Nike wants to open its first U.S. Jordan store in Philly. It’s not a slam dunk with city commission.

Nike’s plans to bring a new high-end sneaker store to Walnut Street were met with mixed reviews at the city’s Architectural Committee on Tuesday.

The proposal would be one of the first of the company’s new “Jordan’s World of Flight” branded stores in the United States. The first iteration opened in Milan in 2022.

The proposal for 1617 Walnut St. would fill the 7,000 square feet of vacant commercial space in the 103-year-old building.

The plans call for an illuminated logo of Michael Jordan dunking a basketball in the central second-floor window above the entrance, which would require the removal of some historical elements of the building.

“I’m totally against the proposed changes on the second floor and the removal of the French doors and transom,” said Nan Gutterman, one of the members of the Architectural Committee. “The proposed changes on the second floor are totally unfortunate and not in keeping with historic character.”

Nike’s architect noted that the design team was trying to tastefully attract the eye with the illuminated Jordan sign, which would be one of the few modern flourishes the company wants to add to the building. (He also noted that a second illuminated sign on the ground floor in the renderings was an error.)

“The neighboring buildings are significantly larger and taller than ours, so we were trying to obviously get some attention here,” said Michael Kouvaris of MBH Architects.

The Historical Commission staff also recommended denial of the second-floor changes, while approving the company’s plans for the first floor. The plans will have to be approved by the full Historical Commission, which has the final say.

The design experts on the panel also asked the company to reconsider what they feared would be an unsightly screen proposed over the ground-floor entrance. Although not visible in the renderings, Nike proposed a roll-down security feature that would secure the alcove of the building when the shop is not in operation.

“The Nike team is also not particularly excited about having a grill there. It’s certainly not the most beautiful option,” said Andra Wooton, project manager with Nike’s design operations team. “But our loss-prevention team did a few studies on site and determined that was the most plausible way to protect that alcove space.”

Paul Steinke of the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia suggested to Nike’s representatives that they instead install interior mounted security grills, like those found at 1701 Walnut and 1700 Chestnut.