St. Laurentius Church in Fishtown can be replaced with an eight-story residential building, judge rules

A Philadelphia judge has ordered the city to reinstate a zoning permit that allows a developer to replace the Fishtown landmark St. Laurentius Church with a multifamily building.

The city violated the law last year when it rescinded zoning permission to allow the construction at the site of an eight-story multifamily residential building spanning more than 45,000 square feet with 49 residential units, Common Pleas Court Judge Joshua Roberts ruled Thursday. The judge’s order reverses the decision by the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

The board exceeded its authority when it disregarded a provision in Philadelphia’s zoning code that allowed the issuing of the permit in favor of a similar but less strict zoning rule that applies to all other counties through the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code that did not allow it, Roberts said.

» READ MORE: The demolition of St. Laurentius could start this week with the dismantling of its skyline-defining spires (From August)

The decision marked the latest stage in the years-long fight by neighbors to preserve the 19th-century deconsecrated church and by developers to redevelop the landmark, which is on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

In 2021, the city gave permission for the brownstone Roman Catholic church to be demolished, saying the building at Berks and Memphis Streets was structurally unstable and in danger of collapsing. Demolition of St. Laurentius started last August with the removal of its skyline-defining twin spires and is ongoing. The framing of the roof has been exposed.

At issue in court was the timing of the issuance of the zoning permit for the new building and changes to the property’s zoning designation.

Developer Humberto Fernandini of 1600 Berks LLC bought St. Laurentius from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for $50,000 in January 2020. At that time, the property was zoned multifamily residential.

The year before the sale, City Council had switched the zoning away from single-family attached to clear the way for another developer’s plan to preserve the church and convert it into a 23-unit residential building. The goal was to speed the redevelopment process and prevent further deterioration of the building.

But that redevelopment plan fell through. And after subsequent efforts to demolish the church, Council President Darrell Clarke led the repeal of the zoning change. His bill to switch the property’s zoning from multifamily residential back to single-family attached passed on Dec. 9, 2021, and the new ordinance took effect Jan. 18, 2022.

But in between, the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections issued a zoning permit for Fernandini’s plans for the multifamily building on Jan. 5, 2022.

Clarke appealed L&I’s decision to grant the zoning permit, and in May, the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment approved the appeal. The property’s owner challenged that decision in county court, setting up a hearing last week and Thursday’s judicial ruling.

Clarke and his attorneys at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis argued that L&I should not have issued the zoning permit for the latest plan for the property, because legislation was about to change the site’s zoning.

» READ MORE: An eight-story residential building is planned for the site of St. Laurentius Church in Fishtown

At a Jan. 4 court hearing, associate Layal Issa asked the judge to use a more generous judicial definition of what classifies as a “pending ordinance” that can block the issuing of a zoning permit and ignore the stricter definition in Philadelphia’s zoning code. Issa said this wasn’t a normal zoning situation and should be treated differently.

“This is a unique property with unique circumstances,” she said.

The property owner’s attorney, Brian S. Paszamant, argued that the case is not unique and that the Zoning Board of Adjustment misapplied the law when it disregarded the city zoning code and decided that the pending legislation should have prevented L&I from issuing the zoning permit.

“We did what we could under the law,” said Paszamant, a partner at Blank Rome’s Philadelphia office.

Judge Roberts agreed with Paszamant at the hearing, saying, “The city changed the zoning and [the owner] took advantage of that change of zoning.”

» READ MORE: For now, St. Laurentius is safe from destruction (From 2015)

In his ruling, he rejected the argument that St. Laurentius’ situation is unique.

The judge’s order is subject to appeal. A spokesperson for Clarke said Thursday that the office will speak with its attorneys and Fishtown community members before deciding next steps.

In the meantime, demolition of St. Laurentius continues.

Fernandini bought the property from the archdiocese six years after the church closed in 2014 after engineers said the building was unsafe.

Over the objections of the archdiocese, the church joined the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2015. The Philadelphia Historical Commission has told the developer that he must preserve or rebuild the church’s façade in any new development.