Towering controversy

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A developer wants to build a 30-story condo/retail complex at Broad and Washington, much to the chagrin of many in the community.

By Lorraine Gennaro

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jul. 19, 2007

headline: Towering controversy

headline: A developer wants to build a 30-story condo/retail complex at Broad and Washington, much to the chagrin of many in the community.

By Lorraine Gennaro

Review Staff Writer

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The only signs of life at the two, chain-link fenced lots near Broad Street at Washington Avenue occur when the traveling band of eclectic performers, Cirque du Soleil, come to town. Otherwise, the one soil and other cement parcels on the 1200 and 1300 blocks of Washington remain lifeless.

But not for long.

Developer Samir Benakmoume of Rimas Properties plans to build a $500 million, 30-story condo tower, retail mall and parking garage at the Hawthorne site.

Settlement plans were being finalized Monday, a step that would secure the land for the condo project or another, spokesman George Polgar of GT Marketing Communications Inc. said.

Over the years, at least six developers have proposed projects for this site, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. One was actor Will Smith's brother, Harry, who wanted to build a hotel.

Rimas' structure would include about 800 condos with a lower level of restaurants, coffee shops and services like dry cleaners and a market, 1st District Councilman Frank DiCicco, who supports the project, said.

"It's the gateway [to the Avenue of the Arts] -- the southern end of it. We've been looking at that vacant lot for a very long time. I think everybody would like to see it developed, it's just a matter of whether [Rimas' building] is too high," he said of the community's wishes.

Despite its offerings, the mixed-use project has not been well-received by many in the community, including Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition's former president and acting chairwoman of its zoning committee, Pat Bullard.

"We're primarily a neighborhood of rowhomes and we feel as though that tower is out of place here," Bullard said.

But Polgar disagrees.

"South Philly has emerged in the last 10 years as a major residential and commercial area and I think that a project of this scope is a testament to the changing nature," he said.

Bullard and several residents, including Louise Hannibal -- a neighborhood activist who lives in back of the site at 13th and Kimbal streets -- expressed their concern at a City Council hearing in early June, where the coalition presented a 250-signature petition opposing the project. At that hearing, DiCicco introduced a bill, which is still under consideration, to change the zoning from G-2, industrial, to C-5, mixed-use commercial, thereby paving the way for Rimas' plan.

According to Bullard, Hannibal told the councilman at the hearing, "You want a 30-story building? Put it on 11th Street where you live."

"It got pretty contentious," Hawthorne's zoning chairwoman said of the meeting.

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