UC Townhomes are being demolished after years of protest

Demolition is underway at the University City Townhomes in West Philadelphia, marking the closing chapter of a years-long push by activists to save the affordable housing complex.

The 70-unit complex was initially slated for demolition late last year, according to its owner, IBID Associates. The last of the complex’s residents moved out in December.

In the years since IBID announced the property’s impending closure, longtime residents and activists aligned with their cause held numerous protests under the “Save the UC Townhomes” moniker, rallying against the decline in low-income, subsidized housing options in the rapidly developing pocket of West Philadelphia formerly known as Black Bottom.

About 15 people — both former residents and others associated with the movement — gathered at the complex on Tuesday afternoon to witness the destruction of structures they had long hoped to save.

The city, which settled a lawsuit with IBID Associates in court last year, plans to develop 70 new units of affordable housing units on about one-fifth of the site, The Inquirer previously reported.

Former residents will have a right-to-return once those units are complete, according to City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, an affordable housing advocate whose district includes the site.

But members of the Save the UC Townhomes coalition aren’t convinced that the plan will offer the same levels of affordability — and after longtime residents had their lives radically upended during the process, the mood Tuesday was one of loss.

“They’re tearing down our homes; we’d been here for years,” said Gail Jones, who lived in the complex for more than two decades.

Some of those gathered breached the construction fences surrounding the 2.7-acre property at 40th and Market Streets, gathering in a semicircle near unattended construction equipment that had presumably carried out the demolition.

Red-brick homes like the one Jones once lived in appeared blasted to bits, as wooden planks once supporting them were strewn at sharp angles amid piles of rubble.

Kevin Feeley, a spokesperson for IBID Associates, said demolition began Monday.

“There is no dispute that the buildings are at the end of their life cycle and allowing them to remain standing poses a threat to the safety of the site and the surrounding community,” Feeley said in a statement. “For these reasons, demolition must and will continue until completion.”

At the site Tuesday, police officers eventually told those who had gathered that they were trespassing and had to leave, according to members of Save the UC Townhomes.

“We used to have cookouts,” Jones said, eying the complex from the street. Her former neighbor Darlene Foreman added that it was a sense of community and her neighbors that contributed to her staying at UC Townhomes for 29 years.

“We felt safe, it was secure, I raised three children here,” Foreman said. “We watched our children grow up, because we had stable housing. It was affordable.”

IBID Associates has suggested that it plans to sell the property to a developer in the booming life-sciences real estate market. In 2021, the group announced that it would not renew the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments contract it had held for 40 years. On Tuesday, IBID declined to comment on any potential sale.

Last year, IBID agreed to provide $3.5 million — about $50,000 per household — to the city for relocation and housing costs for UC Townhomes residents, working in partnership with municipal agencies and nonprofits such as United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.

Both Jones and Foreman now live in new apartments in West Philadelphia.

“It’s not like here,” Foreman said, standing outside the ruins. “It’s like they snatched a chunk of my life right out of me.”