Date: 06/09/2005
Council Panel Says Yes to Riverfront Housing
By Anthony S. Twyman
Inquirer Staff Writer
A City Council committee yesterday gave preliminary approval to nine zoning bills that help clear the way for three housing projects totaling about 2,900 units on the Delaware River waterfront.
The zoning changes, approved by Council''s Rules Committee after a public hearing, would allow sites that formerly housed an Army depot, a shipping terminal, and a steel plant above the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge to be turned into privately financed, market-rate residential developments.
The proposals are part of the "New River City" initiative, Mayor Street''s effort to draw private development to the Delaware and the Schuylkill.
The Tacony Condominium Project calls for 653 units on the site of the former Dodge Steel plant near Unruh Avenue in Tacony. The $300 million project would include six buildings housing the units and a clubhouse, a marina with boat slips, and parking garages beneath the residential buildings.
Developer George Diemer, a principal in First Philadelphia Holdings, said he purchased the property and cleaned it up in the early 1990s.
Diemer, whose brother, Joseph Diemer, was a spokesman for the Delaware River Port Authority until his death in 2002, said the condos would sell for about $400,000 each.
Diemer also said that the privately funded Philadelphia Environmental Commission - as part of the New River City initiative - had proposed building a park nearby and a jogging path that would run along the river''s edge.
"Those incentives and those programs have changed the nature of the property so that this is now feasible," Diemer said.
Transactionable Property Solutions and the Kaplan Cos. want to build a condominium development called Tacony Pointe on the site of the former Tacony Army Warehouse, near Princeton Avenue and the Delaware.
Plans call for 533 units that would sell for $300,000 to $500,000. The condos would be distributed among 117 townhouses, 37 duplexes, a 10-story building, and a five-story building.
Construction on the $200 million project would begin in about 10 months, said Scott Blow, a principal in Transactionable.
Transactionable also proposes to build 1,748 units at the former Northern Shipping site, below Rhawn Street, near the Delaware.
Independence Pointe would cost about $750 million and would include an amphitheater, retail shops, a marina, and a wellness center, according to Transactionable. The homes would sell for $300,000 to $500,000.
Construction is to begin next summer.
Thomas Chapman of the City Planning Commission testified yesterday that the zoning changes would help other proposed housing developments along the Delaware. He said one such project would bring housing to a site near Marlborough Street in Fishtown.
Also yesterday, two Council committees put off until next week approving $36 million in bond financing to support Street''s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The $36 million is part of an overall $170 million in federal, state and city money for low- to moderate-income housing and community development for which the Street administration is seeking Council''s approval.
At the request of Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, the Street administration has agreed to allot $5.5 million for homelessness prevention and home-repair and retaining-wall-repair programs.
Council is expected to vote today on the administration''s low-income housing and community-development spending plans. The NTI budget is slated for a final vote next Thursday.
Date: 06/2005
'Nothing sells like the waterfront
By CHRIS BRENNAN, Philadelphia Inquirer
[email protected]
Mayor Street, with the help of two construction companies, found an anchor yesterday for his notion of a "New River City."
Transactionable Property Solutions and the Kaplan Companies announced a new development on the Delaware River in Tacony, with 533 townhomes, duplexes and condos ranging in price from $300,000 to $500,000.
Construction on the 13-acre Tacony Point development may start in 10 months. The homes will sit on the site of the former Tacony Army Warehouse.
Street praised a group of gathered politicians who have advocated for the redevelopment of Philadelphia''s once industrial-heavy waterfront, especially former U.S. Rep. Bob Borski, who often took other officials out to explore the banks of the Delaware.
"Everyone here has been on the Borski tour," Street exclaimed.
Street called the development an opportunity for the building trades in Philadelphia and people "lured back" to live in the city.
"Nothing sells like the waterfront," Street said, repeating the line two more times to the approving crowd gathered on a dreary day at the Tacony boat ramp.
Borksi said the city waited long enough for industry to come back to the river and needed to head in a new direction. Now, he said, development is moving faster than he ever expected.
Borski and others stressed that a walking and biking trail planned to run along the river to Penn''s Landing would restore full public access to the waterfront for the first time in decades.
"It was taken away from us in the ''50s and ''60s with I-95," Borski said. "This is a big start toward bringing it back."
State Rep. Mike McGeehan said other developers should use the Tacony site as a template for how to pursue new construction on the waterfront. He also acknowledged the "roadblocks and frustrations" TPS and Kaplan faced in gaining governmental approval for their plans.
"I''m impressed with their ability to navigate the tricky political waters of not only our City Hall in Philadelphia but the state Capitol in Harrisburg and our nation''s Capitol in Washington," McGeehan said.
State Sen. Michael Stack said the new development gave the area hope and excitement.
"Let me tell you something - development in this particular area is very promising and is very important but, in our experience, we have not wanted anyone to come in and develop just for the sake of development," Stack said. "We wanted people who were concerned about the quality of these neighborhoods and the future of this city."
