The developers who are hoping to redevelop the massive
power station north of Penn Treaty Park in Fishtown have started making the
rounds to drum up support from various community groups.
Last week, the Central Delaware Advocacy Group (CDAG) met
with Joe Volpe, of Cescaphe Event Group, who is planning to convert the former
PECO station into a mixed-use event space in partnership with developer Bart
Blatstein. The latest renderings of the project draw out the concept: two event
spaces for private weddings and corporate gatherings with two restaurants open
to the public and blocks of guest rooms on upper floors reserved for events.
The developers seem to have dropped earlier plans for traditional hotel uses at
the site.
Volpe and Blatstein announced they had an agreement of
sale on the 11-acre property in January. In August, the pair bought the site
for $3 million.
The latest renderings also show surface parking for more
than 400 cars on what is currently a dirt lot just north of the empty power
station. Surface parking is a use that’s discouraged in the Central Delaware
Master Plan, adopted by the City Planning Commission a few years ago and
codified in the Central Delaware Zoning Overlay, which includes the PECO site.
“[Surface parking] is not something that we would
promote,” said Matt Ruben, the chairman of CDAG. “But it’s proposed as an
accessory use to the restoration and preservation of a massive structure that
is one of the most important structures in Philadelphia, so we have to look at
the parking in a larger context because it’s so significant.”
In November, Councilman Mark Squilla introduced a bill
that would have exempted the property from another zoning overlay, the North
Delaware Avenue Neighborhood Commercial Area, but that bill didn’t move
forward. If Squilla still wants to change the zoning for the property, he’ll
have to reintroduce a bill next year.
Ruben said that CDAG generally thinks the proposed use
will be good for the site. The group is glad that the proposal would allow some
public access to the site, namely through the restaurants, and Ruben said they
would encourage the developers to make at least one of the restaurants casual
and affordable to encourage trail users to patronize it. But he said the group
is concerned about the potential legislative rezoning of the site.
“Any bill that would legalize this proposed use would
have to punch a hole in the Central Delaware Overlay, and CDAG is of course
bound to speak out against such a move as a matter of policy and principle,”
Ruben said. “That’s not a statement against this project. It’s about process.
It’s about how the Councilman views and approaches the overlay moving forward
…”
Joe Volpe, who presented the project to CDAG last week,
was unavailable for an interview on Tuesday. Bart Blatstein said that the
developers still plan to present the proposal to other community groups,
including Fishtown Neighbors Association. He didn’t have an estimate on the
cost for the project but said it would be in the tens of millions of dollars.
He’s hopeful that the work could start next year, pending zoning changes.
“I don’t know that the Master Plan really is designed for
a property like that … because you’ve got an existing condition there and an
existing building,” Blatstein said. “... I believe that the plan is very
consistent with the property and the location.”
Kim Broadbent, a preservation planner at the Historical
Commission, said that some neighbors had submitted a nomination to designate
the power station historic in August. The Commission determined that the
nomination was “incomplete and incorrect” and sent the it back pointing out
where it needed to be amended. The neighbors haven’t yet resubmitted the
nomination, Broadbent said.
Source: Plan
Philly
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