The former site of a highly contested West Philadelphia affordable housing complex is mounting a return to form.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority plans to build 75 new units at a site on 39th and Market streets, where the University City Townhomes used to sit.
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The agency is reviewing three different proposals for the project, WHYY reported. Construction is expected to begin next year and wrap up within 15 months.
“We’re excited about developing that and having an affordable housing presence on the site,” PHA CEO Kelvin Jeremiah told the outlet. “This is an area where we are seeing rapid gentrification happening. A lot of rentals are increasingly becoming unaffordable.”
That backdrop galvanized activists and residents, who fiercely opposed the demolition of the 70-unit townhome complex. Demolition ultimately happened last year.
IBID Associates moved to shutter the community after it decided not to renew its longstanding contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In response, the Philadelphia City Council passed a law to protect the townhomes, leading IBID to file a lawsuit against the city and Council Member Jamie Gauthier in 2022.
The legal battle ended with control of part of the former townhomes site being handed over to the city. The parcel is part of a broader development site, some of which is slated for market-rate housing.
Most of the complex’s former residents received private market housing vouchers to rent elsewhere in the city. Former tenants will get preference if they apply for one of the 75 new units, but they don't have a right to return, Jeremiah told WHYY.
PHA also celebrated the completion of 63 new townhomes on the site of the demolished Norman Blumberg Apartments in Sharswood earlier this month. The final price tag for the project came out to $39M.
Those units will contribute to Mayor Cherelle Parker’s HOME Initiative. The mayor aims to build or preserve 30,000 affordable units in Philadelphia before the end of her term in 2028.
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