The future site of Dunkin’ Donuts on 41st and Chester (Photo: Annamarya Scaccia/West Philly Local)
A sixth Dunkin’ Donuts will call West Philly home this fall when the franchise opens its doors at 4116 Chester Avenue, just a block north of fellow coffee chain Starbucks.
The new location, which was proposed in February, is taking over the vacant warehouse space on the ground floor of 4100 Chester Avenue, a multi-tenant building housing offices for the University of the Sciences and Veteran Affairs. Once open, Dunkin’ Donuts will operate on the relatively quiet residential block Sunday through Saturday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“We feel that this stable use will provide a great amenity to the office staff and students in the building, as well as to our neighbors and the community,” said David Hess, vice president of acquisitions for Posel Management Company, which owns and manages the property on 41st Street and Chester Avenue. “More importantly, it will add ‘eyes on the street’ and pedestrian activity to a block that can be lonely at night.”
The Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee approved the Dunkin’ Donuts site after the franchisee and their associates met with immediate neighbors on Apr. 9 to hear concerns, per SHCA’s request. According to Zoning Committee Chair Barry Grossbach, those concerns were then turned into a proviso, attached to the approval agreement, that the owner and property management must adhere to once Dunkin’ Donuts is operating. Among the issues to address: trash removal and pick up, exterior accessory signs, litter maintenance, security, and hours of operation.
Zoning-wise, the space, which has been empty for at least 10 years, was already zoned for a coffee shop, said Grossbach. The only matter the Zoning Board of Adjustment had to tackle was whether it would grant a special exception for a takeout restaurant, which the ZBA did on April 17.
Although the construction of the new Dunkin’ Donuts location has been met with little fanfare, some West Philly residents have taken to the UCNeighbors forum to express their opinions. One poster, Valerie, wrote “from an environmental and traffic point of view, as well as how it affects the residential quality of our neighborhood, Dunkin’ Donuts is not a good idea,” while another, Jon, counters: “Having been in this neighborhood when there was actual blight, such as abandoned housing on many blocks, I think we can handle a Dunkin’ Donuts. Baltimore Avenue seems to have survived the introduction of a Subway, for its part.”
-Annamarya Scaccia
June 10th, 2013 at 11:04 am
I work on the second floor of that building and am very disappointed to see a DD go in. My coworkers and I were really hoping for a nice (non-chain-y?) lunch spot. Desi Chaat House is fantastic, but it would be nice to have another place nearby to grab some food.
June 10th, 2013 at 11:34 am
Subway is just around the corner!
June 10th, 2013 at 11:47 am
I’m currently president of SHCA and this proposal strikes a nerve with me. The zoning committee did its job to negotiate with the tenant, but I think SHCA has a real opportunity to do more proactively regarding business development in which we develop a list of desired businesses for vacant properties and work with landlords to make that happen. If anyone would like to volunteer on a not-yet-created business development committee here in Spruce Hill, please reach out to me. In this case, the landlord had a vacant space for many years and DD was one of the few opportunities they had. Zoning then dealt with the case that came before it (it doesn’t offer alternatives and isn’t in a position to do so.) Our opportunity going forward with the right volunteers is to proactively recruit the type of businesses that match the special character of the neighborhood or the specific requests of what neighbors say they want to see.
Most common reply I heard to this DD proposal in casual conversations around the neighborhood was, “Can we have a Federal Donuts or independent donut shop instead?” A desire for something with some character that’s less dependent on car traffic than a fast food chain. If those are the questions when they come before zoning, it’s basically too late. However, if you live in the neighborhood and think you have skills that could identify more desirable businesses that could work in vacant spaces, I could put those skills to use. As it is, we already have landlords coming to us asking, “What do you think could work here?”
