For quite some time now, the priest of
St. Maron's Roman Catholic Church, which sits on the corner of 10th and Ellsworth streets in South Philly, has had something of a vision--a dream, you might say--relating to the living conditions of his parishioners, more than a few of whom are senior citizens in their 50s and 60s.
"They're presently living in the community," says Bruce Morgan, the president of Paoli's
BCM Affordable Housing, "and for a number of different reasons, they don't want to continue living in a house they own or rent, or living with family members. They need a living arrangement that's more conducive to someone who is 55 and older. They're also typically on fixed incomes, and in a lot of ways are getting priced out of a gentrifying neighborhood."
Morgan, as it happens, runs the real estate development firm that was given the green light to construct the solution to South Philly's seniors: Along with the
Haley Donovan design-architect firm and the architecture and interior design firm known as
Kitchen & Associates, Morgan's company will be building a roughly 71,000 square-foot building for seniors on the 900 block of Ellsworth Street, on the current site of an under-utilized municipal parking lot.
Along with 64 units, a community room, two outdoor patios, a green roof and
Energy Star appliances, the L-shaped structure will be constructed according to
LEED certification standards. (Due to high costs, however, Morgan doesn't plan to actually apply for the certification itself.) Construction should start sometime near the end of the year, or the beginning of 2012.
Meanwhile, in West Philadelphia's Wynnefield neighborhood, the New Jersey-based
Tryko Partners firm has spent $8 million acquiring the
Kearsley Nursing Community campus, which has been recognized as the first nursing community in the county, according to Uri Kahanow, Tryko's director of acquisitions (skilled nursing with private and semi-private rooms available).
The three-building campus overlooks the
Bala Golf Course and includes a historic property built in 1861. Still, says Kahanow, "We're definitely going to focus a lot on upgrading the services in the nursing facility. We're definitely going to expand on what they have now."
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Bruce Morgan, BCM Affordable Housing Inc. & Uri Kahanow, Tryko Partners
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