An Apartment Building Will (Finally) Rise at the Former PHA Building on Chestnut
A change in financing and ownership accounts for a second change in its configuration. Its developer expects to break ground early next year.
The site of a proposed apartment building at 2012 Chestnut Street, home of the Philadelphia Housing Authority until 2009, has looked like this since February of last year. Developer Alterra Property Group intends to break ground on it sometime around February of next year. / Photograph by Laura Swartz; renderings by JKRP Architects
The former Philadelphia Housing Authority headquarters building at 2012 Chestnut Street has been a rubble-strewn lot for a little more than a year now.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that the building slated to replace the old PHA headquarters is on track to break ground next spring.
The building, which is designed by JKRP Architects, will be owned by the PHA and built and managed by Alterra Property Group. The previous plans had called for Alterra to lease the land from PHA and own the building, and the change in ownership and financing accounts for the latest change in configuration.
Rendering showing the proposed building in its context
This building represents the third iteration of this project. When first announced in 2016, the plan called for Cope Linder Architects (now Nelson Worldwide) to design a 200-unit building with 40 percent affordable units. Six years later, a proposal for a 162-unit building with 40 percent affordable units designed by JKRP Architects replaced the initial project.
This latest version of the building will have 121 units, with 60 percent of them affordable, along with 4,500 square feet of retail space on Chestnut Street. One reason for the additional change, according to Mark Cartella, senior vice president for development and construction at Alterra, is that PHA will now finance the project.
“PHA will be handling all the financing,” says Cartella. The agency, he says, has access to Federal funding sources that Alterra cannot access. Those play a role in setting the bar for affordable units higher.
More than half of the units — 63 total — will be one-bedrooms. The building will also contain 30 two-bedroom units and 28 studio apartments.
Cartella says that the details are still being worked out on financing and permitting. The revised design rises 14 stories, well within the allowable height for its lot. Alterra has set a target date of the first quarter of 2026 for groundbreaking on the project, with a 20- to 22-month schedule for construction. Given that, the building should welcome its first residents in late 2027.
