Spring Garden residents and the developers of what has become known as the Barnes Tower appear close to agreement on construction of a complex featuring a 37-story condominium high-rise at 22d and Spring Garden Streets.

Developers Daniel Katz and Dalia Shuster posted legal notices Friday around what is now the Best Western Center City Hotel detailing an alternative plan to the 47-story, 500-foot-tall tower they unveiled in March.

Joseph Beller, attorney for two Spring Garden groups and nine residents who have challenged the developers’ building permits for the 47-story tower, said he believes there is consensus among neighbors supporting the modified plan for the project’s first phase.

Still under discussion, Beller said, is the second phase, an 18-story tower on the 2.9-acre lot near the intersection of 22d and Hamilton Streets and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Beller said that some residents were still worried the siting and design of the 18-story building could “create a canyon” effect on the property.

“I’m optimistic, I think we’ve made tremendous strides,” Beller added. “If we only had phase one to deal with, we’re there.”

Many residents of Spring Garden and Fairmount - including powerful Democratic State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo - have spent a lot of money renovating their 19th-century townhouses and objected to the project’s height and scale.

Friday’s posting was ordered by the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which is to announce its decision on the residents’ challenge on Feb. 14.

Legally, Katz and Shuster have maintained that the building permits they got “across the counter” at the Department of Licenses and Inspections are legal because the site’s zoning does not restrict building heights.

Instead, the property’s R-15 zoning uses a formula that lets a developer gain height by reducing ground coverage.

Nevertheless, as the developers began meeting with residents, trying to avoid a protracted legal battle, a “plan B” began evolving.

Under the alternative plan, the first phase would include a 37-story tower containing 238 units, a seven-story loft-style mixed-use building with retail at ground level and 30 residential units above and six attached 41/2-story townhouses containing up to 12 units with retail or residential use at ground level.

The second phase would be an 18-story building containing 91 residential units.

An underground parking garage with at least 371 spaces for the complex would also be built.

The reduced height of the main tower in the alternative plan also results in increased ground coverage and nine more residential units than the 362 originally proposed.

Whichever version of the project is built will also include one other change not demanded by neighbors: the name.

Katz and Shuster originally chose the Barnes Tower because the development will be two blocks from the site of the proposed new home of the Barnes Foundation art collection.

But the Barnes Foundation, which has endured its own share of controversy over the last 20 years, has nothing to do with the project and foundation officials objected strongly to use of the Barnes name.

The developers have said they will announce a new name for the project.

Source: www.philly.com

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