Residents criticized developers and city officials for a lack of transparency in the proposal to convert the city-owned Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co. building and surrounding land at 46th and Market into a campus focused on mental health services and child care during a public meeting on Tuesday night.
About 125 residents gathered in the auditorium of West Philadelphia High School at 49th and Chestnut for presentations from the developers, a city official handling the deal, and proposed tenants, which include the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and the YMCA.
The city chose that plan earlier this year after a call for proposals. The call came after a long-anticipated plan proposed by former mayor Michael Nutter to move the police headquarters and related offices to the 13-acre site was scuttled by Mayor Jim Kenney, Nutter’s successor. The police headquarters, the Medical Examiner’s office and the 6th and 9th police districts will now move into the old Philadelphia Inquirer building at 400 N. Broad St..
That change and the city’s subsequent choice of this new proposal caught many residents off guard.
“People aren’t mad, they’re just tired of hearing a lot of things that they didn’t have any say in,” said one resident. “The process is defective.” Continue Reading
The city is now officially seeking a developer for the Provident Mutual Life Insurance complex at 4601 Market St., several months after the Kenney administration scuttled plans to move the police administration to the site.
The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation issued a “Request for Qualifications and Expressions of Interest” today that seeks potential developers for the 15-acre property adjacent to the Market-Frankford Line’s 46th Street stop. The city hopes to assemble a short list of interested developers this fall and then open a competitive bidding process. Proposals for the first phase are due Nov. 1.
The property is zoned CMX-3, which allows a wide variety of uses – from a community garden to an apartment building to a hospital. The complex includes a 325,000-square-foot administration building and a 11,200-square-foot utility plant. Continue Reading
An artist’s rendering of what the Provident building will look like after its conversion into the Public Safety Services Campus. Two small buildings near the southwest corner of the complex will be demolished.
We are starting to get an idea of what the hulking, long-vacant Provident Mutual Life Insurance Building at North 46th and Market Streets will look like a few years from now. The building is being converted into a public services complex that will house the headquarters for the Philadelphia Police Department and the Department of Public Health, including the city’s coroner’s office and morgue.
Designers unveiled some drawings this week of a spiffed up Provident Building, complete with lots of greenery and a couple of out buildings removed. PlanPhilly reports that on November 17 artists who responded to a competitive call for a public installation that will be the centerpiece of a public plaza at 46th and Market are scheduled to present their ideas to designers. The city will draw $675,000 from its Percent for Art program to pay for the installation.
Two buildings on the west side of the site, a powerhouse (with a large smokestack near the El tracks and an auditorium) will be demolished. Ballinger Architects is designing the complex.
The Provident Mutual Building at 46th and Market in its glory days from an old postcard.
(UPDATE: The Preservation Alliance is holding an art show Friday that includes pieces inspired by the buildings on the endangered list. The show is at the Globe Dye Works (4500 Worth Street) and starts at 7 p.m. Half the proceeds go toward the Alliance’s Advocacy Fund.)
The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Building at 46th and Market, that majestic, cupola topped building overlooking the El tracks, is eroding before our eyes and it is still unclear whether help is on the way. The building is one of many that the Preservation Alliance of Philadelphia has identified as “still endangered” in its eighth annual Endangered Properties List released today. The list is full of sad stories of landmark buildings that have fallen into disrepair.
Built in 1926 by Cram and Ferguson, the Provident Mutual building was abandoned when the company moved in 1983. Parts of the building have been occupied by a hodgepodge of agencies over the years. The building has been considered for the relocation of both the Philadelphia Family Court and the Philadelphia Police Headquarters. The Family Court contract went elsewhere (under a cloud of alleged corruption) and the estimated $70 million rehab price tag has made the police move doubtful, at least for now.
Sadly, the building is not on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, making it even more likely to be ignored, according to the Preservation Alliance.
Last month, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell halted a vote in City Council on the sale of the former Provident Mutual Life Insurance building to local real estate developer Iron Stone, who had proposed to convert the site at 46th and Market into a public health campus. This Thursday, Jan. 17, Iron Stone representatives will talk about the future of the site at a zoning meeting organized by the Walnut Hill Community Association.
Community members are invited to attend the meeting and voice their opinions.
The meeting will take place at the Enterprise Center (4548 Market St), beginning at 6 p.m.
West Philadelphia residents are invited to discuss the proposed development of the former Provident Mutual Life Insurance campus at 46th and Market this Tuesday, Dec. 10, at West Philadelphia High School (49th and Chestnut). The meeting has been organized by Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who has expressed her concern over the way the City, which owns the 15-acre property at 4601 Market, is handling the campus’s sale and proposed development.
Iron Stone was named as a future developer of the building a few months ago after a selection process that took approximately a year. The Philadelphia-based real estate company is planning to transform the building and the surrounding land into a public health campus. Continue Reading
Recent Comments