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

The developers of the sprawling former Provident Mutual Life Insurance property at 46th and Market Streets began a series of stops at neighborhood groups last night at the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) monthly board meeting to garner support and input for its proposed health campus.

A partnership between Philadelphia-based commercial developers Iron Stone and the Public Health Management Corp. (PHMC) will develop the 13-acre site, once slated to be the new home of the Philadelphia Police Department.

PHMC will run three programs at the site, including a federally funded health center that will provide primary care and dental services, a public health office and a 20- to 30-bed overnight site. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) plans to operate a children’s mental health services center from the site and several day care providers, including the YMCA, are interested in opening a large (some 120 children) facility, Andrew Eisenstein of Iron Stone Real Estate Partners told the SHCA board.  Continue Reading

The SHCA monthly board meeting will be held this Tuesday, Sept. 11 at the Spruce Hill Center (257 S. 45th St.). Community members are invited to learn more about the proposal for the development of the Provident Mutual Life Insurance building at 4601 Market Street, which will be presented by Andrew Eisenstein, founder of Iron Stone Real Estate Partners.

After the Kenney administration cancelled plans to relocate Philadelphia police headquarters into the building last year, the city began seeking other potential developers for the 15-acre property. Iron Stone was selected as a developer for the building, and their plan is to transform the building and the surrounding land into a public health campus, according to a recent report by Philly.com.

Iron Stone, a Philadelphia-based developer, will partner with the Public Health Management Corp. health institute on this project.

The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Mayor Jim Kenney told the audience gathered for the Spruce Hill Community Association annual meeting last night that the city would likely to have a handful of serious proposals for the old Provident Mutual Insurance building at 4601 Market St. by early January.

His administration cancelled plans in May to move the police headquarters to the building, opting instead for the old Philadelphia Inquirer building at 400 N. Broad St. Those plans were devised during the administration of Michael Nutter.

The city has received several requests for quotation (RFQ) on the property. These are narrative proposals of what would be done with the property. Those proposals range from commercial and retail to medical and educational. All propose a mix of uses for the property. Kenney said the RFQs are private and he could not provide specific details on any of them.  Continue Reading

Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration is rethinking the much publicized move of the police headquarters to 46th and Market, despite the start of $250 million in renovations and plans for an art installation and possibly even a new Police Athletic League branch.

According to reports first in Phillymag.com and then Philly.com, the Kenny administration is assessing the feasibility of moving police headquarters from its current location at 750 Race St. to the old Philadelphia Inquirer building at 400 N. Broad, leaving the future of the sprawling 87-year-old Provident Mutual Insurance Co. campus at 46th and Market in question. Kenney told Philly.com that the plans to move to West Philly are now “up in the air.”

In a proposal devised by Michael Nutter’s administration, the Provident campus was planned to be renamed the Public Safety Services Campus and would include the Department of Public Health and the Medical Examiner’s Office. But Kenney told Philly.com yesterday that the Provident campus might be better for “health-related” services and that moving police to the Inquirer building would place it near City Hall and other downtown offices.

The City Council approved more than $250 million in funding to complete the renovations at the Provident, which were scheduled to be completed by December.

The major redevelopment project of converting the long-vacant former Provident Mutual Life Insurance building site into a public services complex, including headquarters for the Philadelphia Police Department, has been going on for about a year and a half now. Recently we checked on the site and saw that the 88-year-old building’s facade was already partially renovated.

According to this sign posted at the site, the work on the building’s facade and roof improvements is expected to be completed in December 2016.

As we reported earlier, the whole complex, which will also house the Department of Public Health and the Medical Examiner’s Office and Morgue and will include a plaza with public art installations, is expected to be completed by 2018. The complex will stretch from 46th to 48th Street and from Market Street to Haverford Avenue.