City Council’s Committee on Rules approved a bill
Wednesday that would amend portions of
the zoning code to allow developer Carl Dranoff’s SLS International
Hotel proposal on South Broad Street to be built by without any additional
zoning approvals.
The proposal calls for a 47-story, 567-foot tower with 149
luxury hotel rooms and 123 residential condominiums. It would also include a
bar and restaurant at the corner of Broad and Spruce streets, with retail space
along Broad Street.
The property currently sits just south of the Center City
zoning overlay.
The bill approved on Wednesday, which was introduced by
1st-District Councilman Mark Squilla, would rezone the property from CMX-4 to
CMX-5, the most permissive commercial mixed-use classification in the zoning
code.
It would also extend the Center City overlay south to
include the property, allowing the developer to build to a Floor Area Ratio
(FAR) of up to 1,600%. Additionally, the bill adjusts regulations related to
parking and loading to allow for curb cuts on Spruce Street, and to reduce the
requirement for loading spaces.
In a letter addressed to Councilman Squilla, Washington
Square West Civic Association, the local registered community group, said its board
had voted “to not oppose” the bill, provided certain agreements are made with
respect to noise and activity at the hotel and other matters of operation.
The bill was also amended to include an updated Economic
Opportunity Plan, which calls for a minority participation rate in professional
services (architecture, design, marketing, and so on) of between five and ten
percent, a minority participation rate in construction of between 20 and 30
percent, and a local-resident employment rate of 50 percent.
The project is expected to generate 480 permanent, full-time
jobs, and $6.5 million in tax revenue per year, according to Peter Kelsen, an
attorney for the developer.
Kelsen said that if the bill is approved, construction will
begin in the fall of 2014 and be completed two years later. A separate
bill related to the development, which would strike from the city plan a
90-foot portion of Cypress Street east of Broad, is also moving through
Council.
Source: PlanPhilly.com
New Jersey approves hedge fund to operate Revel casino
New Jersey casino regulators gave final approval to an
investment firm to be the largest owner of Revel Casino Hotel.
The state Casino Control Commission on Wednesday agreed to
Chatham Asset Management. The hedge fund is part of a lender group that emerged
with an ownership stake in Revel following its bankruptcy last year.
Chatham owns 28 percent of Revel.
But how long any of this lasts is anyone's guess. Revel is
considering selling itself or making a second bankruptcy filing.
Revel opened in April 2012 with great hopes of helping turn
around Atlantic City's struggling casino market.
But it has remained mired near the bottom of the city's 11
casinos in terms of the amount of money won from gamblers.
Source: Newsworks.org
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