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A "Repair or Demolish" notification posted by L&I delivered a second punch to preservationists following a fire at the Divine Lorraine, abandoned by investors.
Fear not. Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger stated that the notification was a necessary measure allowing the city to enter the building and intervene.
A bill for all repairs made by the city will be sent to the building's owners, Michael Treacy, Jr. and a Dutch group, on top of the $700,000 in back taxes they currently owe.
Meanwhile the city is working with the New York bank that holds the mortgage to find a new owner ready and willing to develop the property.
Local newspapers continue to blame the Divine Lorraine's shambled status on a decade without tenants. It's important to point out this falsehood because the Divine Lorraine's current status is the result of a corrupt City Council member catering to an overzealous neighborhood organization, and an irresponsible owner.
This Diamond in the Rough on North Broad Street was well maintained during the decade it sat vacant and without tenants. Historic fixtures remained in place, the grand marble lobby was preserved under a thin layer of dust, and a penthouse auditorium kept its stage and original upholstered theater seats.
It wasn't until Michael Treacy, Jr. stepped in following a storm of development success and prematurely gutted the gem in an attempt to beat the recession.
It's not all his fault. Neighborhood organizations have been fighting the gentrification of North Broad Street and anything with the word "luxury", and Councilman Clarke has been more than willing to give them his support. His anti-development movement is evident across the Fifth District.
During the building's hiatus, it could have hardly been held to the standards of your typical 21st Century condo buyers who fixated on stainless steel and granite, but it was completely habitable. More damage was inflicted on the Divine Lorraine from six months of neglect than during a decade of vacancy. Now with Lorraine completely devoid of soul, Treacy is asking the state for $3.4M to convert what's left of her into subsidized senior housing.
Ten years ago a few simple updates like central air and a fresh coat of paint would have been all that was needed to convert this into subsidized housing, and most importantly the Divine Lorraine wouldn't have been turned into a hallow shell.
I wonder how much Treacy made scrapping the building's historic detail. Now, knowing that residents treasure this building, he's pleading with the state for more cash to "save" it. I'm all for securing the Divine Lorraine from deteriorating any further, and I'd rather it serve any purpose than none at all, but this situation reeks of Philadelphia's institutionalized corruption. He has the money to develop this project himself, and Philadelphia has the authority to tell him to do so. If he doesn't want to move forward without pocketing a little state money, then step aside and let someone else have at it.
Talk about irresponsible development. Willis G. Hale's Lorraine Apartments, completed in 1894, or the Divine Lorraine Hotel as it is currently known to locals, sits vacant and gutted at the corner of North Broad Street and Fairmount Avenue. Sold by the Universal Peace Movement Mission's Mother Divine in 2000, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 as a Civil Rights and architecturally significant historic landmark, the Divine Lorraine had been preserved in original condition until it was sold to developer Michael Treacy, Jr. in 2006 who gutted all of the building's original details and fixtures in a misguided attempt to redevelop the site as condos. Prior to Treacy's involvement in the Divine Lorraine, it stood vacant but minimally deteriorated in large thanks to one Universal Peace Movement Mission's member to act as it's live-in caretaker, and presumably in thanks to a silent respect for a building a struggling community could take pride in. Now gutted of it's heart, the Divine Lorraine stands vulnerable to the elements and vandals, unprotected it stands covered in graffiti hoping to be saved before nature reclaims it.
