This may sound ridiculous, but the lot at the corner of
Broad Street and Washington Avenue is the marquee vacant property in South
Philadelphia.
On Thursday, City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson will
introduce a bill intended to kickstart developer Bart Blatstein’s plans for the
site, which include 1,600 apartments in two towers and 180,000 square feet of
retail space. The bill would create a new zoning overlay called the South Broad
Street Gateway, impacting the area bounded by 13th and Broad, Washington and
Carpenter.
At this point, Blatstein intends to surround the site in
three-story retail storefronts and restaurants, with a mess of parking in the
middle of the property. Two towers, 30 stories each, would rise at the
southeast and northwest corners of the property, at Broad and Carpenter and
13th and Washington.
Councilman Johnson’s bill makes changes to the zoning of
the site—currently CMX-5, which is already the most permissive commercial
district in the city—clarifying that parking areas must be screened by active
commercial spaces on Broad Street and Washington Avenue. Entrances and exits
for parking and loading can only be placed on 13th and Carpenter streets. The
bill also makes various zoning changes related to signage.
Councilman Johnson’s office said the proposal has been
under discussion with Blatstein and various community groups for more than a
year. The bill, being introduced on Council’s last meeting of the spring
session, is meant to keep the project moving forward while more discussions are
held over the summer.
“Hopefully, by the fall, we’ll have a project that we can
move forward,” said Steve Cobb, an aide to Councilman Johnson.
Bart Blatstein declined to discuss the project on the
record. Representatives of Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition, a local Registered
Community Organization, weren’t immediately available to comment.
Source: Plan
Philly
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