inquiries. It's not because the listing is inactive. The listing is continuously updated,
but we just cannot find a buy-write commercial user for this mid-block property at 621 Reed
Street, and we are seeking the board's approval for a variance this time after we've tried for
approval for a variance this time after we've tried for another three years unsuccessfully.
another three years unsuccessfully.
I would like to ask, you know, my client, Yoav Shiffman, if he could come on to adopt
my testimony as my owner.
And then I would, after that, like to call Ms. Bloom to ask her just a few quick questions.
Okay, they've been allowed to speak.
Eric, could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
Yoav Schiffman, Y-O-A-V-S-H-I-F-F-M-A-N.
Aware or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you.
Please proceed, counsel.
Yoav, you heard my testimony in this case?
Yes, sir.
And would you agree that what I have stated and that my testimony is true and accurate, to the best of your knowledge?
Okay. And have you diligently attempted to find a commercial tenant for this ground floor space for over three years?
Correct.
Okay. And you have been unable to, is that right?
Okay. I would just like to call Ms. Veronica Bloom to briefly implement my testimony.
Bloom? Bloom?
I have been out to speak.
Can you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Veronica Blum, V-E-R-O-N-I-C-A, B-L-U-M.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Veronica, you heard my testimony about your efforts to list the property over the past three years, correct?
Okay. And with my testimony about the $17.14 square foot and that being a little bit below market rate, was that all accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Okay. And this first floor unit is 3,300 square feet?
Is that correct?
Okay. And can you just briefly, I started explaining here some of the uses and some of the interested tenant, but can you just explain some of the logistical challenges of finding a by-right commercial user for this 3,300 square foot first floor space?
yes the the size of the space is a little larger than the majority of commercial spaces in this
neighborhood um which in the beginning we thought would be great but when we did like for instance
we had a grocery store that was very interested but the way that the street is structured anytime
that they would go to have deliveries made or any sort of logistical challenges that sometimes face
a store like that they ended up walking away from the situation because they wanted to have a good
relationship with the neighborhood and didn't want to block a street for 40 minutes while they
unload pallets of everything that they needed. So that happened consistently. There were some
uses that were a little too loud. Basically, every time we got close to doing something,
they felt like the neighborhood, even if it was allowed by right, the actual use within the middle
of a residential block that was this dense with only one lane of driving traffic was going to be
a problem. Can you explain just the CrossFit? Because I know that's by right use, it's personal
services, but what were some of the complications there? Why didn't that work out? Generally,
CrossFit needs to be in a single-story building without residential units touching it on either
side because when a weight's that heavy or dropped, it actually affects the top of a building more
than it does directly above it. It actually makes the foundation shake, and it sounds like
a bell is being rung in the building and also in the adjacent buildings.
That's why you'll see them in standalone garages, usually.
And can you just, how long have you been a commercial broker in Philadelphia?
20 years.
Okay. And can you provide your opinion on the viability to find a market rate commercial tenant at this site?
i mean we've been we don't just wait for people to reach out to us we reach out to
tenants who we think would be a good use and um we have signed hundreds of leases since taking this
this assignment on and it's proven to be difficult for many you know all sorts of different reasons
so it's been frustrating because we do want to find a commercial tenant in situations like this
But the proximity of the neighbors and the large size of the space in relation to this single lane drive aisle has proven to be.
in relation to this single lane drive aisle has proven to be very difficult
i have no further questions uh for ms bloom but uh he will be available to answer any questions
if the uh um if the board questions from the board questions from the board
yeah go ahead yes oh okay oh i'm sorry go ahead turn it oh no uh real quick
the two parking spaces that you're that you propose were they for the two units it was actually
uh four parking spaces and it would be for um use of any of the 14 um there there would be a total
of 14 units in the building so the four parking spaces would be for the use of the uh of those
tenants okay are those parking units going to be for sale or is it no no no and question did we
Do you see a diagram, a plan or anything that is behind the doors there?
