The Catholic Standard and Times

Saving a South Philly landmark

By CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE
CS&T Staff Writer

St. John Neumann High School for Boys was once the centerpiece of a South Philadelphia neighborhood.

When word came in September 2003 that the beloved school was merging with nearby St. Maria Goretti High School for Girls, neighbors in and around the St. John Neumann site, at 26th and Moore Streets, could only speculate about the impact on their neighborhood.

Would the structure remain standing or would it become the rubble of mortar and distant memories?

Behind the scenes, the Archdiocese was, in fact, working hard to ensure the future of the building, and of the neighborhood.

When Cardinal Justin Rigali officially signed off on a plan to convert the former high school into senior housing on March 17, some members of the community quite literally burst into happy tears.

Formalizing the plan had been a long haul for officials in the Archdiocese — one that would have been easy to abandon had they not been so committed to the people of South Philadelphia.

The effort started in October 2003, when the pastors and parochial vicars who make up the Archdiocese’s Philadelphia-South Vicariate’s Cluster 23 wrote to Cardinal Rigali requesting that the building be converted into senior housing.

In considering the proposal, the Cardinal asked three things: was there a need for senior housing, did the community as a whole want it, and was the plan feasible? He turned to Catholic Human Services, Catholic Health Care Services and the Office for Community Development for the answers.

In the summer of 2004, an ad hoc survey committee of the Cluster 23 Implementation Team coordinated a survey of local residents regarding potential uses for the high school building. Survey responses indicated that a majority of the residents favored housing for older adults, to be sponsored by the Archdiocese and available to the general public.

Suzanne O’Grady, project developer for the Office for Community Development, personally shared the survey results with the community’s residents by going door-to-door within a five-block radius of the school. She did that for nine weeks — practically every day, for two to five hours a day.

“I remember one person saying, ‘The Archdiocese never came to my door before and asked me what I thought about a project,’” O’Grady said. “We really wanted to go about doing it the right way, and making sure that everyone felt included.”

According to O’Grady, knocking on doors was the idea of John Wagner, the director of the Office for Community Development: “He really did want to make sure that the community was completely on-board [and] from day one [had a voice in the project].”

“We really care about everyone,” O’Grady said. “We want to make sure that everyone is heard and respected. This is their community. This is an asset in their community. We really want to make sure that this is something they feel is the right thing to do for their community and their people.”

Coffee klatches and neighborhood meetings were held in the fall of 2004. Five meetings were held in residents’ homes; one was held at a joint parish pastoral council meeting.

A larger community meeting was held in February 2005. By then, more details had been fleshed out, and trust between the community and the Archdiocese was rapidly building.

Philadelphia City Council President Anna Verna also rallied behind the cause. Verna attended a Cluster 23 ad hoc committee meeting in January 2005, and the larger community meeting in February of the same year, according to O’Grady.

The city would later pledge $1.5 million toward the project. “What she did within city government and the community — we couldn’t have done it without her support,” O’Grady said. “She was really very impressive.”

Loretta Harrigan, 70, lives a block-and-a-half from the former high school, which was the alma mater of her husband and two sons.

A member of St. Gabriel Parish, she hosted one of the coffee klatches, but wasn’t completely convinced the senior housing would become a reality.

Harrigan said she also worried about O’Grady: “I said, ‘Oh, this poor girl is going to be disappointed [which is a shame considering] she’s working so hard.’”

After the February meeting, Harrigan told O’Grady, “Now, I am a believer.”

At that juncture, two of the Cardinal’s questions could be answered. Not only was there a need for senior housing, the community was also behind it.

One question still loomed: Was there money to make it happen?

After the completion of the survey, and other pertinent studies, including a market analysis and consultation with financial feasibility experts, the Secretary for Catholic Human Services recommended to the Archdiocese’s Vicar for Administration that the site be converted into housing for older adults, with one big caveat.

To make the project feasible, the Archdiocese needed to be awarded tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA).

It took five months to receive the disappointing answer. The tax credit allocation was denied in September 2005.

O’Grady was devastated. Considering the time and attention she and her colleagues, and the South Philadelphia community members, had given to the project, her hopes had been high.

“In the meantime, people were calling me, asking, ‘How can I get on the [senior housing] list? How can I get my mom on the list?”

