Architect Nancy Bastian from Cecil Baker and Partners shows preliminary drawings of a proposed affordable housing building at 46th and Spruce during a meeting of the Spruce Hill Community Association planning committee on Monday evening. (Photo by West Philly Local)
A non-profit told the Spruce Hill Community Association and a handful of nearby residents that it hopes to construct a four-story affordable housing building on the site of a burnt-out one-story structure at 46th and Spruce.
The Mission First Housing Group‘s building would include 24 one- and two-bedroom rental apartments aimed at people with a household income of $32,000 a year or less, according to Mark Deitcher, Mission First’s director of business development.
“Our plan is to replace affordable housing with affordable housing,” he said.
The burnt-out building at 46th and Spruce.
A fire gutted the building in February 2011, essentially putting out of business the non-profit that ran an assisted care living facility on the site. The insurance proceeds from the fire were not enough to cover rebuilding. Mission First is currently managing the property on the owner’s behalf and recently shored up the building’s roof and replaced windows by city order.
The project depends on a successful application for funding from the state. Mission First would own the property and fund the building’s construction through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s low income housing tax credit program, which would provide funding for the project. Deitcher said he expects the project to cost about $7 million, or about $200 per square foot. Funding applications are due late this year or maybe early next year, so completion of the project, if approved, is still a couple of years away. Mission First would also manage the building once constructed.
“Part of our concern is that the building is not a nuisance while we wait for funding,” Deitcher said.
Construction is also contingent on zoning approval, which will include ample opportunity for community input on things like exterior building materials.
In the past, the building housed a small A&P supermarket and one resident raised a question about putting retail in the building. Deitcher said the site was too small to include retail and accommodate the number of units that would help attract funders.
Mission First’s tentative plan includes 18 one-bedroom and 6 two-bedroom apartments. The two-bedroom units would be about 900 square feet. The building would also include a first-floor community room that could be used by neighborhood groups. Construction would first require the demolition of the existing building and the new plan would set the building facade back several feet from the Spruce Street sidewalk, lining it up with neighboring buildings. The plan makes no provision for parking, but Dietcher said that residents typically don’t own cars and that part of the building’s appeal is its proximity to several public transportation options.
Five of the units will be completely handicap accessible and Deitcher said that he hopes the site would attract low income veterans, a demographic that Mission First is trying to help. The application process would filter out full-time students.
Mission First has some history in the neighborhood. They operate affordable housing sites at S 4537 Osage Ave and S 45th St and Larchwood Ave.
–Mike Lyons
July 1st, 2014 at 10:48 am
Too bad no retail is planned–the area could really use a simple corner shop or something like that.
July 1st, 2014 at 10:50 am
We should not settled for a building on this corner without ground floor commercial space. This corner has heavy foot traffic and is a logical place for commercial. Not happy its going to take 2 more years to develop this eyesore.
July 1st, 2014 at 10:52 am
This is great.. And there’s a “corner store” right near there between Abyssinia and manakeesh on 45th.
July 1st, 2014 at 11:53 am
How do they make sure the affordable housing units go to older residents of Philadelphia who make less than 32k instead of recently graduated college students who make less than 32k?
July 1st, 2014 at 1:33 pm
Why do older residents of Philadelphia who make less than 32k deserve something more than recent graduates?
July 1st, 2014 at 7:34 pm
does the reporter even go out to look at the site? The houses around that corner, in that area, have front yards. Even the apartment house on the SW corner has a front yard. This report talks about the new building being several feet back from the sidewalk
What was there before was transitional housing, which is much different from so called affordable housing. I’d much rather see mixed income housing, not just a warehouse for one income type.
I’m quite sure there are people in the neighborhood, meaning within 4 to 6 blocks, that have incomes under $32K, and aren’t recent students. I know that after living here for 30+ years, including owning my own house for much of the time, I will probably have to move out in the near future because I won’t be able to afford the RE taxes when I go on a fixed, and lower income. If the State is going to underwrite housing for lower income people, I’d rather they do it for people who having been living in the area for a long time, not someone who just moved out of a dorm.
July 1st, 2014 at 8:12 pm
@red dog. Good points. Someone brought that up at the meeting – that low income people who live here already should be given the first chance at the housing. That point was noted by the potential developer. Hopefully that will be brought up again in future meetings.
Yes I (“the reporter”) have been to the site – I live on the same block. The new building – the one there now will be torn down – will be pushed back to provide a little bit of green space between it and the sidewalk, according to the proposed (very preliminary) plan.
– Mike Lyons
July 3rd, 2014 at 2:28 pm
I don’t see a rendering posted here, but for whatever is built, the architecture needs to respect the beautiful homes in the area, and have similar design standards. Otherwise it will look out of place and ruin the character of the neighborhood.
July 5th, 2014 at 5:02 pm
$200 per square foot. You could buy a triplex in this area for $130/square foot.
July 7th, 2014 at 8:14 pm
Government grants require union labor which increases the project cost. And unfortunately in Philadelphia means the workers will be primarily from the suburbs.
July 9th, 2014 at 1:37 am
Publicly-funded projects also require compliance with health and safety laws, and might have green standards, that sort of thing that a private buyer might not be subject to, especially not a homebuyer, as opposed to a landlord. It’s true – it is expensive on the front end to provide safe, quality, sustainable rental housing produced by workers who are being paid a living wage. But, we saw what doing it on the cheap did at 42nd and Chester. And 2138 Market. Sure, you can do things cheap. That’s the American capitalist way. But it gives us crap. We’re tired of crap.
And the fact is, in our present capitalist economic environment, it seems it is impossible to provide safe, quality, affordable, market-driven housing. The “market” is not providing it. So government needs to step in.
We get cheap shrimp from slaves in Thailand who sell us crappy shrimp fed on garbage from Costco, and we get cheap, crappy housing from slumlords who buy crappy houses and rent them out to desperate people who have nowhere else to go.
Hooray for $200/square foot if it means safe, affordable, quality housing . And screw you if you are a slumlord sucking every ounce of profit out of your properties at the expense of the safety of your communities and tenants.
Kimm Tynan
July 10th, 2014 at 11:45 am
No outrage that the living wages go primarily to suburban and NJ-dwelling union members? And that they refuse to open their ranks to reflect our city while at the same time charging lower rates for projects in the counties where they actually live?
It is a damn shame when neighbors get excited about a proposed project being “open shop” because they know it’s the only way their fellow residents will get work on a project.
July 11th, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Anon, no outrage here! If this is a public project then I am glad if it will go to union contractors that pay people living wages and benefits – as it should. Are you aware of the demographics currently coming up through the ranks of union apprenticeship programs in our city? I think you would be pleasantly surprised.