BREAKING: Brickstone Wants to Develop Game-Changing Building With 80 Apartments at 11th and Chestnut

Screen shot of the Zoning Board all-caps appeal info. From phila.gov.

A reader wrote to us yesterday to tell us that a Zoning Board appeal is scheduled for Oct. 30th for a seven-story building at 1118-1120 Chestnut that includes two floors reserved for commercial use and four floors of residential — with a hefty 80 units.

According to public record, the building’s ownership has changed hands like the proverbial hot potato since 2006, when Joseph Greco, president and CEO of Southern Connecticut Bancorp — and onetime CEO of Pennsylvania-based Corporate Marketing Solutions — was president of 1118 Chestnut Partners LLC. Then, in 2007, the address for the LLC changed, and was the same as 626 North Fifth Partners, a company associated with Bart Blatstein. Intriguing, but moot.

Later in 2007, the officer name was Amardeep “Billy” Grewal, who some might remember from CREI’s “legacy of failures,” which came home to roost in 2009.

Also affiliated at some point: Pintzuk Brown Realty Group. Pintzuk’s Anthony Sembello told us, “In 2007, we did buy a good amount of property in Center City,” but he’s getting back to us about what happened with this particular space.

The owner now is Brickstone, the development/ownership/management firm that developed the John Wanamaker building, Mellon Independence Center, Courtyard by Marriott, and 1234 Market Street. Given Brickstone’s track record, it’s hard to imagine objections to this project, especially given that the company also owns the three adjacent buildings at 1122-28 Chestnut Street that it plans to develop. Jacob Cooper, MSC vice president and an expert on Center City real estate and development, says, “It’s game-changing deal for East Chestnut Street.”

That’s for sure.