Bart Blatstein’s latest apartment proposal is getting a chilly reception from North Philly neighbors
The project received negative reviews from the Civic Design Review committee and local civic groups. Designers say they are constrained by limited space and undergrounds utilities.
Developer Bart Blatstein’s latest project in North Philadelphia is facing backlash from neighborhood groups and a city-appointed design review board, although there is little they can do to stop it.
The 245-unit, 15-story apartment building the longtime Philadelphia developer is proposing for 1600 N. Broad St. faced blowback from neighborhood groups this summer for its scale and lack of parking.
The city’s Civic Design Review (CDR) committee — an advisory panel of architecture and planning experts — also expressed concerns in August about the lack of greenery.
“This needs a ton of work to get this to be the kind of environment that we all deserve in this city,” said Ashley DiCaro, a member of the committee. “It should not be all gray. It should not have the least amount of landscaping I think we’ve ever seen on a project.”
The CDR committee asked the developer’s architects to tweak the design and return for a second review this month, which is its only binding power.
On Tuesday the development team shared changes with CDR, although they mostly just added trees in planters in front of the Oxford Street side of the building. The design team, Philadelphia-based JKRP Architects, noted that the Street Department had advised them that they could not plant street trees in front of the building because of underlying utilities.
“We added landscaping with planters to make them viable,” said Jerry Roller, a principal with JKRP Architects. “There’s lots of utilities underground, so this gives an opportunity to do something with significant planting.”
The CDR committee’s concerns about the loading zone and ride-share pickup were not addressed.
Neighborhood groups, which had argued for more parking and less density, are unhappy with the project for broader reasons. The proposed building includes 62 parking spaces, but the spots will not be available to the public as the 16 currently in the location have been.
“This area is being slammed with new construction, and having community concerns ... integrated into these projects is very important,” said William Harris, president of the United Neighbors Alliance Civic Association.
The 1600 N. Broad St. project would complete Blatstein’s redevelopment of this block, where his Pearl AMC movie theater and the Edge, a 12-story student housing tower, already stand. The new building would replace a surface parking lot between his previous two structures. Like other major development projects in the city, the biggest hurdles facing the apartment proposal are the surge in interest rates over the last two years and other elevated construction costs.
In contrast to community group criticism, city Planning Commission staffers noted that the project’s density is appropriate for the area, especially given that it is a short walk from the Broad Street Line’s Cecil B. Moore Station.
“I felt like I was one of the lone folks that actually liked the design of the building overall,” said Michael Johns, who also sits on the CDR committee. “I think it fits well into where it sits.”