The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) officially broke ground on the Oakdale Street Apartments in Strawberry Mansion yesterday. A vacant lot will be replaced by 12 modern-looking, gray-toned units featuring eight two-bedrooms and four one-bedrooms and ranging from 700 to over 1,200 square feet in size. Each unit comes complete with a rear grass yard. According to a press release from the PHA, the Oakdale Street site is just the beginning:
Oakdale Street Apartments is the first of three developments planned for the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. When all the developments are complete, 100 new housing units will have been added to the neighborhood. The apartments on Oakdale Street will focus on sustainability and energy efficiency. PHA hopes to have the 12 unit complex completed by next March. The groundbreaking of the Oakdale Street Apartments comes on the heels of PHA's announcement that their project to create 55 affordable rental units at Queen Lane Apartments will move forward with a scheduled implosion on September 14th. Even more rental units are planned for Norris Apartments near Temple University, as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded a $30M grant to create a mixed-use site in the "mold of Paseo Verde" on nearby North 9th Street.
Factor in the other projects that are either recently completed or underway, and affordable housing with mixed-income is clearly becoming a hot topic on the Philadelphia development scene. Case in point, 205 Race Street just became the first development in Philadelphia to offer affordable housing in exchange for more density.
· PHA Breaks Ground for Oakdale Street Apartments [PHA Press Release]
· U.S. gives $30 million for N. Phila. housing [Philly.com]
· Poverty Beat: Five Housing Redevelopment Plans Happening Now [Phila. Neighborhoods]
· Queen Lane Apartments and the Magic of Planned Implosions [Curbed Philly]
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