October 19, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Hill lot to reopen after 8 months
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

A portable bathroom blocks the entrance of Lot 4, adjacent to The Hirshorn Company’s addition. The lot is expected to open soon, after the drive is repaved. (Photo by Kristin Pazulski)

Chestnut Hill’s Parking Lot 4, situated behind the east side of Germantown Avenue’s 8400 block, which has been closed since February, is expected to reopen next week.

The lot’s closure has contributed to a decrease in business for some the businesses bordering the lot, and owners and employees say they are anxious for it to reopen.

“It has definitely hurt business,” said Ginny Ashenfelter of the Happy Butterfly in the Chestnut Hill Community Centre, 8419 Germantown Ave.

“We really believe that,” she said. “This whole building believes it.”

Across the hall is the consignment store Bird in Hand. An employee, asking not to be named, said the lot’s closing “impacts us dramatically.” Not only are the customers inconvenienced, she explained, but donors to the store are often bringing in large boxes and items, and it is hard for them to find a close place to park.

Carl Drake, owner of Drake’s Gourmet Foods & Catering, which is opening next month in the former Women’s Exchange, said the closure has made moving difficult.

“I’m definitely having some trouble getting the equipment moved in,” he said, adding that parking is one of the key points in any good location. “Hopefully it’ll be open by the time Drake’s opens up.”

The lot was closed to public parking when The Hirshorn Company, an insurance provider on East Highland Avenue, began the construction of its addition. The firm, which owns the lot’s main driveway and built its addition to keep that driveway open, had to close the entrance during the construction work.

The company had hoped to reopen the lot in September, said Majorie Hirshorn, the firm’s chief financial officer, but delays in the work and the construction company’s inability to access the driveway area with the paving equipment have pushed the opening to this month.

Hirshorn said she anticipated that the lot would be ready for use Monday, but that reopening depends on the weather and accessibility.

Until this month, the lot was accessible to monthly parkers only by way of the driveway from Germantown Avenue, but the owners of that driveway, Jacob F. Ruth Funeral Directors, Inc., had to close that entrance.

“There was too much traffic,” said Joseph Thomas Jr., the funeral home’s director, adding that privacy is often needed behind the building for families and that the vehicular traffic was impinging on it.

The delay in the lot’s reopening and the recent activities of Bowman Properties in Chestnut Hill has led to speculation among businesses that the firm, which owns a part of that lot, would terminate its lease with the Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation and cause the lot to remain closed.

The Foundation leases a portion of the small lot from Bowman Properties for $1 a year, which is the rate for all the property owners that lease parking lot land to the Foundation. After Bowman Properties recently informed some of its tenants (though not the Foundation) that it may be raising rents or evicting, the rumor has floated that it was going to terminate its lease with the Foundation, too.

But Paul Roller, president of the Foundation, dispelled the rumor. He said that Bowman Properties had not informed the Foundation that the lease on that piece of land would be terminated, though if it were done the lot would be closed because the Bowman Properties’ land is adjacent to the main entrance.

Roller said Bowman Properties had threatened to terminate the lease in August 2005, but he said four months after that, the firm claimed that the apparent threat was a miscommunication and that it would not terminate the lease.

The Foundation’s lease on that land, however, has joined those of other Bowman tenants by being placed on a month-to-month basis, which Roller said it honors by sending an eight-and-a-half cent check to Bowman Properties each month.

Bowman Properties had no comment on the situation except to say “the property is leased to the Parking Foundation on a short term lease.”

Victor Pace, owner of Victor’s Barber Shop situated on the walkway that leads from the closed lot to Germantown Avenue, said the closing has affected business “somewhat,” but that it is more of an inconvenience to his elderly customers.

“I’d definitely like to see it back open,” Pace said.

Muriel Kaplan, owner of Zipfs Candies on the same walkway, said she misses the foot traffic of customers of Killian Hardware and Caruso’s Market that would park in the lot. She said she is fortunate to have a specialty shop and regulars that frequent the store despite the inconvenient parking, but noted that “it’s been a lot slower since Feb. 14,” referring to the day the lot closed, which she remembered because Valentine’s Day is one of her busiest holidays.

Contact staff writer Kristin Pazulski, 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com.