Yeah, I don't know. Yep.
Yeah, I can pull it up.
I mean, this shows the turning radius just into the existing curve cut with the four parking spaces.
This shows how the parking spaces would be here.
We have that enclosed trash room, bicycle parking, and then the two units are in the back along, you know, at the Earp Street frontage.
And what is in there now?
Nothing. It's vacant.
This is it now.
The bicycles are, you know, still there, but beyond that, it's nothing.
I guess my question is, you're supposed to have this space be the entire ground floor frontage and then 30 feet back.
Correct.
So what I'm seeing is this garage door and then there are these two other doors.
are they entrances to the units up above or what do we right so this this door here is the entrance
to the trash room the door on the left the orange door okay and the door on the right is uh the
entrance to the um to the units above okay and then the garage door and the garage door has been
there just because this was a former um auto body um shop so it's a vestige from uh from the past
but the new parking are they utilizing the existing garage door yes it would there would
be no changes to the garage door there's as you can see here there's an existing curb cut that
we would utilize yep so we're not okay so there's no changes to the side and then on that first
floor were there thoughts of just doing all parking or parking and like lobby spaces as
opposed to trying to put two more units in there were at one point there were thoughts about about
that about how you know we were going to mix up the um the uses but we did want to have some active
ground floor use um just for safety security um you know eyes on the street so it was important
to us that um even especially along the erp street frontage that we you know kept an active
user there and that um you know it wasn't just uh solely for for cars and then currently where
if i'm a current tenant where are the mailboxes currently
yo if you are still on can you um address mailbox i believe they would they're probably
inside the mail inside a mail room in the front it just didn't look like there was one on the
plan so i was trying to figure out like from the parking side to the two units to how you access
the public so the mailbox is actually in the residential lobby that's where we receive
packages and mail okay um so it's the door in relation to this plan here it is right
so this is this is that um that front door that you saw um and so the mailboxes are right here
right when you walk in got it okay
other questions from the board oh i guess the the um you don't kind of show any you show the
turning radius off the street into the parking lot but all of your cars are volkswagons and so
And so I don't see I got 16 feet. So, you know, I don't see the depth of what those parking spaces are and any kind of turning radius to kind of get out so you can pull in back into a parking space.
I don't see, I've only got 16 feet
so I don't see the depth
of what
I don't know how you kind of maneuver to go out front wise of the parking lot. That's one to the layout of the units on the ground floor are concerning to me because there's absolutely no real sort of natural light or natural ventilation into the main living space.
It's all kind of dark. I know there'd be borrowed light from these bedrooms or something like that, which is kind of not not the most optimal condition.
So that concerns me, just the layout of the units having two units in the back with no real sort of natural light and ventilation and natural ventilation for the for the living dining areas.
um board member johns if i could just interject um quickly so i in in reviewing this matter it
seems like there's actually about three refusals related to parking that's missed that are missing
from the refusal it looked like they were they were the applicant was previously advised by lni
that they there would be refusals but they did not end up on the refusal for some reason um the
The refusals were a drive aisle with being narrower than permitted, no ADA accessible space, and the stall size is smaller than what's required for a standard car.
So I was going to put this in my comments, but I'll say it now.
Now, I recommend that we that the board request a corrected refusal before voting on this matter, because I think the full extent of the refusals was not listed on the refusal.
I'm not I'm not sure why. It seems like they were communicated to the applicant, but they never made it on to the refusal for this particular iteration of the project.
So. Gotcha.
we still want to take we want to still take public comment though right
yes we we can there's nothing there's nothing about the project that's changed it's just
there's refusals that for some reason didn't make it on the the refusal i gotta be honest
i'd have a hard time parking a car there i don't think i'd get it in that's just me
um questions or comments from the virtual audience
I do not see any further hands, Mr. Chair.
How about planning?
Do you want to wait for planning or do you want to comment now?
Hi, Amy Ward with the Planning Commission.
Yes, I'd like to wait for the amended refusal.