PHILADELPHIA,
PA- The Philadelphia Housing Authority and its private market
partners are about to launch construction projects at six sites,
which will result in more than 700 more homes, and two office
buildings at a cost of about $238 million.
PHA Executive Director Carl Greene says
the ongoing PHA building boom is great news for Philadelphia
neighborhoods and the building industry.
"A point that we have emphasized
throughout our construction endeavors is that we add value and
create wealth in neighborhoods by building the highest quality
affordable housing."
Past studies have documented that when PHA
redevelops a neighborhood property values grow much faster than the
overall rate in the city, plus there is an impact on the regional
economy by virtue of the jobs and services that go with the
project.
But the biggest news is the creation of
more housing. The largest of the PHA developments is a 160-home
community in the Ludlow section of North Philadelphia. The homes
will be scattered throughout the neighborhood, not built on one
large conventional PHA-owned site.
Another 80 homes are going up at Marshall
Shepard Village, a portion of PHA's continuing investment in West
Philadelphia.
In North Philadelphia, PHA breaks ground
in March on a 64-apartment senior building next to the agency's
Johnson Homes site. This facility, called Nellie Reynolds gardens,
will also have a 12,000 square foot Living Independently for Elders
(LIFE) Center on the ground floor. In East Falls, PHA is building
28 affordable homes for sale at its Falls Ridge site, where 135
rental units are already occupied.
In addition to construction beginning on
these homes, PHA is building a 30,000 square foot office and
training building on the grounds of Greater Grays Ferry Estates in
South Philadelphia. Also in South Philadelphia, PHA begins
construction in April of an 80,000 square foot office building on
the site of the former Passyunk Homes, demolished in
2002.
Aside from these projects, PHA has sold
property to private companies to build homes for sale at full
market rate. Westrum Company is building 128 homes at Falls Ridge,
and The DePaul Group will begin construction on 275 homes on the
old Passyunk site. DePaul has not yet announced when it will begin
construction, but the first shovel is expected to go into the
ground in spring or summer of 2007.
The combined development cost of the
Westrum and DePaul developments is $121 million. Combined with the
$117 PHA is investing in its projects, these construction jobs
total $238 million. An earlier study by Econsult Corp. estimated
that every dollar spent on PHA construction results in $2.50 in
economic impact on the region.
Carl Greene puts the investments in
perspective. "PHA has found a way over the past several years to
serve our clients, our neighborhoods and the regional economy all
at the same time. Unfortunately, with drastic funding cuts now
hitting us from Washington, we simply won't be able to do that much
longer."
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PHA is building 28 homes for sale to families of modest income at
its Falls Ridge site in East Falls while Westrum Company will build
128 homes on the site for sale at full market rate. PHA already has
135 affordable rental units on the site. |
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PHA is building an 80,000 square foot office and storage building
on the site where the agency demolished its Passyunk Homes project
in 2002. The DePaul group plans to build 275 homes for sale at
market rate on the site. |
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