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From South Broad to South 15th Street and between Castle Avenue and Morris Street sits 1.59 acres of land that are now officially wrapped in fencing and overseen by a 24-hour guard. With $42.5 million and in about one year’s time, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) will join forces with the City of Philadelphia to build a 96,000 square-foot facility that will house CHOP’s primary care center, the City’s Health Center 2 and the South Philadelphia Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Adjacent, on the west side of the block, will be a new and improved DiSilvestro Playground and Recreation Center, including a 1,600 square-foot center and state-of-the-art playground.
The Community Health and Literacy Center is what it will be called, and it’s a CHOP-City partnership, the first of its kind perhaps nationally, one that all involved hope will “serve as a national model for public-private collaboration,” according to a joint press release.
In the release, Dr. Steven M. Altschuler, CHOP’s CEO, said “the multi-purpose facility that will stand on this site represents CHOP’s commitment to finding new and innovative ways to improve the health and well-being of children … It is the first time that a city and hospital have come together in the management of population health in ways never envisioned before.”
Though the neighborhood will miss its playground and library for the next year, the facilities that will be in place before the end of 2015 will be pretty extraordinary. Health Center 2, operated by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, will be above the first-floor library in an almost 30,000 square-foot space. The playground, dating back to 1961, will use modern soft surfaces and be accompanied by a green space and rain garden, while the rec center will house a computer lab and expand programming. And the library, with the help of a gift from the William Penn Foundation, will be one of the Free Library’s 21st Century libraries outfitted with new technologies. It is expected to draw an additional 35,000 customers annually.
“We had a meeting one night when we were first starting to talk about this project,” Peter Grollman, CHOP’s vice president of government affairs, community relations and advocacy, said, “and the kids came off the basketball court and into the rec center, and we had a really good discussion with them. We want to make it right. We want to make it great.”
Grollman emphasized that CHOP and the City were eager to include neighbors in the conversation along the way.
“When we came in and decided to move forward with this project with the city, one of the first things we did was have community meetings and introduce ourselves. We had a chance to learn about what their priorities are and what was important to them,” he said, noting that, for many area residents, this block was where they took out their first library book or received their first shot.
But he’s confident that, once folks in Newbold, Point Breeze, Passyunk Square and East Passyunk Crossing see the finished space, they’ll be converted.
“All of it comes together in one city block – it will be a true community health and literacy center, one stop shopping in ways that have never been envisioned before,” he said.
“There’s something about getting to this point — it really lets one start to envision ‘Oh, this is going to happen. There will be a facility here,” Susan Kretsge, deputy mayor of health and opportunity, one of many VIPs in attendance at Sept. 18’s groundbreaking ceremony, said.
“It’s a goal not to keep these facilities out of commission any longer than they need to – we really want to get this center completed and reopen as quickly as we can. They run a tight ship,” Kretsge added, noting the security surveillance is backed up by the City’s commitment to “24-hour response from problems in the neighborhood.”
There will definitely be some rumbling, but for Kretsge, “my impression was that the neighbors are really excited. There were certainly questions” from the three or four neighborhood meetings she attended, but she said everyone will be happy in the end: CHOP and the City “took a look at this full city block and figured out there was a way to have a win-win for everybody.”
Dr. Lisa Biggs, the associate chief medical officer for CHOP, gave a great hypothetical.
“If I think of something like nutrition, what better collaboration than with a rec center that promotes fitness across the age spectrum?” she said. Plus there’s “a library that can coordinate reading and programs around nutrition and meal planning and good nutrition in their lives — it’s a unique opportunity to bring these people together to do something bigger than what they can do on their own.”
The project started when CHOP was looking to expand its South Philly care offices, which see 31,000 patient visits annually, when personnel struck an agreement with the City. According to the release, “Under the agreement, the City will provide a lease on the site at a nominal fee to CHOP along with $2.2 million to support construction.” CHOP’s pulling the money from donors, New Market Tax Credits provided through Chase Community Equity LLC, Chase New Markets Corporation, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, City First Bank of D.C. and Commonwealth Cornerstone Group, Ltd.
Mayor Michael A. Nutter was in attendance at the groundbreaking and said “No other city has ever done anything like this — it is the first of its kind in the United States. This partnership is as unique as this community, and will serve as a model for other cities.”
Contact Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
A rendering of what the The Community Health and Literacy Center will look like from the northeast corner of South Broad and Morris streets.
Siobhan A. Reardon, president, Free Library of Philadelphia; CHOP associate medical director of primary care, Lisa Biggs, M.D; state Rep. Jordan Harris; state Senator Larry Farnese; 2nd District Councilman Kenyatta Johnson; CHOP CEO Steven M. Altschuler, M.D.; CHOP patient Courtney Simmons; Mayor Michael A. Nutter; CHOP president Madeline Bell; John Grady, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation; Brian Hudson, Commonwealth Cornerstone Group; CHOP board member Lynne Garbose; En Jung Kim, Chase Community Equity.
Photos and Renderings provided by CHOP
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