The Philadelphia City Planning Commission unanimously recommended yesterday that the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment approve plans to build an 11-story hotel at 40th and Pine streets.
For the past year, the hotel has been a source of contention between developers and local residents. Yesterday's hearing gave each side the chance to make its case to the Planning Commission.
The Commission can do no more than recommend that the ZBA grant approval, and it's not clear when that decision will be made.
Developers, including former Penn managing director of real estate Tom Lussenhop and Campus Apartments, say the hotel would provide visitors to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with much-needed extended-stay housing.
They have also pledged to renovate an old Italianate mansion on the site and incorporate it into the hotel.
But residents of the area around 40th and Pine streets complain that the hotel will generate traffic, take up streetside parking, be an eyesore and turn into an ordinary hotel with a denser flow of visitors than developers claim.
Developers tried to address some of these fears yesterday at the hearing. According to Lussenhop, Penn would guarantee about 75 parking spaces in its garages to hotel guests.
Carl Primavera, the developers' lawyer, said the approval application submitted to the ZBA stipulated that the hotel be used for extended-stay visits only.
"It's a use that's in high demand, and it's a site that's in no demand," he said, pointing out that no other developer has expressed interest in the area.
Development would benefit the historic yet abandoned mansion at the site, said Jonathan Farnham, executive director of the Philadelphia Historical Commission.
"There were signs that this building was suffering," Farnham said. "This may be the last opportunity to save it."
The Historical Commission has approved the concept of the plan but has yet to give it final approval.
About 15 local residents attended yesterday's meeting. One woman held up a large sign reading "NO HOTEL in our HOOD!" while others voiced their concerns to the commissioners.
One such resident, Mary Goldman, said she was particularly concerned about the traffic the hotel would bring to an already crowded street. She also said she would not welcome the intrusion of such a large commercial building into her quiet residential neighborhood.
When she moved to the neighborhood 40 years ago, Goldman said, "Penn promised they wouldn't come west of 40th Street. This is west of 40th Street."
Like most members of the Planning Commission, commissioner Nilda Ruiz agreed that the hotel's appearance might seem "overbearing" at first.
But she "just doesn't see it being that much of a problem" after the initial shock - she thinks residents will get used to the sight and not notice it after a while, Ruiz said yesterday.
"You don't live there," called out Glenn Moyer, another local resident. Addressing the commissioners, Moyer complained that he felt "invisible" because his testimony against the hotel plan seemed to be ignored by every city committee.
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