Hotel-condo in Society Hill gets Council OK, threat of suit

A 15-story hotel and condominium project in Society Hill won zoning approval in City Council yesterday, drawing a threat of a lawsuit from a neighborhood activist who fears it will destroy the area's historic charm.

"Stamper Square" will be built on the 1.5-acre site of the former NewMarket Pavilion. The site - bordered by Pine, Lombard, Front and 2nd streets - has been a vacant lot for a decade.

The project provoked a rift in the Society Hill Civic Association, which first deadlocked in a 12-12 vote on whether to support it, and later voted 12-8 against a zoning change needed to allow the 15-story hotel.

Richard Lush, a member of the group's zoning and historic-preservation committee, yesterday said that Bridgeman Development should have been forced to seek a variance from the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment.

"Each time we have tried to have reasonable conversations, they fold their arms, stick out their lower lip and leave," he said.

Lush said that a lawsuit is "in the works," adding that it will not be filed by his civic association.

Councilman Frank DiCicco, who sponsored the zoning change, noted that opponents in a public hearing last month could not agree on what they would find acceptable for the site.

"When you do these things, there's always folks who will never be supportive of a project of this size and nature," DiCicco said. "I'm never going to be able to please everyone."

Developer Marc F. Stein warned Council last month that his partner, Starwood Hotel Corp., would pull out of the project if zoning approval wasn't approved by this month. Stein said that the potential lawsuit would not delay the project now.

"I believe we are moving forward and we will be in the ground by November or December," said Stein, predicting a completion date in late 2010 or early 2011.

Councilman Bill Greenlee, in other business, introduced legislation that would require the city Records Department to collect and inspect more information when transferring the deeds to properties.

The city has suffered from a rash of "fraudulent conveyances," where properties are transferred without the knowledge of the owners.

"They seem very much in a rush to move the process," Greenlee said of the agency's work on deeds. "I'm not against that. I don't want the process slowed down. But in doing that, they're letting a lot of things slip through that shouldn't slip through." *