An artist’s rendering of the planned apartment complex. This view is east from 48th street. The Provident building is in the background.

UPDATE: The community meeting has been postponed. See the story here.

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier has issued a last-minute call for developers of the massive property at 46th and Market Streets to rethink their plans to build 1,240 apartments to include a “substantial” number of affordable units.

A community meeting with developers, Iron Stone Real Estate Partners, is planned for March 1 at 6 p.m. at the Alain Locke School (4550 Haverford Ave). The meeting is scheduled less than a week before the city’s Civic Design Review hearing on the plan scheduled for March 7, essentially the last chance for the public to weigh in on the proposal.

Iron Stone revealed plans over the summer to build six apartment buildings, including a 19-story tower on the site, which includes the gold-cupolaed Provident building and is adjacent to the 46th Street El stop. The Provident building now houses the Public Health Management Corporation, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia offices, and a charter school. The rest of the site, some 13 acres, is mostly open space.

The property is zoned CMX-3, a mixed-use designation that means the residential buildings will likely be constructed “by right” with little required community input on things like the inclusion of affordable housing. In a letter to Iron Stone dated Feb. 21, Gauthier says that the sale agreement of the site between the developers and the city requires agreement on housing development.

“I would endorse residential development at 4601 Market Street because of the site’s proximity to high quality jobs, transity and community resources,” she wrote. “But I do not support building a luxury housing complex unaffordable to those in the surrounding neighborhood on a property heavily subsidized by taxpayers.” (See the full letter below).

Iron Stone bought the site from the city in 2019 after Mayor Jim Kenney scuttled plans formulated under the administration of former Mayor Michael Nutter to relocate the city’s police headquarters and morgue to the Provident building after extensive renovation, which the city had already paid some $52 million to complete. Here is developers’ plan for five seven-story and one 19-story apartment buildings, which was released earlier this week. The plan, which includes courtyards that will have “outdoor kitchens, lounge spaces and a pool for the residents,” makes no mention of affordable housing. The apartment complex would be adjacent to the city’s juvenile detention center at 48th and Haverford.

Gauthier has called on residents to attend the March 1 meeting, sponsored by the West Powelton/Saunders Park RCO, to pressure Iron Stone to revise their plans to include affordable housing. Iron Stone is required to meet with community members ahead of the city’s Civic Design Review committee hearing on March 7. Recommendations – everything from affordable housing to building materials – raised during civic design review process, which is designed to allow community input into large development projects, are not binding. It is typically the last step of the city’s licensing process that includes community input.

Iron Stone executives have said in the past that they were “exploring its ability to include affordable housing.” But in the Feb. 21 letter Gauthier has called on the developer to withdraw its plan and submit a new one that includes “concrete steps to provide substantial affordable housing.”

“If Iron Stone is genuine about including affordable housing at 4601 Market, you will let the Philadelphia City Planning Commission know that you are removing yourselves from the March 7 Civic Design Review meeting in order to have these conversations,” she wrote.

A map of the proposal included in Iron Stone’s Civic Design Review application. The development would include 5 seven-story buildings and one 19-story buildings.

An artist’s rendering of the planned residential housing on the 4601 Market Street site. Looking east from 48th and Market.