The revised plan for 4224 Baltimore Avenue unveiled last night includes two sections – one five and one eight stories – a large restaurant facing Clark Park and a retail fitness center.

Property developers looking to build a residential complex with commercial space that would include a large restaurant and retail fitness club at 43rd and Baltimore (across from Clark Park) unveiled a revised proposal to about 75 residents last night and received mostly positive feedback.

The meeting was the first airing of the plan before the Spruce Hill Community Association’s zoning committee, whose job is to gather public input and make recommendations on everything from the type of retailers that are pursued to landscaping, lighting and building materials. Since the plan needs zoning variances to include retail and more stories than currently is permitted, it must go through the neighborhood and city zoning process.

Similar plans were the subject of several public meetings over the summer.

The glass, brick and stone panel building would include 132 mostly one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and condos aimed at young professionals from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), many of whom now live in Center City.

“It should be something that is friendly and broken up,” said architect Cecil Baker of the building which would use Nichiha exterior panels.

The plan drew some complaints that the building was out of character with the nearby Victorian homes.

“Our opinion is that you build with the technology of today, not to build something today that tries to look like it’s from 200 years in the past,” said developer and Spruce Hill resident Omar Blaik (whose U3 Ventures is working on the plan for the property owner).

Others complained that the neighborhood does not need more apartments.

“We do not need more high density housing in this neighborhood,” said one resident.

Concerns were also voiced about the large trees on the property. A plan on which trees would be saved will be available soon, the developers said.

Informal talks have begun with retailers to find tenants for the 17,000 feet of commercial space, which will likely include a large fitness center and a full-service restaurant with outdoor seating facing Clark Park along 43rd Street. Other retail options include a a dry cleaner. Blaik said Penn’s Vet School has expressed interest in opening a space that would be for a “neighborhood use.”

The plan includes 65 underground parking spaces and 50 indoor bike parking spaces.

Like the plan proposed this summer, the newest plan includes two connected sections. One, along 43rd Street, would be mostly owner-occupied condos. The section further east on Baltimore, which would be taller and include the first-floor 10,000-square-foot fitness center, would be apartments.

When pressed for likely rental and purchase prices, Blaik said condos would likely be in around $450 per square foot and apartment rentals would be between $1,700 and $2,000 per month.

“The question is, does that market exist in West Philadelphia?,” Blaik said. “We don’t know yet.”

The project grew out of a concern that the property owners, the Clarkmore Group, might build a “by right” residential complex that did not include retail or parking, which is permitted under current zoning. Some residents believe the threat of a possibly ugly project there is being used to scare residents into accepting the current project. “By right” projects are those that do not seek zoning variances if things like retail or parking are not permitted.

But Blaik and SHCA zoning chair Barry Grossbach assured residents that many similar projects in the neighborhood that were built “by right” used very little creativity or community input.

“More and more we have developers coming into this neighborhood saying to us, ‘we are going to do what we can as a matter of right because we don’t want to go through your zoning process,” Grossbach said.

The next step will be an SHCA zoning report based on the conceptual drawings released during Wednesday’s meeting. If the plan passes through the formal zoning process, which will require more detailed drawings and blueprints, construction would take 18-24 months, Blaik said.

More details on the proposals will be available here. – Mike Lyons

The “design” table offers some suggestions during a community meeting on the proposed property at 4224 Baltimore Ave. on Monday.

The roughly 40 residents who sat down Monday evening at the International House (3701 Chestnut St.) to offer their input on the proposed 92-unit residential development project at 43rd and Baltimore made a few things clear: More parking, no pharmacies, absolutely no undergraduates and a design that respects what Clark Park means to West Philly.

Their input was part of the first of three community meetings designed to weave community input into design, retail space and transit choices to be made by the developers of the property at 4224 Baltimore Ave., the long-vacant plot across 43rd Street from Clark Park.

“Working with the community we can aspire for a project that works for the community, for the neighbors, for the business owners,” said Omar Blaik, a 15-year resident and former senior vice president at Penn, whose firm, U3 Ventures, is serving as a development liaison between the community and the property owners. U3’s job is to gather community input over the next couple of months and integrate them into the project’s design.

So far, there is no design. A conditional use permit from the city allows the development of a 92-unit structure, but places few restrictions on the amenities offered or the businesses that could occupy the first floor of the project. No building drawings were offered at the meeting. Those will be available at the next meeting in mid June, when the comments from Monday’s meeting are passed along to architects.

Residents were broken into groups and asked to address the building design, ideas about retail spaces, the type of units that should be offered and parking/transit. Here’s what they had to say:

• Design – This group of residents recommended that there be at least 50-60 parking spaces incorporated into the design. The original proposal calls for six. They also advised that the service access for the project in no way interferes with trolley traffic on Baltimore Avenue. So no double parking etc. The height of the building should fit in with other buildings in the vicinity.

• Retail – They recommended businesses that fit the current flavor of the neighborhood. The options range from a single 5,000-square-foot business (the space at Mariposa is about 5,500 feet for comparison), or whether it should house several smaller spaces. The Green Line Café at 43rd and Baltimore, for example, is about 1,000 square feet. Milk and Honey Market is about 2,000 square feet. Resident Mel Clampet-Lundquist suggested a design that incorporates a pub/restaurant that looks out over a recreational space that could be used for wiffleball, similar to Rookie’s, a Wisconsin pub/field. “Absolutely no pharmacies,” the group concluded. Another suggestion was a “restaurant that served good booze rather than a pub that served bad food.”

