Public comment opposing Dranoff Properties' application for Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant.

1. 6/1/2018 Gmail - Public Comment for SLS International Hotel and Residences (SLS) Project
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=7ce59cfffa&jsver=RE-eEaJ01Ig.en.&cbl=gmail_fe_180524.11_p8&view=pt&q=sls&search=query&th=16268ec134726126&s
Faye Anderson <andersonatlarge@gmail.com>
Public Comment for SLS International Hotel and Residences
(SLS) Project
1 message
Faye Anderson <andersonatlarge@gmail.com> Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 3:25 PM
To: RA-OB-PublicComment@pa.gov
Cc: FMA <andersonatlarge@gmail.com>
Dear RACP Administration:
I am writing to comment on the SLS International Hotel and Residences (SLS) Project
which is located in Philadelphia County.
This is Broad and Spruce Associates, LP’s fourth request for RACP grant funding for the
project. In 2014, $10,000,000 was requested and zero dollars awarded. In 2015-2016,
$20,000,000 was requested and $1,000,000 awarded. In 2017, $19,000,000 was
requested and $1,400,000 awarded. To date, Broad and Spruce Associates, LP has
received $2,400,000 in RACP grants for the SLS Project.
For the 2018 round, the limited partnership is requesting $17,600,000. It is
disingenuous for Broad and Spruce Associates, LP to request RACP funding to
“transform an empty lot and hole in the ground into an amenity for the city.” The hole in
the ground was created by Dranoff Properties whose president and founder, Carl
Dranoff, is president of Broad and Spruce Associates, LP.
In 2015, Dranoff Properties demolished two historic buildings across from the Kimmel
Center – 309 South Broad Street and 311 South Broad Street. The RACP funding request
is akin to a defendant who killed his parents asking the court for mercy because he is now
an orphan.
As I wrote in the current issue of Extant (attached), history happened at 309 S.Broad,
the former location of Philadelphia International Records, and 311 S. Broad, the former
location of the Philadelphia Fine Print Workshop where internationally acclaimed
African American artist Dox Thrash developed the Carborundum printmaking technique.
Extant magazine is published by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is the country’s only World Heritage City. Developers must be held
accountable – not rewarded – for demolishing historic buildings.
Philadelphia has a shortage of affordable housing. In testimony before the City Council
Rules Committee, Carl Dranoff opposed inclusionary zoning legislation that would

2. 6/1/2018 Gmail - Public Comment for SLS International Hotel and Residences (SLS) Project
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=7ce59cfffa&jsver=RE-eEaJ01Ig.en.&cbl=gmail_fe_180524.11_p8&view=pt&q=sls&search=query&th=16268ec134726126&s
require developers building in dense sections of the city to include affordable units in
their projects. Dranoff testified:
[The bill] includes bonuses to stimulate affordable housing that are woefully
insufficient to offset the burdensome costs which developers will incur. Developers will
not be able to afford the onerous payments in lieu of options that are put forth. … I'm
going to say that mandating affordable units in Center City condominium projects in
particular makes no sense.
The SLS Project would be built in City Center. It makes no sense to continue to award
limited public funds to a developer who opposes affordable housing mandates in the
poorest big city in the country. Indeed, it would be obscene.
Taxpayers’ dollars should go to the public good not to insiders who are good at feeding at
the public trough. SLS International Hotel and Residences Project does not provide “an
amenity to the city.” Truth be told, the SLS luxury hotel and condominium project is for
the few, the new and the well-to-do.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely,
Faye M. Anderson
Director
All That Philly Jazz
(267) 282-1342
http://phillyjazz.us
Never Listed - Extant - Winter 2018.pdf
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