Controversial apartments slated for Manayunk’s PHS beer garden site have been delayed

The developer of a controversial apartment project at 106 Jamestown Ave. in Manayunk requested that the Zoning Board of Adjustment delay its Wednesday hearing.

The six-story, 73-unit building would replace the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s pop-up beer garden that currently leases the space.

Neighborhood backlash against the project from developer Dan Greenberg has been intense.

Critics say the project doesn’t provide enough parking; offers no commercial space; and would eliminate the beer garden, a popular community gathering place.

“It was prudent that he postponed,” said Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who represents the area and recently came out in opposition to the project.

Jones’ opinion is relevant because the project is seeking to build taller and denser than current zoning rules would allow, and the zoning board heavily weighs the opinions of neighborhood groups and the district City Council member. (The project is 60 feet tall, above the height limits imposed by the Main Street Manayunk overlay.)

Greenberg also needs permission to build apartments in an area that is not zoned for residential development.

“Fortunately for him, he’s not finally purchased it yet because zoning is an essential part of the sale,” said Jones. The delay “gives them the opportunity to talk to the community, but as it stands, I cannot support it.”

Greenberg’s team declined to comment, but a city staffer confirmed that Wednesday’s delay stemmed from the real estate company. A new hearing is not yet scheduled.

“This means that the applicant will contact us to reschedule the next hearing date,” wrote Ian Hegarty, a Planning Commission staffer who advises the zoning board, in a message to a questioner on the board’s Zoom on Wednesday.

The Manayunk Neighborhood Council led opposition to the project, submitting a petition against it to the zoning board with more than 500 signatures.

A community meeting earlier this year attracted 200 attendees, 97% of whom were opposed to the project, according to the neighborhood council.

“Even we are a little surprised at the universal opposition,” said John Hunter, the council’s zoning chair, in an email.

The Jamestown Avenue proposal also faced criticism from the Civic Design Review committee, an advisory-only city body.

In a June meeting, the board asked the developer to consider adding commercial space, criticism of the project also raised by the neighborhood council.

At that meeting, Hunter criticized the plan’s 36 parking spaces, arguing that the standard in Manayunk is one parking space for every housing unit. The notoriously hilly neighborhood is less walkable and has fewer transit options than neighborhoods closer to Center City.

The developer’s team has repeatedly declined to speak publicly, but at a meeting in June, lawyers for the project indicated that compromise is possible.

“There have been, and there still can be [modification to this project],” Adam Laver, a land-use attorney with Blank Rome who represents the developer, said at the June design committee meeting. “This team remains very interested … in hearing your feedback and continuing to make this project, which we believe in, as good as it can possibly be.”

For now, the beer garden will remain in place until the end of the season. Although PHS says it does not yet have a final closing date, the organization typically ends its outdoor pop-ups in October.

PHS declined to comment further on the future of the beer garden in light of the project’s delay. It opened the garden in 2020 as a temporary pop-up.

“He should consider if he can reduce the scope of the project to preserve the garden,” said Jones.

The project is part of a wave of apartment development on and around Main Street in Manayunk, with 1,800 units in the pipeline. That includes more than 800 homes slated for Venice Island, the flood-prone spit of land next to Manayunk in the Schuylkill.