O’Grady didn’t want the trust and rapport she and her colleagues had built with the South Philadelphia neighborhood to be destroyed.

She knew that the process for obtaining the funding is competitive and that it is not uncommon for organizations to submit tax-credit applications at least two or three times. So she and her colleagues decided they would not give up.

“I was very hopeful and prayerful that this really would be built,” she said. “With the Church stepping up in such a different way, it was so exciting — it was something that was so good, you couldn’t believe that it wasn’t going to be built.”

After all, there was a need — “both for the people living there, and for people in the community who needed not to feel that the Church was moving on and leaving their neighborhood behind,” O’Grady added.

The application was resubmitted in October 2005.

Another five months passed. And then, on March 9, O’Grady and her colleagues got the news. The Archdiocese had been awarded the $12 million tax credit. And that wasn’t all. The city’s $1.5 million, which was contingent on the tax credit, was now theirs.

O’Grady was “beyond elated” when she heard the news from Wagner, who called her from Harrisburg on the day the tax credit was allocated.

And so, on March 17, Cardinal Rigali officially accepted the recommendation of the Archdiocese’s College of Consultors for the conversion of the former high school into senior housing.

O’Grady now had one very welcome task left to perform. She was the one who got to tell the South Philadelphia community that their dream had come true.

“I was so pleased when I heard the news,” said Patricia Sheridan, 58, a member of St. Gabriel Parish, who grew up in a house across the street from the high school and now lives catty-corner from the facility.

“It’s going to be a plus for the neighborhood … a beautiful up-bringing of the neighborhood. It’s needed in the area. There are a lot of seniors who have homes they no longer can keep up, but I’m sure they will be very happy there.”

Sheridan’s two sons graduated from St. John Neumann High School, and in 2004 she served on the archdiocesan ad-hoc committee that, among other work, surveyed the neighborhood about potential uses for the building.

“To see the building still stand there, and breathe vital life as something else — it’s just wonderful,” Sheridan said.

O’Grady stressed that, as passionately as she feels about the cause of affordable housing, “a big piece of it for me, really, is that these people know that the Church is there for them — is always going to be there for them.”

Other behind-the-scenes collaborators in the senior housing project, which will be known as St. John Neumann Place, include the Archdiocese’s Secretariat for Catholic Education.

The secretariat has continued to maintain the building and property of the former high school — including covering utility costs — over the nearly two years since Neumann consolidated with Goretti.

Maintaining a vacant building is no small feat, especially when the building becomes a prime target for vandals. The former high school has suffered its share of vandalism — primarily broken windows and graffiti — in the time it has stood empty, O’Grady said.

Neighbors are happy they will no longer have to see the beloved former high school remain a victim of vandalism.

Instead, there will be life there again. And after the building is transformed into senior housing, students from Neumann-Goretti will continue to use the athletic fields.

Wagner envisions the interaction between the two generations — for instance, an elderly gentlemen sitting in a lawn chair outside St. John Neumann Place, watching a Neumann-Goretti football practice and maybe even bonding with some of the players on the field.

“It’s going to be great for the neighborhood,” Harrigan said. “People my age … don’t want to move. These are your roots.”

CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine can be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.

Historic first
Archdiocese receives $12 million tax credit for senior housing

By CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE
CS&T Staff Writer

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) recently awarded the Philadelphia Archdiocese a tax credit allocation of $12 million to use in developing affordable senior housing at a former high school, at 26th and Moore Streets.

The facility, which has been named St. John Neumann Place, will provide safe and affordable housing for individuals who are 62 years of age and older. Construction of the $16.9 million project is anticipated to begin this fall. [See related story on page 1.]

The Archdiocese’s tax credit was awarded March 9 in Harrisburg. It marks the first time the Archdiocese has used Section 42 tax credits for the adaptable re-use of vacant church property.

St. John Neumann High School for Boys and St. Maria Goretti High School for Girls consolidated in July 2004 at the nearby site of St. Maria Goretti, 1736 S. 10th St.

Additional funding for St. John Neumann Place has been provided by the Archdiocese and the City of Philadelphia.

“I am heartened by the partnership of business, government, local residents and the Church that makes St. John Neumann Place possible,” Cardinal Justin Rigali said.

