Construction on the long-vacant lot at the corner of 2nd and
Race streets in Old City should begin by the first quarter of next year,
according to Jeffrey Brown, one of the developers who has planned a 148-unit
apartment complex at the site.
“We’re looking forward to actually getting started,” Brown
told PlanPhilly Tuesday morning after a presentation to the Historical
Commission’s architecture committee.
This is the developers’ third push to build on the site. The
Historical Commission “reviewed and commented favorably” on a separate proposal
in 2005 that never got off the ground.
In 2012, the developers submitted new proposals which met
some opposition from neighbors related particularly to the height of the
building, which will be 197 feet at its tallest point.
At Tuesday’s meeting, several neighbors once again objected
to the scale of the building, while taking pains to compliment the architects
and developers on “creating something that is not banal,” as one neighbor said.
Rob Kettell, a former member of the now-defunct Old City
Civic Association, said the scale doesn’t fit the historic character of the
neighborhood.
“I don’t think it’s a bad building, I just think that it
belongs on Market Street,” said Bette Woolsey, who lives on the 200 block of
Race.
The architecture committee reminded neighbors that the
committee has no regulatory power over the site and that height is outside of
its purview. The corner of 2nd and Race sits within the Old City historic
district but, as a vacant lot, is not individually designated historic.
At any rate, the building is designed to be built by right
after an overlay was put into place by City Council to allow the project to
proceed. The developers are claiming floor-area bonuses for providing
mixed-income housing and achieving LEED-Gold certification.
The proposal still needs advisory Civic Design Review and
review by the full Historical Commission. The developers have already applied
for a building permit.
Source: PlanPhilly
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