My email is listed at the top of the page here: http://www.sprucehillca.org/about/board.html
June 10th, 2013 at 12:07 pm
There is this prejudice in West Philly against any and all trademarked corporate businesses setting up a shop to compete in the free market in our neighborhood. I think we feel that any corporate business will be like the new Walmart that puts all of the other small shops out of business. I don’t feel any of the independent businesses in our area should fear a D&D, Subway or Starbucks existing in our area. Has a single sandwich shop in our area gone under because of the Subway on Baltimore Avenue? Milk & Honey, Fu-Wah, Fiesta Pizza, Best House are all still there. Did the Starbucks over on Woodland put Greenline, M&H, Earth Cup, etc out of business? Will a D&D in an under trafficked part of our neighborhood adversely affect our local independent cafe’s and pastry shops? This is capitalism. Time after time people in this forum want to decide what type of restaurant should open up in a location, as if this imaginary restaurant exists and is ready and able to take on the risk. D&D wants to take the risk. The franchisee will have to work their butt off the same as anyone else to make a dollar. They will have to follow all of the rules concerning trash pick-up, etc.. If the market supports the business then it will survive. I am about as politically liberal as they come but I think us liberal West Philly types should re-examine our aversion to any and all trademarked corporate businesses with an interest in our neighborhood.
June 10th, 2013 at 1:27 pm
Perhaps by “not chain-y” I should have said “not fried” or “not made of salt”. Really I just want a place where I can get some food that I feel good about eating.
Obviously I could just make my lunch… that seems way too easy, though. Whining on a blog is clearly a better way to solve my food-related woes. 🙂
June 10th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
brendangrad… you’re so wrong. dunkin donuts will employ as few people as possible, pay them shit, have a space that looks like shit (those colors are puke-worthy), sell overpriced “food” that is made elsewhere and then microwaved and is beyond shitty, push “coffee” that is garbage… chains like that are making the world as generic and bland and awful as the fake food that they sell.
what i can’t figure out is WHY you feel like you need to post a message supporting these [edited by admin]. do you feel that their position is misrepresented in this city/country? do you feel bad for dunkin donuts… getting a bad rap even though they are doing such amazing things in this world…? way to stick up for the big guy, the guy who doesn’t give a shit about you and hopes you eat the fried dough and sugar trash that’s sold at his disgusting hideous store, not caring if it gives you heart disease and ends your life. Oh, it’s CAPITALISM, that solves it, thanks for explaining… NICE WORK BUDDY
June 10th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
So don’t buy it. You have plenty of other choices. Yep, that is capitalism.
PS. You seem to have anger issues.
June 10th, 2013 at 1:17 pm
You also seem to assume that the independent cafes/restaurants in our neighborhood pay really really well and hire more people than they need.
I’m no fan of DD’s food/coffee so I wasn’t planning on going. Besides, there is as I have said a bunch of times now, so many other options for you and your angry self to go eat at. So WHY are you so worked up that OTHER people will have a CHOICE to go somewhere that YOU do not like?
June 10th, 2013 at 1:22 pm
PPPS., Moe, Do the local coffee shops offer their employees health insurance coverage like Star Bucks and Dunkin’ Donuts do?
June 18th, 2013 at 9:25 am
The Green Line does offer a health plan.
June 10th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
Again Moe, if the whole world is being bought and sold by massive corporations then how come our neighborhood is FULL of small independently owned businesses?? Exaggerate much??
June 10th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Oh, and the “Grad” in my name is not in reference to where I graduated from (Syracuse University, BA in Geography/History). It’s a play on the old Soviet cities of Leningrad and Stalingrad(present day St. Petersburg and Volgograd respectively). I study Soviet WW2 history in my free time. That’s all. I don’t care if you or anyone else gets it. As the great Ru Paul said, “other people’s opinions of me are none of my business.”
June 10th, 2013 at 2:41 pm
you’ve obviously never seen the three stooges.
June 11th, 2013 at 10:56 am
hey Moe!
June 10th, 2013 at 1:29 pm
The part that bothers me is that this is the SIXTH Dunkin Donuts in west philly, how many do we need?
I used to live in NYC where chain food places grab up real estate and over-saturate the neighborhood, just hope the West Philly community wont let that happen.
June 10th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Need? Zero. But of course, that’s completely irrelevant. Obviously there a clientele for these shops or they wouldn’t proliferate. Where do you think the taxes that pay for the schools come from?
[edited by admin]
June 10th, 2013 at 2:53 pm
Some comments have been deleted. Please read this before posting: https://westphillylocal.com/comment-policy
June 10th, 2013 at 3:03 pm
this has been quite the explosion here…sheesh. but can someone point out where the other 4 Dunkin Donuts are in the area that are making up this controversy? the only 2 I’m aware of are on 34th & Walnut and up at 44th & Powelton…
June 11th, 2013 at 10:53 am
I know of 3
5506 Chestnut
4301 Market Street
3437 Walnut Street
maybe the 4th is the one on 52 Street near the Shop Rite?
