The next Spruce Hill Community Association’s Zoning Committee meeting will take place Thursday, Aug. 19 at 6 p.m. (see more details below). The meeting will focus on several development projects proposed along Chestnut Street – from 40th to 46th Street:
4519-45 Chestnut Street: Six-story residential development with 327 units is being proposed on an existing parking lot at West Catholic High School.
4145 Chestnut Street: A residential building with 136 units and ground floor commercial/retail;
4301-29 and 4331-37 Chestnut Street: A seven-story mixed use complex with 275 residential units.
The three projects above are “by right” projects and have been submitted to the zoning committee as part of the Civic Design Review process, meaning that there will be no vote on the projects.
4006 Chestnut Street: Demolition of the existing structure and erection of an attached structure with ground floor commercial and three residential units. One parking spot is required for this project, but none are planned.
Proposed development at 4317 Ludlow St that will also be discussed at the meeting. This proposal includes erection of an attached four-story building with seven residential units with two off-street stacked parking slots.
All immediate neighbors have been informed of the meeting and have received plans of the proposed projects, according to SHCA Zoning Chair Barry Grossbach. Those interested in hearing the presentations are invited to attend and ask questions and offer comments.
UPDATE: The meeting will be held in the West Catholic High School auditorium at 4501 Chestnut St. Masks are required and will be provided if needed. The auditorium seats 800 and social distancing should not be a problem, according to the organizers.
August 17th, 2021 at 8:25 pm
And how many, if any, of these units will be affordable? Not “tax credit” $900+ for a 200sqft closet of a studio affordable, but truly affordable for the long time residents of the community? We are tired of the entitled luxury for short term don’t care about anything students. Why do students need luxury? Not saying they should live in squalor, but no one should. The community is being destroyed by gentrification. Enough is enough
August 17th, 2021 at 9:25 pm
Where are all these so called students supposed to be coming from? I thought the local colleges were having a decrease in enrollment. Granted there isn’t a legal type of apartments called ‘student housing’, but it seems clean that what is happening is the developers of these junk building are looking to build as cheap as possible, with little regard to the neighborhood.
August 17th, 2021 at 9:45 pm
We should put more pressure on the universities to require all students to live on campus. Often, off campus apartments are cheaper than on-campus housing, so we should also push the universities to lower their cost of housing.
That said, students are only one component of our renter population. We have med students, interns, residents, and biotech employees that all live and work in the neighborhood. We have thousands of jobs coming to 42nd & Market alone- and it is better for the environment (and our city’s finances) for them to be living here.
Lastly, because there is so little supply of single family homes, the prices are through the roof. You can’t buy a home east of 52nd St these days at a reasonable price. Millennial households, who are in prime home buying age, are renting because they can’t afford to buy.
There are all kinds of folk that live, or want to live, in our community. If we don’t build housing for them, we only give landlords more power to raise rents. And then, if we don’t have enough apartments
, renters will bid up the existing older apartment stock, displacing longtime residents.
August 17th, 2021 at 10:08 pm
The entire city will benefit from the tax revenue generated by the growth of the income producing population and from the taxable rental income generated by these rental units.
August 18th, 2021 at 3:50 pm
It’s hard to imagine how giving free rein to the big developers and the financial institutions that love them- whether for expensive rentals, condos or whatever- is going to somehow lower prices around here. Quite the opposite. Just take a look at what they are charging for these new places.
August 18th, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Also hard to imagine how this becoming more and more of a city of haves and have nots is contributing to the general well-being. Neoliberals, your contradictions are showing…
August 19th, 2021 at 12:05 pm
These projects are all planned for already-gentrified areas east of 46th, and will help absorb some of the crushing demand for housing in the area — exerting a net downward pressure on housing prices. New market-rate housing is better than no new housing. Building nothing just ensures that prices will keep spiraling, guaranteeing the eventual displacement of existing residents that NIMBYs claim to care about.
August 19th, 2021 at 1:24 pm
I’ll put it to the folks who are going to the event tonight: Inquire carefully about what prices are expected for the various units in these developments. Simply stating that these are “already-gentrified areas” does not provide much of a fig leaf, as there are no international borders surrounding these blocks.
August 20th, 2021 at 11:38 am
We were looking to improve our business model. We wanted to increase efficiency, decrease wasteful spending and and create of better model of communication so that we could learn more about what makes us feel driven to work harder. We brought in a high-priced consultant who talked us through the ‘kiss’ model. Now we rock n roll all night and party every day.
August 21st, 2021 at 11:41 am
Well done, Zany. Another hit. Spot on!
September 15th, 2021 at 12:23 pm
It is hypocrites to cry for affordable housing while opposing new construction aimed at adding housing to alleviate the crushing burden of a housing shortage.