Nutter's chief city planner Andrew Altman resigns

In the Nutter administration's most significant departure to date, Andrew Altman, the mayor's chief planning aide, is leaving at the end of June to head an effort to revitalize and redevelop London after the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Nutter announced Altman's departure yesterday at a City Hall news conference with a "tremendous amount of pride and regret."

With most of his top aides in attendance, the mayor continued: "I think everyone will recognize this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Andy and his family. . . . I imagine when London is calling, it is difficult to turn that call down."

The mayor said little about who would succeed Altman and did not name an interim official.

Altman is the third - and highest-ranking - member of the administration, which is now approaching its 18th month, to step down. A fourth official, policy adviser Pauline Abernathy, began a four-month leave this month.

As one of four deputy mayors, Altman helped form the core of Nutter's advisory team, and his absence will leave a hole in Philadelphia's historically neglected arena of urban development.

Altman informed Nutter of his decision during the Memorial Day weekend, at a meeting at Del Frisco's steakhouse in Center City. "He could not have been more supportive," he said of the mayor's response.

Altman began his job here 16 months ago as commerce director and deputy mayor for planning and economic development. Before that, he worked in New York at a development company he started, and also in Washington, where he served as planning director and oversaw a highly regarded Anacostia waterfront-development project.

"I came back [to Philadelphia] because of the mayor's vision, integrity, and passion for the city," said Altman, who grew up in Germantown and whose mother lives here. The decision to leave - he and his wife have two sons, 5-year-old Josh and 18-month-old Eli - was difficult. "I have a Jewish mother," Altman said. "Guilt is at a new level."

Altman was dogged for months by rumors that he was leaving for one job or another, rumors fed in part by the fact that he had rented but not bought a home in the city. Acknowledging yesterday that job offers had indeed come his way, he noted, "I was never leaving. I love it here."

Until now. The Olympics planning job, which he starts Aug. 1, "is an unusual opportunity," he said.

Nutter credited Altman with steering efforts to redevelop the waterfront, including the abolition of the Penn's Landing Corp., which was replaced by the smaller and more accountable Delaware River Waterfront Corp. He reorganized the Commerce Department to make it more customer-friendly. Also, he managed efforts to open Philadelphia's two casinos, which has not yet happened.

Above all, though, Nutter said, Altman "put planning at the heart of the city's development process," insisting that the Planning Commission, which he chaired, become the first stop for all major development projects.

"Andy Altman brought a refreshing leadership to the business community, especially real estate, and he will sorely missed," developer Bart Blatstein said. "I hope the Nutter administration takes this responsibility very seriously so that the real estate community has confidence that there's somebody there that understands and can listen."

Altman said a search firm contacted him about the new position two months ago.

In London, his new title will be chief executive officer of a government-owned agency named the Olympic Park Legacy Co.

He will oversee a 500-acre site in east London on which Olympics facilities will be built - including 10,000 housing units - with a specific focus on creating longer-term uses for those facilities after the Games end.

Nutter's senior aides greeted the news with disappointment, yet hope - for passes to the 2012 Games.

"We're all putting our order in," communications director Tricia Enright said.