June 10th, 2013 at 3:22 pm
hey old guy,
you probably do believe that meds are the answer to problems like me. that’s a great attitude to have, just give me some pills! it’s also great to not care about aesthetic possibilities & the kind of food that people that are not as wealthy as you have to eat… you don’t even care about wealthy people getting fooled into eating overpriced food! you don’t seem to care about much other than being free to choose between M&H and DD… is it so wrong to hope for a choice better than that? is it so wrong to be more concerned with economic possibilities than the dismal economic reality? do you want it to just go on forever like it is? how jaded are you?
and grandpa grumpy, i don’t ever eat out. i make all my own food and get almost all of it from the co-op and farmers market. i grow, too. i can’t afford to have other people make food for me. that doesn’t mean i can’t have an opinion about what’s out there.
you probably feel the same way about me, but from what i can tell, your whole perspective is already so far gone that this is all a waste of time. it’s a good thing i’m at work, getting paid to do this. are you still at starbucks with your laptop, wasting your whole day doing this, pilfering their wifi? don’t tell me you’re at home right now bro! please not that!
June 10th, 2013 at 3:58 pm
1. I am also at work.
2. I also buy the majority of my food at the farmers market.
3. I also cook the majority of my food
4. I am 36. I am not old, nor am I jaded.
5. I care about the dangers of unchecked corporate power in our world. I just understand how to chose my battles. A Dunkin Donuts on a run down block in a neighborhood full of alternative independently owned competitors is not a red flag situation.
5. I like to argue based on the merits of the case. You like to argue by personally attacking people.
6. I don’t believe drugs are a panacea but if you are as angry and erattic in real life as you come off in your posts, you really should consider something.
7. I want to apologize to everyone else bored to death by our stupid argument.
Moe, I’ll see you at the Farmer’s Market.
June 10th, 2013 at 6:40 pm
Man, these are the best threads ever. Seriously, every time a new anything gets announced around here I just pop the tab on an adult beverage and watch the wailing and gnashing of teeth on WPL.
Taking my clown nose off for a second, Andy upthread has the right idea. Zoning’s job is to evaluate and approve projects that meet legal standards, not look after things like “neighborhood character”. If you want a nice little lunch place, an independent donut shop, or a corner store instead of Dunky D’s and Walmart, help attract those kinds of businesses to the neighborhood by hooking them up with landlords. Lord knows there’s plenty of empty retail space around.
Or you could just keep yelling at people on the Internet. That works too!
June 11th, 2013 at 9:47 am
Thanks, JD. Email me at the link I posted up thread if you’d like to help out!
June 10th, 2013 at 6:46 pm
I am not a fan of dunkin donuts but I do think that some local coffee-selling businesses in the area could benefit from competition. It really is too bad there is not a Federal Donuts going in.
June 10th, 2013 at 9:16 pm
the local places need some competition, the guys at MH and Greenline are always so stuck up like they are doing me a favor.
Atleast when i visit a chain place I dont get a cup full of attitude.
June 11th, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Weird, I always have found the people at the Greenline to be some of the friendliest people around.
June 10th, 2013 at 11:13 pm
I’m really appalled at SHA. They have done a real disservice to our neighborhood; Grossbach has no qualms about turning the area east of the park into a shithole. He gave us Mill Creek, a total disaster, and now this. What next, Barry? A check cashing joint? Can’t wait to see what you’re going to “approve” for us at 43rd and Chester. Something that will jeopardize this residential area even more, no doubt. Someone please tell me what the point of SHA is gain? To shill for developers so they don’t have to poll the actual residents affected? Dunkin donuts on 41st is going to be for commuters, not West Phil people. Another blight within a block of Barry’s last blight. Nice going.
June 11th, 2013 at 9:52 am
Parkside, I don’t want to minimize your frustration, but I do have a useful link for you. The development at 4225 Baltimore is not yet finalized, and the architect is very interested in community input right now. Please post on the official forum any ideas and concerns you have, since there’s still a chance to incorporate them. There are three community meetings (1 next Tuesday) where you can also contribute your input. Here’s the link: http://4224baltimore.com/
June 11th, 2013 at 9:54 am
Typo above: *4224 Baltimore
June 11th, 2013 at 12:02 pm
I’m curious to know why you think Mill Creek Tavern is a “disaster”? It’s not my favorite bar it’s alright, in my opinion.
