New Bankroll sports bar has lost a court case brought by angry neighbors, but it remains open

A state judge’s order has thrown new obstacles in the path of Center City’s Bankroll sports club, but the owners say it won’t stop them from operating as they have for the last two months.

Common Pleas Court Judge Anne Marie Coyle ruled that the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) had “failed” in its duty, arguing it ignored evidence that the bar would worsen traffic congestion and impede emergency vehicles. She overturned the board’s decision to grant the permit last week.

“The ZBA … inexplicably ignored compelling proof of the negative impact upon the surrounding community that would naturally result from the … operation of Bankroll,” Coyle wrote. “The ZBA speciously disregarded evidence ... concerning the inescapable reality that the Bankroll proposal was not just for a large eat-in Stephen Starr restaurant.”

Stephen Starr has not been involved in the project since late last year but was originally a partner. Coyle’s ruling focused heavily on the implication that a typical Starr restaurant would not have brought the same issues to the neighborhood.

Bankroll at 1910 Chestnut St. is a high-end sports bar and lounge where many patrons participate in sports betting. It will remain open as Bankroll’s attorneys contest Coyle’s ruling to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Despite Coyle’s ruling, the bar can remain in operation because the bar’s zoning attorney, Ron Patterson of Klehr Harrison, had secured a new zoning permit for “assembly and entertainment,” a use allowed under the zoning rules.

Bankroll is on the former site of the Boyd Theatre in the midst of a popular and heavily trafficked part of Center City. The zoning in that area, and much of downtown’s main thoroughfares, is purposely permissive to allow large, dense developments and street-level businesses.

However, due to special zoning rules that apply to Center City, “sit-down restaurants” on major streets such as Chestnut, Walnut, and South Broad Street must receive a “special exception” from the ZBA before opening.

This can cause significant delays, because owners must meet with neighborhood groups and the ZBA to secure approval. These delays can stretch for months, especially as wait times at the zoning board have ballooned since the pandemic.

But Bankroll finally got its hearing and the ZBA unanimously ruled in its favor in January 2022, granting a permit to operate a “sit-down restaurant.”

Many of the occupants of William Penn House, a high-rise housing cooperative tower with an entrance across the street from the bar, opposed the project before the ZBA, arguing that it would bring more traffic to Chestnut Street, impair access for emergency vehicles, and result in large and boisterous crowds on the sidewalks.

Following the zoning board’s 2022 decision allowing Bankroll to proceed, the William Penn House’s board appealed the ruling to the Court of Common Pleas.

They found a sympathetic ear in Judge Coyle, who in the past year has overturned multiple zoning board decisions and sided with aggrieved neighbors of new development in the case of the “poop building” in West Philadelphia and the Painted Bride in Old City.

“The ZBA did not diligently assess expected public safety and traffic congestion impacts upon the community, especially from the overwhelming volume of existing Bankroll bar and restaurant patrons particularly in the wee hours of the morning,” wrote Coyle.

Bankroll is able to remain open under the “assembly and entertainment” permit obtained a couple weeks before the judge’s ruling.

The new permit technically allows it to operate a nightclub with dancing, which Patterson and his clients had agreed never to do as part of a community benefits agreement with the Center City Residents Association (CCRA).

But given the case before Coyle, the bar’s leadership approached the larger neighborhood group, told them they feared Coyle would rule against their original permit, and promised not to add such uses to the site under the new one.

CCRA’s leadership gladly agreed.

Before Bankroll, the site of the former Boyd had been empty since 2002, and its vacant hulk had discouraged street life and attracted litter.

“Their presence has improved the block and the neighborhood,” said Richard Gross, president of CCRA. “Everyone says the food is great. It’s nice in there. It’s quiet outside. None of the things [the William Penn residents] said would happen have happened. Their fears were unfounded.”

Patterson declined to comment for the story, but Bankroll’s CEO Padma Rao released a statement confirming that the bar is appealing Coyle’s ruling to a higher court while remaining in operation under the new zoning permit.

“In an unprecedented and unmerited action towards a business that’s open and operational, our original zoning permit … was reversed and repealed,” Rao wrote. “We are currently going through the appeal process and are confident that this decision will be overturned. In the interim we immediately took action and obtained a by-right zoning permit — without any interruption to Bankroll’s operations — that permits us to operate.”

The William Penn board president, Michael Niederman, told The Inquirer that the group is working with their attorney, Michael Mattioni, on next steps.