If you build rowhomes in Philadelphia, the Land Bank's Oct. 13 board meeting was worth paying attention to.
The meeting agenda listed three Turn the Key projects that together would put 100 new for-sale homes on scattered city-owned lots in Allegheny West, North Central and Logan. Every home would be three bedrooms and two baths, sold to households earning no more than 100% of area median income at a maximum price of $280,000. The full agenda and board package are posted on the Philadelphia Land Bank's board page.
The Land Bank's official minutes for the meeting won't be posted until the board approves them. Build Philly Now, a pro-housing group, reported that the board voted unanimously to advance all three projects.
The three projects
The biggest is at 28th Street and Lehigh Avenue, where Civetta Property Group would build 62 single-family homes in the 4th Council District. According to the development fact sheet, 15 would be two-story homes with a finished basement and a porch, 45 would be two-story with a finished basement and no porch, and two would be three stories with a porch and no basement. Each is about 1,375 square feet. The fact sheet puts construction costs at about $14.1 million, or $151 a square foot, and total project costs at about $15.3 million, financed with roughly 90% senior debt from WSFS and 10% developer equity. Civetta's bid was the more qualified of two submitted for the request for proposals, and it would pay $6,200 for the lots at settlement.
The second project, on Uber Street and nearby blocks in North Central's 5th Council District, pairs Civetta with The Maple Corporation, a nonprofit, in a joint venture. They would build 22 homes of about 1,375 square feet, half of them three stories and half two stories, all without basements. Construction costs are listed at about $5 million, and total costs at about $5.5 million. Under the joint venture terms in the package, Civetta handles financing, entitlements, execution and the schedule, while Maple leads community engagement.
The third is an unsolicited proposal from Flourish CD 8 Homes LLC for 16 homes in Logan, in the 8th Council District. Those homes would be about 1,225 square feet each, two stories with basements, and 13 of them would have porches. Construction costs run about $3.3 million, or $155 a square foot, with total costs of about $3.9 million. Financing includes a Reinvestment Fund letter of intent for senior debt and a $500,000 revolving line of credit.
For all three, the fact sheets set a construction start deadline of three months after settlement and a completion deadline of 18 months after settlement. An economic opportunity plan, the city's tool for setting goals for minority-, women- and disabled-owned businesses, applies to each project. The affordable homes would carry deed restrictions for at least 15 years.
How Turn the Key works
Turn the Key is part of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker's Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative. According to the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp., income-eligible first-time buyers can get up to $75,000 in mortgage buydown help plus the $10,000 Philly First Home grant toward closing costs when they buy a new home built on vacant city-owned land. Buyers have to complete approved housing counseling first.
The program is growing. At the board's September meeting, Land Bank Executive Director Angel Rodriguez reported that 1,118 Turn the Key units had been approved to date, 469 homes had been sold, more than 200 properties were under construction and about 350 to 392 more were moving through entitlements, according to the minutes.
There's a catch worth knowing about. At that same September meeting, Rodriguez reported that the Land Bank had withdrawn an earlier approval for 30 Civetta homes because no City Council resolution had been introduced to finish the deal. A board vote is a big step, but Council still has the final word on city land.
Why it matters for Contractors
A hundred new rowhomes is real work: foundations, framing, roofing, MEP, drywall and finishes, all on tight lots spread over several blocks. With a three-month start deadline and an 18-month finish window after settlement, the schedules move fast once the land changes hands. At $151 to $155 a square foot, the budgets are lean, so subs who can price rowhome work efficiently will be in demand. Economic opportunity plans apply, which means certified minority- and women-owned firms have a real opening. Keep an eye on City Council resolutions for these lots. That's what turns a board vote into a job.