Court decision opens door for development

Posted 1/30/25

Thanks to a Court of Common Pleas ruling, a parking lot located within the Germantown Urban Village Historic District, at 26-34 Church Lane, now has the potential to become a 33-unit, five-story mixed-use building. 

The neighborhood’s central square was classified as a historic district last year. The lot had previously been included as a ‘contributing’ building. With that classification, any development there would have to have been approved by the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

The developer, Nadlan Properties, LLC,  took the case to court, asking that …

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Court decision opens door for development

Posted

Thanks to a Court of Common Pleas ruling, a parking lot located within the Germantown Urban Village Historic District, at 26-34 Church Lane, now has the potential to become a 33-unit, five-story mixed-use building. 

The neighborhood’s central square was classified as a historic district last year. The lot had previously been included as a ‘contributing’ building. With that classification, any development there would have to have been approved by the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

The developer, Nadlan Properties, LLC,  took the case to court, asking that the property be reclassified as non-contributing to the historic district. In December, the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia ruled in their favor. 

The court determined that the lot did not satisfy the criterion for “contributing” status in the historical designation. The contributing factor to the lot's initial historic designation was the described likelihood to “yield relevant archeological remains,” which the court decided lacked substantial supporting evidence. 

“We strongly oppose the decision that allowed these parcels to be designated non-contributing,” Tuomi Forrest, executive director of Historic Germantown, said. “Archeology was a central component to the nomination, and we feel strongly that it should be a considering factor.” 

At a meeting in March 2024, the PHC denied a revised proposal by the developer, citing concerns over the proposal’s size and massing. The revised proposal featured a shorter building height and allowed the community final say on the color of the brick.

With the decision in place, the PHC no longer holds the deciding power on this property, allowing the developer to revert to the original proposal.  

“It was awful, it looked like an industrial office building,” Allison Weiss, president of SoLo Germantown said of the original proposal. “It was totally out of scale and out of character.” 

On Tuesday morning Jan. 28, the PHC’s Architectural Committee held a meeting over the now non-contributing property, but with their teeth pulled, their role is simply advisory. 

At the meeting, the developer presented the original plan before the committee, without the reduction in height and input on the facade.

“I think the size of this building units massing on the site is totally not within the context of this historic district,” Nan Gutterman, one of the committee members, said. “I think it would be an unfortunate addition to the district.” 

Committee members were unanimous in their disapproval of the project, echoing each other's comments, believing that the project did not match its historic surroundings.

“I'm not opposed to development on this site, I think it's a good thing, but I think that the scale of this and combined with its materiality, is unfortunate and inappropriate,” Justin Detwiler, one of the committee members said.

Detwiler then asked a question to the owner, Chagai Bader, saying “We had gone to a lot of trouble as a back and forth to kind of adjust this design to be more attractive and more in keeping, why abandon that and go back to this original scheme?” 

Bader responded by saying “This is how I like the design.” He was then asked if he was not taking the historic district into regard with his design, to which he responded “Correct.” 

The committee then turned to public comment on the project which was entirely negative. 

“We're disappointed that you have shown no effort to compromise,” Suzanne Ponsen, president of West Central Germantown Neighbors, said. 

After public comment, the committee then unanimously made a motion of denial to the project, however, due to the reclassification their vote does not hold the power to prevent the project from moving forward.