We are dismayed about The Goldenberg Group's proposed development on our block of East Mermaid Lane. Their proposal approaches a worst-case scenario for the near neighbors and the Chestnut Hill Community at-large.

The Goldenberg Group apparently wants to build a hulking, multi-story, 250+ unit Apartment complex wrapping around the old Quaker Meeting House on the old Blossom/UCP site here on East Mermaid Lane. Their proposal stretches far beyond the limits of what this property can sustain, while externalizing the burdens and costs of their plan to the near neighbors and the Chestnut Hill community at large. The issues of parking, traffic, noise, congestion, decreased property values are just the beginning. Each of those major issues has several ancillary problems that will be borne nearly entirely by the neighbors in Chestnut Hill. 

Of course, we would be very open to a responsible concept to develop the old Blossom/UCP site. Chestnut Hill would greatly benefit from a well conceived development that utilizes this wonderful site abutting a strip of Fairmount park and the Chestnut Hill Quaker Meeting House. Unfortunately, The Goldenberg Group’s current plan appears to confirm all of the fears every community has about irresponsible developers, who try to squeeze the utmost out of their properties and leave the community to sort out their mess after the dust settles and they’ve left. 

We near neighbors have experienced what a best case scenario looks like with the construction of the Chestnut Hill Quaker’s Meeting house at 20 E. Mermaid Lane several years ago. The Quakers approached their project with a community spirit, open to our input and with a sense of long-term investment in our community. In the end, they built a site that is a jewel in Chestnut Hill. From start to finish, they have simply been excellent neighbors.

The Goldberg Group seems to be approaching our neighborhood with exactly the opposite approach. It is quite shocking to be faced with a developer, who simply doesn’t seem interested in aligning themselves with the neighborhood. 
From what we've seen of their plans, it very much appears that they are really only interested in maximizing their profit. And again, from what we have seen of their plans, it looks like the near neighbors and the Chestnut Hill at large will bear the costs of this approach. It doesn’t look like an unintended by-product. It looks like this may simply be their business plan.

We near neighbors very much want to see The Goldberg Group follow the Chestnut Hill Quaker Meeting’s example in the scale and character of their project and its overall impact on the neighborhood. We also insist that they behave like good neighbors.

Conny & David Sterner
Chestnut Hill