Plans for central Philadelphia's eastern waterfront call
for bike- and pedestrian-friendly trails, sprawling green spaces, and dense
blocks of housing over street-enlivening shops and restaurants.
Add to that now a big new convenience store with gas
pumps, strip-mall retail, and lots of parking.
That's what developer Bart Blatstein has in mind for part
of the property he owns along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia where a
Foxwoods casino had once been planned.
Blatstein's proposal, which recently came to light in an
online presentation by real estate brokerage MSC Retail, calls for a shopping
plaza, apartments and townhouses, and parkland on the 21-acre parcel along
Columbus Boulevard.
Critics say the plan's retail portion would require a
major exception from zoning regulations, while setting back efforts to enliven
the waterfront with increased foot traffic.
"It's a regression, not a progression," said
Drexel University planning expert Harris Steinberg, who led a committee that
devised a master plan for the central Delaware waterfront nearly a decade ago.
"This is just more car-oriented development."
Blatstein rejected that characterization and said his
plan would result in the more walkable environment that the area's zoning is
meant to encourage.
"A large residential community cannot exist
successfully without commercial and retail services," he said. "The
commercial and retail services are the infrastructure that helps build the
larger community."
The plan for the property on MSC's website shows boxy
retail buildings - including a "proposed Wawa" and a "proposed
Aldi" supermarket - and a shopping strip spread over a parking lot.
MSC broker Jason Bock, who helped Blatstein devise the
plan, said the Wawa would be a "super" version of the convenience
store with a gas station.
"This is going to be an urban development that's
going to look like a suburban development," Bock said.
Aldi Inc. spokeswoman Erica Hoey said the grocer has no
plans for the location. Wawa Inc. did not reply to an email. Bock said he is in
talks with the companies and has gotten so much interest from other potential
retail tenants that the plan may be tweaked to include more shops, with less
housing.
For some, the plan recalls past decades' development on
the South Philadelphia waterfront that turned Columbus Boulevard into a strip
of shopping centers, such as the Blatstein-developed Riverview Plaza and
Columbus Crossing complexes.
That was before the 2013 adoption of a zoning overlay for
the central Delaware riverfront that prohibits such development, with
street-adjacent parking lots and gas stations specifically off-limits.
The overlay sought to stop projects that discourage
pedestrian access to the river, which is already separated from the rest of the
city by I-95 and other impediments.
But Blatstein's plan "replicates many of the
unfortunate design features of the strip malls and big-box stores that
currently plague this end of the waterfront," said Lizzie Woods, a planner
for the nonprofit Delaware River Waterfront Corp (DRWC).
City Councilman Mark Squilla, whose district includes the
proposed development site, said through an aide that he declined a request by
Blatstein to intervene before the plan was publicly vetted.
Scorn for the project is not universal. Jim Moylan,
chairman of the Pennsport Civic Association, said he was open to - if not
enthralled by - what he's seen of the plan so far.
"We're just happy to see progressive steps toward
making it no longer be an empty eyesore," said Moylan, whose group would
likely vet the proposal as part of the permit process.
The plan also calls for 670 apartment and townhouse units
between the shopping plaza and a strip of park along the river that is part of
a waterfront recreation area DRWC is developing.
DRWC has already secured riverfront parcels to the north
and south of Blatstein's site, but negotiations to acquire the segment on his
parcel have been stalled since November, Woods said.
That delay could stoke suspicions that Blatstein is using
the land in a push for the shopping center, said Matt Ruben, chief of the
Central Delaware Advocacy Group, a riverfront neighborhood alliance.
"He wouldn't want anyone in the public to mistakenly
think he was holding that waterfront setback hostage to try to get what he
wants for this development project," Ruben said.
Blatstein said the issue was more complicated than that.
"In spirit, I am for the river trail," he said.
"In reality, it would be sold for a fraction of the market value of the
property and there are a lot of details to be worked out."
Source: Philly.com
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