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There is no doubt South Philly has been undergoing a dramatic revival throughout the past few years. From new businesses to a facelift in residential living, the overall area is becoming more than a place called home – it is a destination.
A big thanks can go out to John Longacre, the president and founder of Longacre Property Management Group, 1928 S. Bancroft St., who has been working to rehab Newbold for the past 10 years. From his first endeavor, the South Philadelphia Taproom, 1509 Mifflin St., to Ultimo Coffee, 1900 S. 15th St., and more, Longacre has proven that great businesses can drastically improve an otherwise struggling neighborhood.
“These businesses create a buzz, and residential development starts to take place,” Longacre, who has also been restoring old homes in the neighborhood for years, said last week.
Since vacant lots are few and far between in Newbold, it’s no surprise Longacre was drawn to develop on the former grounds of the Francis M. Drexel School on 16th and Moore streets, which was demolished in 2010. Most recently, neighbors described the land as an unsolicited parking lot, covered in dirt, but luckily for the neighborhood, Longacre’s anticipated home-development project, reNewbold, finally broke ground after five years of planning.
“This has been an area of blight on this plot of land…so today is truly a celebration,” 2nd District Councilman Kenyatta Johnson said at reNewbold’s ceremonial groundbreaking Oct. 16. “Today represents for me, not only part of why I believe in a vision for Philadelphia, but more importantly a vision for a stronger South Philadelphia.”
The new townhouse development, designed by Fishtown-based Postgreen Homes and Kensington-situated Interface Studio Architects, is the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum project in South Philly below Washington Avenue, said Chad Ludeman, the president of Postgreen. The project will include 16 rowhomes, two condominiums and one retail space, all built three times more efficiently than the standard code.
Ludeman, who often works in the Kensington and Fishtown areas, said he pitched several concepts on the design to Longacre two years ago.
“We looked at apartment or condo building on part of it, but we settled on this because there are a ton of two-story working class homes in the area, and we wanted to get that back into the mix,” Ludeman said.
The development, however, did not come without complications. Ludeman revealed they were off to a rocky start — not in designing but in building — because of “complications with the previous owner, issues in demolishing the old property and back taxes.”
“So it was really just cleaning all that up that took so much time,” Ludeman said, adding that Longacre and his reNewbold partner Joel Luber were the sole handlers of all the nitty-gritty issues.
Luber, also Longacre’s attorney for more than 15 years, noted the best part of the project is effectively having an entire city block to build on.
“Instead of building one house, we’re going to build 18 houses,” he said. “So that will create such a wonderful improvement to the whole neighborhood. You can’t help but increase the values of all the homes around here.”
Luber, who wished not to disclose the cost of the project, said they’re aiming to have the project finished within 18 months, but the sooner the better, especially for Nick Fama and Chinda Rann, who purchased a space in reNewbold last April.
“We were getting worried for a while, we weren’t sure when it was going to take off,” Fama said.
But Ludeman, listening closely, said he’s hoping to have their three-bedroom rowhome finished and ready for move-in within six months.
Fama, a native of South Philly and current resident of New Jersey, chose reNewbold because of the “whole revitalization of the neighborhood.”
“I still have family in the East Passyunk area, and that area is really hoppin’ now,” he said, admitting that an added bonus is the free parking spot that the development will include. “It’s nice just to be able to walk everywhere and to get some new, green construction.”
ReNewbold is being executed through a number of private investors, Luber said, and its sole private lender is Valley Green Bank.
“Valley Green Bank is a bank that is absolutely leading the charge in Philadelphia to help revitalize neighborhoods,” Longacre said. “And without these guys, none of this happens.”
Robert Marino, the president of the Delaware Valley Region of Valley Green Bank, said reNewbold is an “exciting venture for me professionally and personally,” as he grew up about four blocks from the new development.
The reNewbold project has been well-received by the long-time neighbors of the area, including sisters Diana Martino, of Hicks and Moore streets, and Phyllis Mariani, of Mole and Moore streets, who rave over Longacre’s contributions to their community.
“He made our neighborhood go up,” Mariani said. “This neighborhood was pretty bad for a while, but he made a big change.”
Mariani and Martino confided they are anxious to find out what retail store will be included in reNewbold.
“You’re going to absolutely love it,” Longacre told the sisters. “I’m not telling you the store, but I promise you’re going to love it.”
As for Nghiem Nguyen, a 40-year resident of the 1800 block of South Bancroft Street, which rests directly across from the new development, his only concern is the bother of living next to a construction site for the next year or so.
Besides that, he said, “The new space will be nice to keep the area clean, and it’ll be safer than before.”
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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