• Unit type – This group was asked to consider the preferred market for the complex. There was a clear consensus that it should not include undergraduates. Other possibilities included single families or condos that could be purchased by current neighborhood residents looking to downsize. One issue the group raised was the added pressure that would  be placed on the Penn Alexander School if the project marketed to young families.

• Parking/Transit – They recommended a resident-to-parking-space ratio of 2:1 or 3:1. They also recommended that the project should encourage walking, biking, car share and public transit to residents through added car share spaces and maybe a SEPTA kiosk.

Blaik said that these suggestions will be be taken into consideration in the designs that are set to be released at a June meeting. A final meeting will be held in early July.

What can you do?

This process isn’t over. The developers are collecting ideas from residents at a website, 4224baltimore.com. They encourage everyone to submit design ideas on the “community” portion of the site, including photos of building designs you like and restaurants you would like to see housed there.

– Mike Lyons

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The developers of the proposed residential building at 4224 Baltimore Avenue are seeking residents’ input on the project through a series of community engagement meetings, with the first one scheduled on Monday, May 20, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at International House of Philadelphia (South America Room, 3701 Chestnut St). The goal of the meetings is to come up with alternative design plans for the proposed apartment complex to be built on the large vacant lot at the corner of 43rd and Baltimore.

Vacant lot at 43rd and Baltimore where the new apartment complex is proposed.

Clarkmore Group LLC, the property owner, has obtained a conditional zoning permit for the 92 residential unit building, six parking spaces and 36 bicycle parking spaces. The proposed plan had received mixed reviews from the community, including comments by West Philly Local readers after our first article on this subject.

Clarkmore Group LLC is working with the Spruce Hill Community Association, which will coordinate the community engagement process that will include three meetings in total (we’ll post more details about the other two meetings when this information is available). At the meetings, community members can learn more about the project, meet the project team and work with it on a number of focus areas, including the building design, transportation and retail mix.

More details on this project and its stakeholders are available here.

The firm behind the proposed residential housing project at 43rd and Baltimore will soon begin to seek community input, including the launch of a forum-like website, according to a letter from the chair of the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee.

We first reported on the 92-unit residential complex proposed for the vacant lot at the corner of 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue, across from Clark Park, a month ago. Since publishing the story, a lively discussion on what this development would mean for West Philly took off, with a number of residents emailing concerns to Barry Grossbach, chair of the Spruce Hill Zoning Committee. Grossbach recently addressed those questions in a statement released by the Spruce Hill Community Association.

“Here is what we know. The property owners sought, and were given, a ‘conditional’ zoning permit subject to design committee approval by City Planning,” writes Grossbach. “The site, currently zoned Rm1 under the new code, does not require any parking as part of any multifamily development. This is particularly important to understand given the emails insisting that Spruce Hill not allow this lack of parking to stand. The plans submitted by the owners meet the requirements of the code under Rm1 zoning, and lamenting the lack of parking will not address those concerns in a meaningful way. A ‘conditional’ permit is good for one year, and the clock does not start ticking on any time schedule until the owners seek to change ‘conditional’ to ‘permanent.’”

According to Grossbach’s statement, before seeking that change, the property owner, Clarkmore LP, controlled by Thylan Associates, has enlisted the help of U3 Ventures, a local real estate advisory and development firm, to engage the community in fostering alternative design plans. The process, writes Grossbach, will include a series of insightful roundtables with residents, and the creation of 4224Baltimore.com (which is not yet up and running), a website dedicated to the project news and information. The plan is for the website to feature an online discussion forum moderated by “Spruce Hill community members” where residents can express qualms about issues ranging from “building size to parking concerns,” according to Grossbach’s letter. The development team will not edit the forum’s content, but will participate in the discussion.

The development group will also have a table at the Spruce Hill Community Association May Fair on May 11.

“Many of us in Spruce Hill have looked at 43rd and Baltimore with a mixture of apprehension and hope over these ‘vacant’ years—expecting that something would surface as a development scheme and praying silently that we would not only survive it but applaud it,” writes Grossbach. “We have a unique opportunity here…We have the chance to think big and bold and, hopefully, find that sweet spot in shaping development for a site that both community members and property owners applaud without reservation.”

– Annamarya Scaccia

A New York-based property developer is hoping to build a 92-unit residential building on the large vacant lot at the corner of 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue (pictured), across from Clark Park.

The property owner, Clarkmore LP, is associated with Thylan Associates Inc., whose properties include the University of Pennsylvania-run independent housing complex for the elderly, LIFE UPenn, at 4508 Chestnut St., the Bailey Building at 1218 Chestnut St. and the Biddle Building at 1217 Sansom St. The company also owns upscale condos at 1111 Locust St. and the Heid Building, 325 N. 13th St., which houses lofts.

The conditional zoning permit, granted on March 11, confirms that the developer meets some basic requirements for construction, but does not give a green light for construction.

A 17,600 square-foot structure and the plot, which is a little over an acre, was purchased by Thylan in 2008 for $3.5 million. The building was demolished soon after. The building had most recently housed a women’s shelter. In the past it had served as a nursing home and before that a private boarding school.

The proposed project will also include 36 “bicycle spaces” and 6 parking spaces.

Anyone who opposes the permit for the project can file an appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. For instruction, call them at 215-686-2429.

4224 Baltimore Avenue project rendering (via U3Ventures.com).

After more than six years of planning, building permits were recently issued for the 132-unit residential/commercial complex on the vacant lot across from Clark Park at 4224 Baltimore Avenue.

Permit for the construction of the six-story building was issued on May 7, according to the City’s Department of Licences and Inspections.  Continue Reading