RE: "When I read that the demolition permit had a June, 2008 date crossed out
and handwritten in was a January, 2009 date[...]. It seems pretty clear to me
that the current owners of 4224 Baltimore had requested a permit to demolish
last year with the expectation that the hotel project was close to a done deal,
that the precedent for large non-residential projects had been established and
that their project would thus be likely to win approval. Of course, the tough
fight against the hotel upset their timetable and they had to get a new permit,
one starting in January this year. I think one would have to be awfully naive
not to suspect that the fix is probably in on the hotel project and that these
guys have gotten the word. They are now set to proceed on whatever they have
planned for two nineteenth-century structures and one of the last plots of open
land in our community."
Mary, Thanks for this report. This is the very type of thing I warned against
my editorial letter in the Review back in October, 2007: bad precedent. Once
one 10 story building can be built, there is no credible justification to stop
another, and another, and yet another. And I agree with you that it seems that
the developer was waiting for the Campus Inn to be resolved so that whatever it
is that he has planned could ride in on those coattails, and any resistance
could be swatted away by pointing to that precedent. As far as the suspicion
regarding a "fix" being in, consider this from Inga Saffron of the
Inquirer:http://www.hotel-online.com/News/2009_Feb_06/k.PPR.1233945542.html On
Nov. 14, the commission -- now filled with Nutter's appointees -- made an
attempt to reverse course, voting 7-3 to reject the Campus Inn tower. Almost
immediately, commission chairman Sam Sherman was summoned to the office of
Deputy Mayor Andrew Altman. The following month, a slightly revised version of
the project was resoundingly approved, 8-2. Altman says he never asked Sherman
to change the decision. "I just wanted to understand why the commission voted
the way it did," he explains. Sherman concurs, and says Altman was concerned
because the Planning Commission had already given Campus Inn its blessing.
Still, according to the Preservation Alliance's John Gallery, such an
about-face is highly unusual. "In my six years of observing the commission,
I've never seen a reversal like this," he says. "In our view, there were no
material changes to the design" to justify a second hearing. Regarding the
defense that there are other 10 story buildings in UC: yes there are. The tall
buildings on Penn's campus are in an area zoned for institutional uses. Garden
Court, the Fairfax, and Hamilton Court at 39th and Chestnut were all built
prior to the existing zoning regulations. Each building was archetecturally
designed to be tall, and was intended to sit on a large lot with an area
proportional to its height. None of these buildings were built as modern,
out-of-character slabs, crammed as an afterthought into the side yards of
much-older existing buildings. Garden Court has a garage; the Fairfax and
Hamilton Court were built before the proliferation of cars. As far as the
claim that there is nothing else Penn could do with this building, it stretches
credulity to compare Penn with an individual property owner or investor who may
have limited resources and who must make a profit to stay afloat. Even
accepting the claim that Penn is in the education business, it can still raise
money from its vast pool of donors. They recently raised money in the billions
of dollars for its endowment fund, so I find it hard to believe that they could
not have designated the building for an academic use and raised whatever money
was needed from that pool of donors. In fact, Penn plans to build a three story
structure around the corner on the vacant lot next to Allegra Pizza at 40th
and Spruce. Why can't the Campus Inn be built on the vacant lot and 40th and
Pine be refurbished for the other facility? As far as not knowing the site
was historically designated: Penn has been in the business of buying up land
surrounding its campus ever since it moved to West Philadelphia from 9th and
Chestnut in 1873, so I tend to think that they've gotten to be pretty good at
it by now. Go to Penn's online archives or go to Phillyhistory.org and type in
"University City" to see the neighborhood as it was prior to the 1960s. It was
primarily residential, with commercial corridors on Market, Chestnut, and
Walnut Streets, and Woodland Avenue (now known on campus as Woodland Walk). It
has been Penn's mission to acquire (whether by purchase or by eminent domain)
the land surrounding its campus so that it could expand. It has its own "Penn
Real Estate" entity whose job it is to deal with land issues. They know that
there is a University City Historical Society that they could consult for
research purposes. Penn TEACHES the top legal and business scholars, so I have
a very hard time believing that they didn't know how to do due diligence and
adequate research.
From: mcget...@aol.comdate: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:56:43 -0500Subject: [UC]
demolition at 4224-4226 Baltimore AvenueTo: UnivCity@list.purple.com
When I read that the demolition permit had a June, 2008 date crossed out and
handwritten in was a January, 2009 date, and, in addition, that the original
L&I supervisor's name (Gallagher from the Western District) had also been
crossed out and replaced with the name Perry Cocco, who works out of the 11th
and Wharton office of L&I, I smelled a rat and decided to do a little googling.
I think that the neighborhood now has good reason to fear what will be
proposed for that site when the historically-contributing building there is
demolished. Just a few facts to ponder:
-The site was bought by Thylen Associates, a New York-based developer in
Jan., 2008 for $3,500,000.
Can you imagine what kind of a project they need to assure them of a decent
return on an investment of this magnitude?
-Thylan, Campenella and a man named Sean D. McDougall jointly developed a
site at 13th and Race called the Lithograph Lofts, the renovation of an old
factory structure into residences.
-Sean McDougall is the owner of a company called Minsec Corrections Corp.,
based in Wallingford. Their business is in what they call "Community
Corrections Facilities", which are essentially privately-run jails located in ,
guess what?, "communities"! They also run drug re-hab facilities. Their web
site (www.minsec.com) explains how their expertise lies in locating and
purchasing sites and building these correctional facilities in co-operation
with local government. (Are we starting to have any flashbacks yet to the deal
Campenella worked out with Jannie Blackwell over the proposed shelter at 45th
and Chestnut St., a deal that was astonishing in its attempt to circumvent city
laws, but only defeated because of local opposition.) The Minsec website also
touts Mr. McDougall as the head of a multi-million dollar real estate
enterprise.
-Campenella has a drug distribution conviction from 1993 ( a youthful
indiscretion no doubt - he was only in his forties at the time) and most
recently (2007) was charged with paying a $20,000 bribe to a city tax assessor
to lower the assessments on 4 different properties he owns by millions of
dollars. The news accounts suggest that he pled guilty to the charges but I
haven't been able to confirm that. He appears to be a free man, so I guess he
didn't get the full 5 years that was the maximum for this crime of corrupting a
public official.
It seems pretty clear to me that the current owners of 4224 Baltimore had
requested a permit to demolish last year with the expectation that the hotel
project was close to a done deal, that the precedent for large non-residential
projects had been established and that their project would thus be likely to
win approval. Of course, the tough fight against the hotel upset their
timetable and they had to get a new permit, one starting in January this year.
I think one would have to be awfully naive not to suspect that the fix is
probably in on the hotel project and that these guys have gotten the word. They
are now set to proceed on whatever they have planned for two nineteenth-century
structures and one of the last plots of open land in our community.
Mary
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