June 12th, 2013 at 9:37 am
Does very little business but mostly with the Pagans (a violent biker group), gangster rap, and drunks shipped by bus who stumble in and out. It has bright violence, vandalism, and noise, and does not cater to local residents. A place keyed to the character of the neighborhood would have made it a vibrant and valued addition. instead itis a blight and brings danger to the neighborhood. The DD will similarly attract non-residents and being open 24 hours attracts drunks and druggies at night, along with commuter traffic during peak times when that street is already dangerously busy for bikers, pedestrians and drivers. Having more traffic and derelicts is going to advance the sleaziness of that stretch of Chester, thanks to SHCA which blithely ignores the interests of residents who are being directly affected by these regressive decisions.
June 11th, 2013 at 10:19 am
I’m surprised to see all of the negativity on here about people who are trying to keep a business alive in this economy and make money like anyone else commenting on this piece of news. Speaking as a student living in this area without a steady income, DD has cheaper products that can be purchased for those of us who do not have the time and the money to go to a place such as Milk and Honey. Some of us are in school 40 hours a week and need to study for classes…almost that same amount of time to stay in our program. I’m all for supporting the independent businesses as I used to work in a family owned business, but sometimes its just too expensive. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love M&H and would go there every day…if i had the time and money. Considering this business is targeted at the students in this area and not the people working regularly and bringing in an income, I think this is a great addition. If you don’t like it, don’t go. Its as simple as that. The students in this area are very excited to have another place to go to and we will support the business. If you don’t agree with us, that’s fine. We still want the coffee and donuts. The character of this neighborhood is up to you and many of you don’t know about what the neighborhood has come from within the past 30 years. The fact that vacant space is being taken over and used by a business, jobs are being created and money is being brought in. Granted there may only be 3 jobs available for a shift, but it is still a job for people who need an income and no job is below anyone. I for one, am going to apply for a job here when it opens up! Great opportunity.
June 15th, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Great when people who are passing through want their needs served rather than think of the community that remains after they blithely pass on. West Phil is an attractive area now for these chains (and students) precisely because of the way it has developed organically and with character rather than as a strip mall suburban chain culture. If you like chains, they have them for you at Penn so you can remain in your suburban bubble. There’s a dunkin donuts and etc right on walnut with your name all over its partially hydrogenated sugar saturated sawdust and fake, syrup-based coffee. We who actually live here and have done so for many years, and pay taxes, contribute to the community, raise children and intend to grow old here, the gods willing, want it to to be part of the mall-ification of the world. Ugly Americans who want the deadly sick sameness mirrored back to them at every corner of the earth.
June 11th, 2013 at 11:34 am
that people who get really, really upset about the encroachment of chains would stop trying to take away other people’s rights to make bad choices and concentrate on starting businesses themselves to provide better ones.
June 11th, 2013 at 1:56 pm
With a few notable exceptions (Dock Street, Little Baby’s, the Desi Empire & Cedar Park Cafe being chief among them)the majority of successful businesses that have opened over the last few years along Baltimore and elsewhere in the neighborhood have been started by fellow neighbors. People saw a need and filled it.
In my experience, many business proprietors from outside the hood either don’t “get it,” or if they do, they can’t find a space that works for their business model physically and financially. And then, even if they do get to that point, they often have an uphill zoning battle for some of the choicest properties.
What’s the lesson here? I’m not sure, but I think it’s this: save your money, talk to your neighbors, pool your resources and start a business. That way, success or failure, you’ll at least have an excuse to bitch on internet threads.
June 15th, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Well said, schmoe.
June 11th, 2013 at 11:24 pm
Time after time people in this forum want to decide what type of restaurant should open up in a location, as if this imaginary restaurant exists and is ready and able to take on the risk. –
Brendangrad, I couldn’t agree with your statement above (and indeed your entire post) more. It’s as if you’re my brother from another mother.
June 12th, 2013 at 2:08 pm
Does anyone have any info about the closure of Lee’s Hoagie Shop on Walnut.
http://weeklypress.com/lees-hoagie-to-close-p3755-73.htm
June 12th, 2013 at 2:09 pm
make that ? rather than .