PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — There are no city health clinics near Frankford, and with poverty growing in the neighborhood, residents need more access to affordable health care. A new mixed-use development plans to give them just that.
The city’s ninth health center will be constructed as part of a complex planned across Frankford Avenue from the SEPTA transportation center.
The Frankford Community Development Corporation, which owns the property, plans to also include a new supermarket and 120 units of affordable housing.
“There’s just a huge need,” said Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole. “And when we don’t meet that need, people suffer. People have complications they never needed to have. People die.”
For years, Bettigole said Frankford residents have had to wait for extended periods of time — sometimes seven to 12 months — to get a new patient appointment at Health Center 10.
The facility on Cottman Avenue is the only one in Northeast Philadelphia, but that will change under the new plan.
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“I think it’s a combination of being in the perfect location in terms of accessibility, in terms of being right in a community where health outcomes are really poor,” said Frankford Community Development Corporation Executive Director Kim Washington.
Groundbreaking could start by summer 2024.
A 10th health facility is also planned for a yet-to-be-announced location in the lower Northeast.
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