Over the years we’ve spent a lot of time covering projects along N. American Street, as few corners of Philadelphia have changed as much as this pocket where East Kensington, South Kensington, and Norris Square meet. While many of these projects have been on the larger side, plans for a mid-sized residential building along Cecil B Moore caught our eye as a great example of a more neighborhood-scaled apartment building. Unfortunately, projects of this size sometimes have to jump through hoops to get approved in Philadelphia, if they get approved at all.

Currently a tired mixed-use building with apartments above a shuttered restaurant, 235-37 Cecil B Moore Street sits half a block west of American Street, across from the historic St. Jakobus German Evangelical Lutheran Church. The owners of the property are trying to build a 4 story multi-family building at the site, but the land’s zoning poses a problem, limiting the height and footprint of the proposed building. Rather than attempt to develop a 10 unit building by-right, the owners have decided to seek a variance from the ZBA for a larger project.

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235 Cecil B Moore
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Rendering of 235 Cecil B Moore building across the street from Bethel Evangelistic Church
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Rendering of the proposed building from Cecil B Moore Street

At a ZBA hearing this month, developers requested permission to build a denser and taller building with 16 apartments, down from 18, after a series of meetings with the local RCO resulted in the elimination of basement apartments. Updated plans from Toner Architects exhibit how the initial unit count of exclusively one bedroom apartments has also been adjusted to include studios and 2 bedrooms, at the request of neighbors who showed up at public meetings for this project.

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Floor plans for 235 Cecil B Moore proposal

Despite the community process leading to several alterations, the local RCO and Councilmember both still oppose this project. While we can’t speak to whether the variances will be granted at this point, we can wonder whether the presence of multiple larger buildings within the surrounding blocks provided the owners with hope that their fairly modest project might get the go-ahead. If the variance request gets denied, the developers could always utilize the mixed-income housing bonus as recommended by the Planning Commission, but that would require a height reduction. That being said, it’s quite possible to build a four-story apartment building at 45′ and maintain decent ceiling heights inside.

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Future site of 1700 American Street project, with 235 Cecil B Moore in the background
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Rendering of 1700 North American Street project, currently under construction across the street from 235 Cecil B Moore Street
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The Luxe and Americana buildings across American Street is an example of a substantially larger multi-family project in the immediate neighborhood

The fact that a storage facility will soon rise next door to this property makes the debate about the project’s appropriate fit for the community feel a bit absurd, at least from where we sit. And there’s a good chance that more folks would live in this building than the number of neighbors who came out to oppose this modest structure. Alas, the preferences of future residents are largely ignored in our community input process; and even when developers make requested changes, it doesn’t always result in support and approval. Still, the ZBA has yet to rule on this one, so we’ll see how things play out, possibly as soon as this week.