The City of Philadelphia, Impact Services, and Community Leaders Celebrate Ribbon-Cutting for the Mill Redevelopment Project
PHILADELPHIA , PA – Today City officials, Impact Services, and community leaders celebrate the ribbon-cutting for the Mill Redevelopment Project at A & Indiana. This project is providing 48 rental units of affordable housing, office space for nonprofits including Impact Services, and additional commercial space.
Impact Services has been working for more than 40 years in collaboration with Philadelphia residents to build economic opportunity and community stability. In 2017, with support of the Regional Foundation, Impact Services undertook a community planning process and engaged more than 300 residents to prioritize and guide the investment of Impact Services. The redevelopment of this site was a priority in the plan to support the stabilization of the Hope Park focus zone. This building reactivation has been coupled with renovation of homes, beautification of vacant lots, regular street cleaning, and most importantly, this work has been led by a group of longtime residents.
All of the work was made possible through partnerships with neighbors, local elected officials, mission aligned service organizations such as HACE, NKCDC, and Rebuilding Philadelphia Together, as well as funders listed below.
“This building is an essential part of a comprehensive plan to bring safety and stability to Kensington for the residents that are living here today,” said Casey O’Donnell, Impact Services president. “Just as important as the restoration and repurposing of this factory is the collaborative work in these surrounding blocks led by neighbors who have been here for years.”
Following its closure in 2009 as a paper archiving warehouse, Impact Services has worked to steward the site until redevelopment was feasible. It was originally constructed as a carpet mill in 1896 and represents the history of Kensington which was once thriving with manufacturing and thousands of workers lived within walking distance of mills such as the one at A & Indiana. Impact Services has created a vision of a multi-use community site where the affordable housing and 10,000 square feet of office and community space in the newest phase.
“Projects like this are important to the stabilization of neighborhoods in the City of Philadelphia,” said Melissa Long, Director of the Division of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). “Affordable Housing and community development is what DHCD, and the city’s community development partner PHDC, do every day. DHCD is proud to work with Impact Services and provide funding to make this project a reality.”
With the opening of the affordable housing, 48 families will have a decent, safe affordable place to live. Many of the prospective residents will be relocating from within the community where their housing situation is not stable and rents are rising. Many of the units are supported by rental assistance and rental rates for the units are 20–30% below the area market rents in Kensington. The completion of this project is a critical step that will enable Impact to move forward in the development of 60,000 square feet of community serving office space and the redevelopment of a 10,000 sf property into a youth facility in partnership with a local nonprofit.
“Our job is to find the resources to actualize the vision of neighbors,” said O’Donnell. We are grateful to have the partnerships that make progress possible. We would not be standing here today were it not for residents, elected officials, government agencies, funders, and other stakeholders who share in our mission.”
Funding partners: The City’s Division of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), PHDC, Neubauer Family Foundation, Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia Housing Authority, Citizens Bank, Alliant Capital, A Walker & Dunlop Company, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), Nonprofit Finance Fund, PIDC, Sea Change, Partners for the Common Good, Local Initiatives Support Corp (LISC), Reinvestment Fund, Community First Fund, Corporation for Supportive Housing
Project professional partners: Clemens Construction, Barton Partners, Rodriguez Consulting, Turner Law Legal, Becker & Frondorf, Community Realty Management, Delta Development, Marcus Reinvestment Strategies
To learn more about Impact Services please visit: https://www.impactservices.org/