Condos at New Market site on Headhouse Square - Page 27 - PhillyBlog

Tim K · #**261** (**permalink**) 03-08-2008, 11:28 AM

You know, at the public meeting the other week one of the "near neighbors" who lives adjacent to the lot had the audacity to claim that "after the project is built he won't feel safe letting his children walk past it while walking their dog."

I almost laughed out loud that someone would claim that a high end condo, a 4 star hotel and a 5 star restaurant would be more dangerous than a vacant pit filled with trash and broken glass, covered in graffiti and surrounded by a barbed wire fence!

Just say you don't like the plan and don't want to live next to a 15 story building....stop with the ridiculous lies already.

alesis · #**262** (**permalink**) 03-08-2008, 11:34 AM

Oh yes, all of us actually living around it feel much safer with it as a dark, chainlinked hole where vagrants now congregate as they decide what area they are going to panhandle in today

People are &ssholes. I missed that comment, but if I heard it I think I would of had to slap them for such b.s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim K

You know, at the public meeting the other week one of the "near neighbors" who lives adjacent to the lot had the audacity to claim that "after the project is built he won't feel safe letting his children walk past it while walking their dog."

I almost laughed out loud that someone would claim that a high end condo, a 4 star hotel and a 5 star restaurant would be more dangerous than a vacant pit filled with trash and broken glass, covered in graffiti and surrounded by a barbed wire fence!

Just say you don't like the plan and don't want to live next to a 15 story building....stop with the ridiculous lies already.

Mixiboi · #**263** (**permalink**) 03-08-2008, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim K

You know, at the public meeting the other week one of the "near neighbors" who lives adjacent to the lot had the audacity to claim that "after the project is built he won't feel safe letting his children walk past it while walking their dog."

He must be one of those people who think that the hotel is only going to be use by addicts, pedophiles and sex workers.

You know they can afford a night in a 4 star hotel.

mpennsky · #**264** (**permalink**) 03-16-2008, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHUCKPHISH

build it! i didn't move here to see small town usa. grow up you idiots. any city's viability is its vibrance....

please, all sociery hill opponenets, move to the country...we don't WANT you here. get the **** out!!!

Does your mommy and daddy know you're playing with the computer.

PS: My guess is that you get banned by post number 20.

clubbster · #**265** (**permalink**) 05-01-2008, 07:23 PM

http://www.planphilly.com/node/3044

Quote:

May 1
Stamper Square gets final approval

By Thomas J. Walsh

For PlanPhilly

Philadelphia City Council gave final approval Thursday to rezoning sought by developers of the Stamper Square mixed-use project, proposed for the long-barren parcel that once was home to the failed NewMarket in Society Hill.

The measure passed unanimously and without comment, and follows months of public debate and a review from the City Planning Commission, which gave Council an affirmative recommendation for what opponents call “spot zoning.” The ordinance allows the site’s height limit to be lifted and contains a one-year “sunset clause” and project-specific deed restriction, also urged by the Planning Commission that would revoke the new zoning should the development be stalled or changed.

Marc Stein, owner of Philadelphia-based Bridgman Development, said construction should begin in November or December on the 1.5-acre property, located between 2nd, Front, Lombard and Pine streets. Financing for the project has not been finalized, but today’s approval should move that forward, Stein said.

“We have union banks lined up for us,” he said. “Obviously, until we have approvals, we can’t talk realistically with anyone unless we have a project to build.”
Stein is unconcerned about the current global credit crunch, and said a loan for a mixed-use project would be easier to come by than if it were a simple condominium development or a regular hotel. A 25-year deal with Starwood Resorts to operate the planned 150-room boutique hotel expires if ground has not been broken by the end of the year.

The project has been controversial among residents of Society Hill, and apparently split members of the neighborhood’s active civic association. But Richard Lush, a vocal opponent of the project, said Thursday that the division was “a myth.” Lush provided members of Council with more than 20 pages of signatures from neighbors, saying they oppose spot zoning for the site, or any changes to the zoning there. He said it was a matter of historic preservation, despite the lack of a building on the site.

“Our zoning code is what’s being preserved,” he said. “They say nothing is being destroyed, but our zoning is being demolished. The idea of spot zoning coming in and the site going C4, the same as Delaware Avenue with its high-rise condos, it’s antithetical to everything that created the highest residential values in the city.”
Lush said he and several neighborhood lawyers were investigating avenues for lawsuits to halt construction, but provided no other details.

Stein said the opponents have “put a burden on the process for other developers to come into this city. They are wasting taxpayers’ money here. Any time you give a variance to anything, it is [spot zoning]. We went through the process.”

A parking spot for your support

Stein also confirmed a matter that has been a consistent criticism of the project – that a few dozen residents were promised free parking spaces in exchange for their support. “Well, that’s the simple way of putting it,” he said.
Residents with homes adjacent to the old NewMarket were deeded with parking spots within that old structure, he explained. Those residents were approached, “and we said, ‘You’re either for us or against us.’”
“We could’ve challenged the deeds,” Stein said. “We thought it only fair” to reach out to the residents, given the two or three years that construction might be happening right outside their doors. He said 34 residents took the deal of a parking spot in exchange for support, with “four or five” declining.

Completion of Stamper Square, if all goes according to schedule, is slated for late 2010 or early 2011, Stein said. In addition to the hotel, the plan calls for 77 condominium units. The design is a collaboration of the architecture firms H2L2 and Gensler.

Contact the reporter at thomaswalsh1@gmail.com.

DCnPhilly · #**266** (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 09:13 AM

Could Lush be more of a drama queen? A lawsuit to preserve the historic integrity of a zoning code? There's nothing on the site! I can understand saving an historic structure, but zoning codes change everywhere and progress has the right to take place around it. It sounds like this guy has some sort of personal vendetta. Also notice how his 20 signatures were gained in opposition to "spot zoning", he didn't say they were opposed to Stamper Square. This project's design and quality could not be more tastefully considerate to its neighbors and the city. This is not a case of "any development is better than no development". Welcome to the 21st century city, we're sick of vacant lots in Point Breeze, Society Hill shouldn't be the exception.

eldondre · #**267** (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 10:13 AM

It's a well designed project on the edge of the neighborhood in a high profile spot that will be built during an economic downturn. seems like a no-brainer.

Tim K · #**268** (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 02:55 PM

I won't mention a name.... but someone broke down and wept at the first city council hearing.

There is still one potential hurdle, and that is the Historic Commission. They have yet to chime in....although my opinion is they should have no standing. There is no building there and much of what surrounds that site is not historic.....like the late 70's/early 80's condos and the CVS just to name a few. Quite frankly, most of that end of Society Hill from Lombard to Spruce between Front and Second is NOT Historical.

Hospitalitygirl · #**269** (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim K

I won't mention a name.... but someone broke down and wept at the first city council hearing.

Someone really needs a life...or a giant tampon.

MayfairMeat · #**270** (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

Someone really needs a life...or a giant tampon.

Congratulations!

YOU HAVE JUST WON
POST
OF
THE DAY

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