Dueling visions for the largest parcel of Center City
land owned by Philadelphia's redevelopment agency will go before the public
Monday night, as officials seek a more dynamic use for what's long been a
parking lot near a little-used subway station in a traffic-choked corner of
Chinatown.
Developers Pennrose and Parkway Corp., both based in
Philadelphia, will present their proposals for the 3.2-acre lot occupying most
of the area bounded by Race Street and the Vine Street Expressway, between
Eighth and Ninth Streets, at a community meeting arranged by the Philadelphia
Redevelopment Authority to help vet the companies’ plans.
The agency is seeking the property’s sale to a developer
with a plan that “enhances the quality of the built environment and improves
the overall quality and physical appearance of the community,” according to its
September request for proposals to develop the site.
The request also marked the first time that “social
impact” was included among the criteria for selection, part of a recently
introduced initiative by the agency. The property will not necessarily be sold
to the highest bidder, said Paul Chrystie, a spokesman for the authority.
"We were impressed by the quality of proposals that
we received and partly credit the social-impact scoring criterion as one of the
reasons why the proposals were so strong," Chrystie said.
Pennrose and Parkway were the only companies to submit
proposals for the site, large sections of which cannot be built on because of
subway tunnels that run beneath it. The property also accommodates an entrance
to the Chinatown station on the Broad-Ridge Spur of the Broad Street Subway.
Parkway’s proposal -- designed by Philadelphia
architecture studio Cecil Baker & Partners -- is being planned in
collaboration with the nonprofit Chinatown Community Development Corp. and
senior-housing developer Presby’s Inspired Life.
It calls for about 120 market-rate condo units, 60 units
of low-income senior housing, a hydroponic greenhouse to supply local residents
and restaurants with produce, and an “inter-generational park” with playground
equipment for kids and exercise stations for adults.
Also planned are stores and restaurants on the buildings'
ground floors, along with a 20,000-square-foot anchor Asian supermarket with a
second-floor food court. About 180 parking spots will occupy parts of the site
where underground tunnels make construction unfeasible.
Parkway president Robert Zuritsky said his company joined
with the Chinatown community organization on the project to make sure that it
is responsive to neighborhood needs.
"We see this as an expansion and an improvement on
Chinatown,” Zuritsky said of his team's proposal. “We wanted to do something
that would enhance the neighborhood, expand the neighborhood, and be a good
thing for kids and the elderly."
John Chin, executive director of the Chinatown group,
said his organization joined the proposal because of the supermarket jobs and
open space it will deliver to the neighborhood.
Employment and economic development are also guiding
principles of Pennrose's proposal, said Jessica R. Hilburn-Holmes, executive
director of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, which is joining with the
developer on its plan.
While Pennrose's vision also entails market-rate housing
(in the form of an 11-story, 150-unit apartment tower), affordable senior
housing (55 units), and parking (143 spots), its defining feature is a
160,000-square-foot office building for legal-aid organizations, to be called
the Equal Justice Center.
The aim of the EJC is to consolidate dozens of legal-aid
agencies now spread across the city into one building, to the benefit of
public-service attorneys and their clients, Hilburn-Holmes said.
The Pennrose team's proposal -- which is being designed
by architecture firm WRT LLC of Philadelphia and San Francisco -- also includes
a 147-room Comfort Inn hotel.
Combined with the ground-floor retail planned throughout
the development, the hotel will create jobs for the community, while the
residential buildings' tenants and the legal center’s workers draw customers to
area businesses, Hilburn-Holmes said.
“These components are built into the project under the
understanding that those are the kinds of things the Chinatown community was
looking for,” she said. “There’s a lot of economic possibility built into
this.”
Pennrose and Parkway will present their proposals at 6
p.m. on the third floor of the SEPTA headquarters building at 1234 Market St.
Source: Philly.com
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