'It Can’t Just Be In The Lap Of One Person': Why 2 Historic Germantown Properties Haven’t Been Redeveloped Years Later
It’s rare for neighbors and developers to agree about any piece of property. But in Philly, even an unlikely alliance isn't always enough to overcome a lawmaker disinclined to cooperate.
Councilmanic prerogative, Philadelphia City Council’s unwritten tradition of giving total deference in land use decisions to the member whose district includes that land, can make the city’s 10 council districts seem like 10 separate fiefdoms.
In Northwest Philadelphia’s District 8, developers and community members both say Councilmember Cindy Bass has stymied progress on the redevelopment and preservation of two historic city-owned buildings in Germantown.
The former Germantown YWCA and Town Hall buildings sit less than 1,000 feet apart on Germantown Avenue, its namesake neighborhood’s main commercial corridor. Both are around 100 years old, and neither has been occupied for decades. Both would require millions of dollars in structural repairs but carry the potential for historic tax credits. And both have been in disrepair for so long that they may not have many years left before they require demolition.
The two city-owned buildings have physical differences, like size and feasible usage, and they are administered by two different entities — the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority for the YWCA and the pseudo-public nonprofit Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. for Town Hall.
Most importantly, both require a council resolution from Bass to be transferred to a private owner for redevelopment.
PRA selected a Columbus, Ohio-based company called KBK Enterprises to develop the YWCA in 2016, and PIDC granted local West Powelton Development an exclusive window to make a proposal for Town Hall. The two companies' founders have each donated thousands to Bass’ campaigns.
Neither has presented enough evidence it can execute its proposal for its property's controlling agency to sign off on a transfer. But there is no point in the PRA or PIDC finding a new developer as long as Bass indicates she would only authorize a transfer to the originally selected companies, neighborhood players said.
“They’re stalled,” zoning attorney and local activist Yvonne Haskins told Bisnow. “Both projects are stalled because Cindy Bass is insisting on a specific developer.”
The transfer of any city-owned property in Philadelphia, no matter how small, to private ownership requires a city council resolution. Under the terms of councilmanic prerogative, no councilmember will introduce a resolution applying to land within another member’s district, and no member will vote against a resolution brought by a member representing that district.
NIMBY voices often fight against projects bringing additional density, threatening parking spots or harming neighborhood character, but Germantown residents are more flexible than they once were on the two buildings’ uses as long as they are redeveloped in time to save the structures, Germantown-based developer Ken Weinstein said.
“Councilmanic prerogative is now the main obstacle,” said Weinstein, CEO of Philly Office Retail. “We need the ability to put out a [request for proposals], put it out to bid and give the community a chance to look at the respondents and make a decision. It can’t just be in the lap of one person.”
Bass declined Bisnow’s request for an interview through spokesperson Sherylle Linton Jones, instead offering to answer written questions in an email. After Bisnow sent a list of questions about the status of the two properties and their developers, Linton Jones sent a two-sentence response from Bass.
“I am committed to, and look forward to seeing these properties developed,” Bass’ statement says. “I will always support the needs of my constituents.”
Germantown YWCA
The 49K SF building that once housed the Germantown YWCA sits at 5820 Germantown Ave. and bears historical significance, not just for its architecture but also for its history as one of the first racially integrated YWCAs in the country, well before the Civil Rights Movement took hold nationally.
PRA purchased the property at a sheriff’s auction in 2013 after its previous nonprofit owner collapsed. Weinstein and developer Mission First submitted a proposal to convert the building to affordable senior housing two years later, but Bass rejected it, saying at the time she preferred another use. In 2016, KBK Enterprises was selected after PRA put out an RFP.
Founded by former Ohio State University football player Keith B. Key, KBK has developed properties in cities like Columbus, Pittsburgh and New Orleans. The Germantown Y was to be KBK’s first Philadelphia project, with the plan calling for 12 affordable apartments and 12 market-rate apartments above two floors of retail and office space.
But by 2021, KBK hadn’t begun work on the building or provided any updates to its plan. Pressure from West Central Germantown Neighbors, the local registered community organization, and interest group Friends for the Restoration of the Germantown YWCA Building caused PRA to give KBK one month to produce proof that it had the financial backing necessary to complete the job, WHYY reported at the time.
