It may still feel like summer, but the Civic Design Review Committee just released the agenda for their first meeting after Labor Day. One project that immediately caught our attention was a 495 spot parking garage proposed in West Powelton. The five tier structure at 17 N 41st St. will replace several consolidated lots which have been used as surface parking. Just like the 1000+ spot garage CHOP is planning in Grays Ferry, the CDR process will be an opportunity for members of the committee and the public to comment on the project. While CDR members can require that the development team to come back for a second presentation later this fall, the process is non-binding for this by-right project.

Back in 2016, we visited 4054 Powelton Ave. after an old warehouse had been demoed and we suspected that student housing would soon rise in its place. We were quickly disabused of this notion, learning that the land would be absorbed by the surface parking lot to the south, servicing University Place 2.0 and the then-planned University Place 3.0. A reminder, University Place Associates built the aforementioned buildings, completing the former in 2013 and the latter in 2023. These green buildings have added hundreds of thousands of square feet of office and lab space to West Philadelphia and are envisioned as part of a larger science and technology campus near Penn, Drexel, and uCity Square. University Place 4.0 is also theoretically in the works at the corner of 41st & Market.

Earlier this year, City Council created the CSI Forensic Laboratory Overlay District, only covering the little city block encompassing Filbert, Powelton, Preston, and 41st Street. The overlay also remapped the property, ostensibly to ease the zoning limitations to allow a parking garage which would serve the City forensics lab at University Place 3.0. By utilizing an overlay in addition to the remapping, City Council was also able to legalize non-accessory parking on the ground floor, adjust some technical parking standards, and waive a side yard requirement the legislation will allow the garage to secure a zoning permit by-right. In short, the combination of the remapping and the overlay is what made this project 100% by right. We don’t usually cheer for spot zoning for a project we like; it’s even tougher to swallow for a parking garage.

There have been some minor adjustments to the exterior design of the garage since the renderings we last saw of this project when it was being discussed by the Planning Commission back in May, but the basic design seems largely the same. We can see in the plans from ISA and IMEG, motorists will enter and exit the garage off curb cuts on 41st and Filbert Streets, preventing any traffic conflicts along Powelton Avenue. In fact the garage will be set back a bit off Powelton, behind some legacy buildings closer to the intersection and a new dog park and community garden in the northeastern corner of the property.

While our response to the parking garage in Grays Ferry was only negative, our feelings are a little more mixed about this one. On the plus side, the parking garage won’t require the demolition of any productive buildings and is ostensibly a step up from a surface parking lot. And with massive transit service cuts set to go into effect in only a few days, demand for these spots is only going to go up. On the other hand, we’re a little disappointed about the fact that the garage is exclusively for car storage and doesn’t add anything else to the urban environment. Even a small commercial space at the corner of 41st & Filbert would have softened the impact, and we’d think that a little coffee shop would have gotten decent business from all the office and lab workers nearby. Regrettably, since the project is allowed by right, nothing we say on the subject is gonna change those plans.