PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Germantown community is reeling after their landlord sold their homes to a developer right before the holidays.
Germantown Greene Street Properties LLC sent out a letter to residents in three properties last month, informing them that Germantown Friends School sold the buildings many have lived in for nearly 20 years.
“I’m not going .... You gave us a letter two weeks ago asking us to move. That don’t fly,” said Bo Borah, who’s lived along Greene Street for two decades.
“Letter told us that the buildings have been sold and we have an option to move out by the end of December or by the end of January,” he explained.
The developer issued a statement confirming the properties were all sold on Nov. 15 saying, in part, “we immediately notified all tenants that their leases would not be renewed and that they should take steps to finding new housing.”
And that, “due to the deplorable condition of the properties we purchased, there is no way to renovate the houses with the tenants in place.”
Borah and his wife Sandra say most of whom received letters are disabled, elderly, and on fixed income. They are all worried about finding housing in their price range in such a short time frame.
“We have one neighbor who’s been there 30 odd years in that same apartment, and her kids grew up there, and she broke down crying,” Sandra said.
Tanya Pop has lived along Greene Street in Germantown for nearly 60 years. One of the three properties purchased by the developer is the other side of her twin home. She says her neighbors are like family and it’s painful watching them scramble to find housing.
“Now that they’ve been given 60 days notice, they’re really sad that they have to leave, and I’m sad I’m losing neighbors that I’ve known for 10 years or more,” Pop said.
The developer says, “unfortunately, due to the deplorable condition of the properties we purchased, there is no way to renovate the houses with the tenants in place.” However, they are trying to work with residents to ease the transition into new housing.