When KBK missed PRA’s deadline, the agency revoked the company’s exclusive rights and intended to release a new RFP. That is when Bass accused PRA of not providing KBK access to the building and failing to adequately support a Black-owned company, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported at the time.
“I’ve said to [Bass] what I’ll say now: She has misstated what happened with the initial proposal that [PRA] had removed,” Haskins said. “She misstated that the PRA never gave KBK access to the building under the reservation agreement, and that’s just poppycock.”
Haskins cited the fact that KBK applied for and was denied historic tax credits for the redevelopment, a process that requires providing details about the state of the structure, in questioning the veracity of Bass’ claims. Nevertheless, PRA last year returned exclusive rights to KBK, with whom they remain. KBK didn't respond to requests for comment.
PRA in May gave KBK another one-month deadline to submit proof of its financial capacity, which passed without an update from Key or his company. PRA hasn't taken any public action in response, agency spokesperson Jamila Davis told Bisnow.
“The last time I talked to [Bass], I asked one question: If they didn’t have access to the property, why didn’t they file a complaint?” Haskins said, adding that the conversation took place in early August. “And she was quiet. She didn’t say anything.”
KBK, Key and his wife donated a combined $8,500 to Bass’ city council campaigns in 2018 and 2019, and Key gave another $2,500 in 2022, according to city campaign finance records.
Other than those donations, the Germantown project is the only thing publicly connecting KBK to Bass — further deepening the mystery for stakeholders of why the councilmember has refrained from opening up the property to other developers over a seven-year period.
“When the original RFP was issued, I was aware of it, went to meetings about that, and KBK was who [Bass] pushed,” West Central Germantown Neighbors President Suzanne Ponsen said.
Community members never heard that KBK was having any difficulties with PRA until it rescinded the developer’s rights to the Germantown Y, Ponsen and Haskins said.
“There’s something disingenuous about that,” Ponsen said. “If she was so concerned about a minority developer not being given the same opportunities, then we should have known about it because we would have fought alongside her to get it corrected.”
PRA spent $2.5M to seal and stabilize the building before the initial RFP. But it has still suffered structural decay in the last seven years, during which KBK hasn’t performed any site work, Weinstein said, adding he would submit another bid to redevelop the Germantown Y if the PRA issued another RFP.
“It’s in Germantown,” Weinstein said. “It’s historic. It’s blighted. And that’s what we do every day.”
Germantown Town Hall
Despite the name, Germantown Town Hall was built decades after the area was annexed by Philadelphia in 1854, replacing a structure that was demolished in 1920. Unused since 1998, the building at 5928 Germantown Ave. contains about 28K rentable SF, not including the rotunda in front of the property, which historic protections mandate must be open to the public.
The irregularly shaped building is a much more complex proposition for adaptive reuse that is ill-suited for housing, said Weinstein, who has toured the building’s interior several times since PIDC put the property up for sale in 2011.
“There has been some interest [from developers], but it’s hard to know how much of the interest is real because it hasn’t been made public,” Weinstein said.
PIDC signed a memorandum of understanding with West Philly-based West Powelton Development in early 2022, but company President Anthony Fullard has only presented rough plans that would potentially require relocating a neighboring police station, which uses a surface lot adjacent to Town Hall for officers to park their civilian cars, WHYY reports.
Fullard donated over $3,400 to Bass’ city council campaigns between 2019 and 2022, according to city campaign finance records.
The noncompetitive selection process gave Fullard exclusive rights to submit a formal proposal to PIDC, which he has yet to do, and his public engagement for the property has been scant, Ponsen and Haskins said.
“There is no substantive update on PIDC’s end regarding this potential development, but the process is still active,” PIDC spokesperson Kevin Lessard said in a statement. “The developer is still evaluating the feasibility of its proposed project, and an MOU was extended to the fall to afford the developer more time to complete its due diligence — particularly the environmental assessments and associated costs.”
The first meeting Fullard had with the public was a videoconference at 7 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2022. Neighborhood residents and WCGN were first notified of it at 6:12 p.m., Ponsen said.
“I can tell you that we didn’t know about it, so there was very little opportunity to have people attend,” Ponsen said.
