1200 Bank Moving Forward

Between the red tape, unions, antiquated zoning ordinances, and no shortage of public opinion from our institutional Negadelphians, the cost of doing business in Center City isn't cheap. If you want to open a hot dog stand on Broad and Chestnut, chances are someone in East Falls has an opinion on it and will not hesitate to let you know. Perhaps the biggest toll on developing anything in Philly isn't the cost, but the mental toll developers go through trying to wrap their heads around the accepted corruption and absurd rationalization that borders on schizophrenic. It certainly boggles my mind.

That said, it's not shocking - albeit absolutely bat scat crazy - that the posh billiard hall, 1200 Bank, that promises to transform a stagnant Chestnut Street intersection in Washington Square West, has been forced to jump into the sludge pit of subjective crappery brought about by neighborly opposition. It hurts one's head to try to understand why owners of condos that cost more than half a million dollars would object to re-branding their iffy intersection that is home to little more than a tenement of some of the most angry bums in the city. Given the economy, you would think that they'd jump at the opportunity to boost the value of their real estate.

Instead, White building resident Craig Grossman has been 1200 Bank's most vocal opponent. It's interesting to note that Grossman works closely with Tony Goldman who developed the White Building and transformed a similar intersection at 13th and Sansom. It's not shocking but a little unnerving that unethical maneuvering is tolerated. Muscling out competition is tacky. Besides, developing 12th Street will only help the existing business on 13th.

Typical Philly bull plop. Really? Grow up people. I'm starting to realize that the most powerful players in this town are nothing more than over-educated children using City Hall as a giant middle school cafeteria.

1200 Bank's developer, Paul Giegerisch is coming close to "breaking ground", but it's been a two year process, and Grossman's mouth and Goldman's muscle certainly won't be the last obstacles. A proposed zoning bill is headed to City Council for a vote. With the full support of the Planning Commission, the Historical Commission, and the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, it seems hopeful that some White Building residents at 12th and Chestnut might have to accept the fact that their address just might get a little more desirable.

A New 12th and Chestnut

Remember the Unknot Tower proposal? The funky, twisted hotel designed by Winka Dubbeldam and proposed by CREI near the corner of 12th and Chestnut a few years ago? Well guess what...no, that isn't happening. But what is happening at the corner of 12th and Chestnut is that a handful of private people with money are taking the desolate strip's revitalization into their own hands.

Winka Dubbeldam's Unknot Tower, a stale proposal near 12th and Chestnut.

While the modest units in the White Building continue to fetch over $800,000, you'd think the exotic lines of the Unknot Tower would have been a sealed deal. Not so much. The proposed location continues to sit abandoned, it's metal gate cut open with a blow torch, the former department store's main entrance chained shut, barely hanging from its twisted hinges.

But on this same post apocalyptic stretch of dollar stores and discount electronic and beauty suppliers, the residents of the White Building may soon be seeing a return on their hefty investment.

The S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company designed by Samuel Sloan in 1858 is now home to condos and a hip cupcakery.

In addition to the hip cupcake boutique, Philly Cupcakes, 1200 Bank, a posh billiard hall, will soon find its home at the former Beneficial Bank Building on the corner of 12th and Chestnut. The present bank is actually the last of three incarnations of the Beneficial Saving Fund Society, designed by Horace Trumbauer in 1916.

Philly Cupcakes in the White Building at 12th and Chestnut.

Across the street, a building known for its nonprofit clinics once responsible for Chestnut's "stroller brigade," the Commonwealth Title & Trust Company is currently under renovation. Designed by James Windrim & Son in 1901, it is still home to 7-11 and the re-branded Mitchell & Ness.

James Windrim & Son's Commonwealth Title & Trust Company in a 1901 rendering.

It remains unclear if it will be apartments or offices, but one things for sure, the recent movement at 12th and Chestnut promises a vast environmental improvement over the early morning line of angry, chain smoking, fowl mouth women waiting outside 1205 Chestnut, or the late night camp of hostile homeless occupying the front steps of the vacant bank.

1200 Bank

DAS Architects is designing the proposed billiard hall in the vacant Beneficial Bank building at 12th and Chestnut, designed by Horace Trumbauer. Despite preliminary complaints about a possible rooftop dining feature from neighbors who are less vocal about the colony of bums (who are, by the way, the most angry bums in the entire city) that have taken up residence on the building's porch, a canopied roof remains a part of the plans.

Surprisingly the interior of the bank - empty for over a decade - appears to be in great condition. 1200 Bank will be a welcome addition to Chestnut Street, where improvements are inching outward from Broad Street. Not only did the Historical Commission unanimously approve the plan, but the idea is so popular it already has its own facebook page.