A former warehouse in North Philly may become affordable senior housing

A 48-unit affordable-housing apartment complex for seniors and a 24,700-square-foot commercial space the size of a grocery store are slated for 3030 20th St. in North Philadelphia.

The project from affordable housing developer New Courtland is on the edge of a residential neighborhood and in a former industrial zone.

It is planned for land owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

The residences are one-bedroom units targeted toward low-income seniors.

The four-story apartment building would be on the north side of the 53,606-square-foot lot, with commercial space be on the south. In between would be a surface parking lot with 33 spaces.

“The site is really ready for repositioning, and that whole area will get a tremendous boost from it,” said Peter Kelsen, a real estate lawyer with Blank Rome who represents New Courtland.

“There are a number of vacant sites around there,” Kelsen said, “but some great single-family residentials with good bones in there, too.”

The site used to contain a warehouse, but it’s been vacant since 1980.

The design of the residential structure, by CBP Architects, includes a red brick veneer meant to reflect the architecture of the neighboring rowhouses and the defunct industrial structures.

The project requires permission from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to move forward because its zoning still reflects the historic industrial use and prohibits residential development. New Courtland will appear before the board on Aug. 30.

At a neighborhood meeting in June, community residents voted to support New Courtland before the zoning board.

Despite support for this project, the community meeting was laced with concern about affordable housing access throughout the neighborhood.

“There was a huge amount of seniors here questioning because they seemed concerned [about] how they can get a place to live like this,” said Don Stevenson, a neighborhood advocate who attended the meeting.

New Courtland applied for Low Income Housing Tax Credits, one of the most common forms of affordable-housing finance in the country, as well as an additional subsidy from the Redevelopment Authority.

Thirty-two of the units would be accessible to those at 50% of the area’s median income (AMI), which is about $52,700. Six units would be for 30% of AMI, or those making at least $31,620. And 10 would be for those at 20% of AMI, or an annual income over just over $21,000.

“It’s a no-brainer for the city and the state, " Kelsen said. “They really have to encourage this stuff.”

The housing is the first phase of the project, with the expansive commercial space set up as the second phase. Kelsen would not comment on what was being planned for the commercial space.

The timeline of the project depends on both winning the variance request before the zoning board and being granted the Low Income Housing Tax Credits by the state housing finance agency.

If those pieces fall into place, construction could begin next year.