PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council passed nine separate bills last week transferring dozens of properties around the city to the Philadelphia Land Bank for development. The transfers are part of a larger trend in using the Land Bank the way it was originally intended to be used.
"This is exactly what I would have hoped we had started to do five, six years ago," said Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sanchez. She proposed the Land Bank in 2013 to create a streamlined path to transform around 9,000 city-owned vacant lots into affordable housing, yards, community gardens and other good uses.
Instead, it stuttered along, fighting skepticism and understaffing until a revamp in early 2020 — just before COVID-19 hit and slowed development down. Jessie Lawrence, real estate director for Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, of which the Land Bank is a part, said the stars have finally aligned.
"This is really the consummation of us consolidating the inventory into the Land Bank, and working with developers to understand that these opportunities are coming down the pike," Lawrence said.
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A large chunk of the properties transferred on Thursday will be turned into 100 housing units in South Kensington, in a partnership between community group Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha and luxury developer Tom Scanapieco, with more than half of them slated to become affordable units. Quiñones-Sanchez said it's the kind of development she's long envisioned.
"It's a very unique partnership," she said, "to transform an entire community."