Two and a half years ago, we wondered who would buy and redevelop 1843-45 E. Passyunk Ave., the longtime home of King of Jeans. A year later, we shared the news that developer Max Glass had purchased the property, and along with crowning himself the new King of Jeans, intended to convert it to twelve apartments and first-floor commercial space. The plan was later revised to nine apartments, second floor office space, and first floor commercial.

Rendering of Max Glass proposal. Image from Passyunk Post.

Over the summer, another different developer stepped in. The new developer presented a plan to the East Passyunk Crossing Zoning Committee a couple of months ago for a five-story building with 8 one-bedroom units, 8 two-bedroom units, and ground-floor commercial. We never saw renderings, but word was that the new building would resemble the final rendering from Glass, pictured above. They went to the ZBA last month, but the decision was held. Earlier this week, the ZBA came down with their decision- the application was denied.

Old shot of the building

Because the ZBA has denied the application, the developer cannot come back with the same project for twelve months. If, however, they make some changes to the project, they can go through the zoning process again from the beginning and return to the ZBA. Hopefully, they’ll be able to figure out where the ZBA is hung up on the project and move forward with some redevelopment here in the near future. This property has been waiting for development for years now, and this setback means it will have to wait at least another few months. We’ll be interested to see what changes are made to the project, or whether the developer instead throws up their hands and passes the property along to the next guy. Meanwhile, the neighborhood will wait with bated breath.