A second virtual meeting in February came with more notice, but Fullard only took submitted questions, and community members weren’t allowed to speak, Ponsen said. Both meetings were arranged by Bass.
“There was no opportunity given to follow up,” Ponsen said. “So in that respect, I didn’t feel like it was a real community meeting.”
WCGN emailed West Powelton Development in the months between the two meetings but received no response. Fullard said at the February videoconference he had never seen an email, Ponsen said.
As of the February meeting, West Powelton hadn't completed any ground-up projects as lead developer, didn't have any direct experience with rehabilitation of historic properties, hadn’t completed any structural or feasibility studies, and had yet to identify financing sources, Germantown Info Hub reported at the time.
West Powelton held a ceremonial groundbreaking for a townhome development in neighboring Mount Airy called Mount Airy Mews in November 2020, which Bass attended. Fullard used the project as proof of his track record in community meetings, Ponsen said, but the lot remains empty. A Compass sale listing for the property updated in July designated it as pre-construction.
The URL for West Powelton Development’s website didn't load as of Wednesday, and it hadn’t worked for months, Ponsen said.
In 2011, the estimated cost of converting Town Hall to office space was between $10M and $15M, Hidden City reported.
When touring the property in 2015, Weinstein estimated it needed $5M in public subsidies to perform historic rehabilitation.
“That price has obviously gone up since then, and we have not done a new assessment,” Weinstein said. “I would not be surprised if the need for that subsidy had doubled. Ten million dollars would be a fair estimate.”
Fullard’s plan included converting part of the building to short-term rental apartments and another part to event space. To make the numbers work, he said he would need to build a ground-up apartment building on the lot used by the Philadelphia Police Department. PPD hasn’t been involved in any public part of the process, Ponsen said.
“The two meetings I’ve been to about it, [the police station] was not mentioned at all,” she said. “The police should be part of that discussion. It’s one thing to build a police station and from the beginning not have any parking, but it’s different for a city to build a police station with plenty of parking and then remove it. It just doesn’t seem like it’s been thought out.”
With the saga of the YWCA so fresh in residents’ minds, Ponsen and Haskins have little hope that they will hear any updates about Town Hall anytime soon. All the while, the potential cost of saving the building rises.
“We just don’t know what’s going on with Town Hall,” Haskins said. “There’s rumors that PIDC is about to pull the plug on Anthony Fullard, and that’s all we know. However, Cindy seems to be in the driver’s seat on that one. For an RFP to be viable, people have to know that she will sponsor the ordinance that transfers title. That’s her power over all of this.”
4 More Years
Bass narrowly survived a primary challenge in May, clearing the path for a virtually certain re-election in November and a fourth council term. Her challenger ran on a platform of making more use of the Philadelphia Land Bank to build affordable housing, as well as criticizing her use of councilmanic prerogative to stall for her preferred developers, the Inquirer reported in May.
As of April 26, Bass had introduced transfer resolutions on only a handful of city-owned properties despite her district including over 1,000 of them, per Philadelphia 3.0. A zoning remapping plan developed by WCGN and the Philadelphia City Planning Commission was given to Bass in 2021. It has yet to be introduced, a delay more economically damaging than the two historic properties, Weinstein and Haskins said.
Given Bass’ expected re-election, Ponsen, Haskins and Weinstein all expressed a willingness to keep working with her to advance redevelopment at the YWCA, Town Hall and in Germantown overall. But although she received support from the Building Industry Association during her primary race, Bass hasn't kept her door open for community voices, Haskins said.
“We’ve never been able to talk to her, except once I talked to her about job training years ago,” Haskins said. “I cannot see anything significant that Cindy produced, but she gives out toys and turkeys and keeps people happy with the little things she does.”
Bass’ use of councilmanic prerogative has become so stifling, Ponsen has resorted to reaching out to councilmembers at large who won re-election in the May primary to implore them to break tradition and introduce resolutions for land in Germantown, she told Bisnow.
“I’ve asked them to have the balls to get up and speak against it,” Ponsen said. “And I tell them I think they’ll get a lot of respect from citizens.”
CORRECTION, AUG. 24, 10:45 A.M. ET: A previous version of this article misstated PIDC's relationship to Germantown Town Hall and misattributed Ken Weinstein's estimate for the subsidy required to rehabilitate Town Hall. This article has been updated.
