The city's Architectural Committee of the Historical
Commission approved the renovation design plans for the Divine Lorraine on
North Broad Street, putting owner Eric Blumenfeld one step closer to turning
the upper floors into 109 apartment units, bringing a grocery store and several
restaurants to the ground floor, and adding a sunken outdoor garden to the
property, according to PlanPhilly.
Blumenfeld secured the final piece of funding necessary
to begin the massive overhaul of the iconic and long vacant hotel last month.
Now he is working to meet all the requirements of various historical committees
and other agencies to bring his vision for the property – including
20,000-square-feet of ground floor retail space– to the 120-year-old building.
The full Historical Commission is set to review the
plans, which got the OK from the Architectural Committee this week, according
to a PlanPhilly report.
On Tuesday, the
architectural committee voted to approve the renovation design plans. In doing
so, it recommended replacing some of the missing ornamental statues (not
necessarily with the same materials), using limestone to fill out the base of
the building (while differentiating the look from the rest of the building by
using a different finish), using wood-framed windows on the lower floors and
aluminum-framed windows on the upper floors, and restoring the sign with neon.
They also
recommended that no mechanical equipment for heating and cooling should be
visible from any public right-of-way. And they asked that the developers work
with Commission staff to develop the rest of the design details.
Blumenfeld, who originally hoped to start construction by
the end of July, says renovations are more likely to begin next month.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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