PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City Council is poised to write the ending of the three-year saga of the University City Townhomes, an affordable housing complex that was demolished earlier this year.
Last week, a City Council committee approved the transfer of 24,000 square feet of land at 40th and Market streets to the Philadelphia Housing Authority. If the bill is approved by the full Council, PHA will build 70 units on the site, thus restoring affordable housing to the block, three years after the owner of UC Townhomes announced it was converting the property to market-rate housing.
"It’s not just that we will have this low-income development, it’s that we will have this low-income development in the heart of University City, in the heart of the science corridor, next to transit and opportunity and world-class health care," said Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. "That’s where affordable housing belongs."
Gauthier initially blocked the townhomes’ demolition with zoning legislation, then faced a lawsuit in federal court, filed by the owner — who, in the end, not only settled the suit but paid $3.5 million to help the 70 families who lived there relocate and turned over 20% of the site to the city, the land that will go to PHA, under the bill, which could be voted on as early as this week.