A decade of changing plans<\/p>\n
This is technically the third iteration of this development.\n<\/p>\n
An initial project concept called for Alterra to build a 200-unit property that was 80% market-rate and 20% affordable. The most recent version saw the same affordability split with 162 units.\n<\/p>\n
Under that deal, Alterra was set to take on financing, construction and managing the completed building under a long-term agreement with PHA, known as a ground lease.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThat fundamentally changed post-COVID,\u201d Cartella said.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cAll the numbers changed,\u201d Jeremiah said.\n<\/p>\n
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, builders faced hyperinflation, breakdowns in the supply chain for construction materials and a more risk-averse lending landscape. All of it forced PHA to reevaluate its plans for Chestnut Street, causing the project to be delayed.\n<\/p>\n
Securing approvals from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also took time, in part because of staffing cuts at the federal agency, Jeremiah has said.\n<\/p>\n
Under the current deal, Alterra is building on behalf of PHA and will no longer be financing the project or holding a ground lease, Cartella said. The development will instead be entirely funded and operated by the housing authority.\n<\/p>\n
A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Friday. Alterra expects vertical construction to start in the coming months and leasing to begin during the second quarter of 2028.\n<\/p>\n
Nathaniel Margolies, president of the Center City Residents Association, a civic group whose boundaries include the project site, is looking forward to that day.\n<\/p>\n
PHA\u2019s old headquarters was demolished around 2024, leaving a large vacant lot along a busy stretch of Chestnut Street.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing better for safety and the liveliness of a neighborhood than adding residents who care about their block and want to make it their own,\u201d Margolies said. \u201cSo we are enthusiastic for people to be living there, working there, playing there, in what was previously an empty space.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A decade of changing plans This is technically the third iteration of this development. An initial project concept…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7991,1157,69,71,23730,70,2312],"class_list":["post-322429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-apartment-buildings","tag-center-city","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-housing-authority","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-planphilly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}