Scott (left) and Guy Orens talk to the Spruce Hill Zoning Committee on Wednesday about very rough plans for a residential building on the 4400 block of Chestnut. (Photo by Mike Lyons / West Philly Local)

A local developer gave the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee a sneak peak of their plan for a residential complex that would dramatically change the 4400 block of Chestnut Street.

Scott and Guy Orens, owners of Orens Brothers Real Estate, presented a project that was very early in the planning stages to build a five-story, 150-unit on the north side of the 4400 block of Chestnut that require the demolition of some vacant and owner-occupied homes and a warehouse along Ludlow Street.

The two brothers, whose firm has built or renovated several large residential buildings in the city including the once-abandoned Croydon building at 49th and Locust, were not yet seeking any approval for their plan from the committee.

They have already purchased many of the properties that would be required to build the complex, which would be one- and two-bedroom rentals, but public discussions about things like building design, materials and facade appearance have not yet begun.

“We are willing to participate in creating something that you will like,” Scott Orens told the committee.  Continue Reading

The community group Friends of Clark Park (FOCP) has come out in favor of the residential building proposed for an empty plot across from the park at 43rd and Baltimore Ave.

The project under consideration would include 108 units in a building with two connected sections (five floors near the park and nine floors further east on Baltimore Avenue), first-floor retail and some owner-occupied condo units.

The proposed building looking east near the corner of 43rd and Baltimore.

In a letter to the head of the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee Barry Grossbach, FOCP president Erin Engelstad wrote that the group approved the project with some stipulations. These include:

• The portion of the building facing the park should be low and inviting.

• The design of the building should include terracing and include as many green features as possible.

• The project must support the efforts of the existing Farmers’ Market. Retail should be limited to certain smaller, community-oriented retailers and should be encumbered as such to require this stipulation remain in the future.

• The Friends of Clark Park look with favor on the idea of building a proportion of coop units into the development, to support a desirable owner-renter balance in the community which in turn will support the park.

The plan, which was offered in a series of public meetings, is still only tentative. The owners of the property, Thylan Associates, are considering it. Thylan already has a conditional zoning permit to build a four-story, 92-unit building on the site with 6 parking spaces and no retail.

If the property owners give the go-ahead, the project will still need to go through a lengthy approval process that would include the Spruce Hill Community Association, the City Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Adjustment. There will be further chances for public comment during the process.

Photo: Annamarya Scaccia/West Philly Local

After years of uneven and stalled construction, the eyesore of a site at 4809 Chester Avenue was recently put up for sale and it’s going for a whopping $549,000.

The three-story residential project has a long and sordid history. The nearly 5,000 sq-ft lot, which was bought empty by Antonie Gardiner’s company Bizness as Usual Inc. in 2004, received 15 code violations since 2007—all of which were resolved, according to a March 13 Philadelphia Inquirer article. The piece also reports that, from 2003 forward, Gardiner owed $5,324 in delinquent taxes, penalties, and interest, and has set up a payment arrangement on the property with a city collection agency. And that’s not all—the Southwest Cedar Park site is allegedly one of Gardiner’s 58 delinquent properties, states The Inquirer.

The unfinished Chester Avenue project is being sold as-is by the owner, according to an online listing by Fred R. Levine Real Estate, the agent on the property. The post catalogs the building as a three-story single-family detached home with six bedrooms, four full and two partial bathrooms, a garage, parking space, basement, electric heat, and a brick exterior.

When West Philly Local visited the site on Wednesday, the unsecured property was still overwhelmed by a muddy and uneven front yard, cut through by equipment tracks and peppered with murky puddles, debris, and litter. The entryway is also boarded up by two sections of large wood planks, with a small “SALE” plaque by Fred R. Levine Real Estate tacked to the right side.

-Annamarya Scaccia