Aspiring developers from underprivileged backgrounds often struggle to break into commercial real estate, but a program pioneered in Philadelphia has helped many overcome those barriers by providing training and startup funding.
:no_upscale():quality(75))
Jumpstart Germantown founder Ken Weinstein and several alumni celebrated the program’s 10-year anniversary Tuesday night at a ceremony attended by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle Parker.
The organization is focused on equipping mostly women and people of color to buy and rehabilitate properties in the communities where they grew up.
So far, Jumpstart Germantown has trained nearly 1,700 developers and lent about $61M. It has also inspired 19 other Jumpstart programs across the nation, with more on the way.
“Jumpstart said, ‘You know this block, you grew up here,” program graduate Camille Pearsall said. “You should be the one rebuilding it.’”
Weinstein is also president of Philly Office Retail and a member of the committees that helped steer Parker’s HOME Initiative and Shapiro’s upcoming statewide housing plan.
“I get to call it quits when all vacant and deteriorated properties have been rehabilitated,” Weinstein said. “You could say Jumpstart is my retirement plan.”
SALES
:no_upscale():quality(75))
Sordoni Properties LLC paid $5.5M for the historic Offset Paperback Factory in Dallas, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles northeast of Wilkes-Barre. The firm plans to build a supermarket, a convenience store and a restaurant. It is considering adding a fitness center, a medical space and additional retail.
Jeff Algatt of Colliers represented Sordoni in the transaction.
***
Velocity Venture Partners spent $11.3M on a 108K SF industrial property at 100 Park Ave. in Warminster. The building is 100% leased to gardening company Burpee Seeds.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
:no_upscale():quality(75))
Workers have broken ground on the $500M renovation of the Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.
O’Donnell & Naccarato is providing structural engineering services for the project, which includes a 254K SF, six-story tower and a new helipad.
***
The Philadelphia Housing Authority held a grand opening ceremony for its newly constructed 220-unit Somerset Station complex in Port Richmond last week.
***
Camden County is paying $17M to rehabilitate a large section of Haddon Avenue, a main thoroughfare through the city of Camden. Planned upgrades include traffic signal improvements, ADA-compliant ramps and water main replacements.
THIS AND THAT
Share Food Program, a nonprofit that helps people struggling with food insecurity across Delaware County, celebrated the opening of its new 9,000 SF warehouse at 101 Amosland Road in Holmes last week.