“This initiative responds to the needs of seniors, and is an excellent use for the former high school. I am hopeful that, while advancing the mission of the Church, we will also contribute to the quality of life in this South Philadelphia neighborhood.”

Plans include the demolition of the former school gymnasium, auditorium and priory. The remaining classroom area will be converted into the seniors’ residence, with 75 one-bedroom apartments. The building, complete with community rooms, a worship space, off-street parking and some green space, will be available for occupancy in late 2007.

St. John Neumann Place is not limited to Catholics. However, there will be a Catholic presence, as the housing is sponsored by the Archdiocese.

Creation of the seniors’ residence is a collaborative effort between the Archdiocese’s Office for Community Development and Catholic Health Care Services. Both operate under the auspices of the Archdiocese’s Secretariat for Catholic Human Services. Catholic Health Care Services is the owner and operator of the facility.

The creation of St. John Neumann Place will benefit the larger community, offering an affordable housing option to seniors in an area where real estate values are rising, said John M. Wagner, director of the Office for Community Development. Operations will be funded by rental income from the apartments, rather than through a subsidy, Wagner said. He added that the new development will ensure that affordable, quality housing remains part of a larger, mixed-housing strategy for the area for many years to come.

The tax credit was a birthday present, of sorts, for the Office for Community Development, which celebrated five years of service to the Archdiocese on Feb. 28. [See box on page 21 for information about additional projects under way through the Office for Community Development.]

Catholic Health Care Services will add St. John Neumann Place, which is not a nursing facility, to its long-term care facilities, assisted living and community-based services. [For more information on those facilities, contact Catholic Health Care Services at (215) 587-3663.]

With the addition of St. John Neumann Place, a continuum of care will be available on both sides of Broad Street. In November 2004, Cardinal Justin Rigali blessed St. Monica Manor, a 180-bed Catholic nursing home at 2509 S. Fourth Street.

On Sept. 1 that year, Catholic Health Care Services acquired the facility, which was the former Methodist Hospital Nursing Center, from the Jefferson Health System.

“Catholic Health Care Services looks forward to expanding its service continuum across the South Philadelphia landscape, as we develop this site and establish a presence west of Broad Street,” said Joseph J. Sweeney Jr., Deputy Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Health Care Services.

For more information, contact the Office for Community Development at (215) 790-9536.

CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.

Projects of the Archdiocese’s Office for Community Development

Visitation B.V.M. Neighborhood, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia

• The first major initiative of the Office for Community Development (OCD), completed in November 2003, was the twofold development of the Cardinal Bevilacqua Community Center and the Visitation Homes transitional housing facility for homeless women and children.[The name Visitation refers to Visitation B.V.M. Parish, which is located next door.]

Both the Cardinal Bevilacqua center and Visitation Homes are located near the intersection of Kensington and Lehigh Avenues, and operated by the Archdiocese’s Catholic Social Services.

The $5.2 million initiative was funded through Catholic Charities, private grants, foundations and a combination of federal, state and local government sources.

The initiative also included a refurbished playground adjacent to the community center, a new garden adjacent to Visitation Homes, and the greening of several nearby vacant lots.

The overall development resulted in the significant physical transformation of nearly a full block on Kensington Avenue that was once plagued by blight and illegal activity.

• Current initiatives within the area of Visitation B.V.M. Parish focus on neighborhood economic development along three blocks of Kensington Avenue and nearby residential areas. Those efforts build on the positive impact of the Cardinal Bevilacqua Community Center and Visitation Homes.

Partnerships with J. J. White, Inc., and Beneficial Savings Bank, with a combined investment of $1.5 million over a 10-year period, support a variety of current and emerging initiatives. They include the OCD’s establishment and convening of the Kensington Avenue Business Association; forthcoming Kensington Avenue streetscape enhancements; marketing of the Kensington Avenue commercial corridor; blight reduction and neighborhood beautification; the Cardinal Bevilacqua Community Center’s adult education and employment services, and a financial education and counseling program for local residents.

The J.J. White, Inc. and Beneficial Savings Bank partnerships are facilitated by the City of Philadelphia’s community development corporation tax-credit program as well as the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Neighborhood Partnership tax credit program.

St. Hugh of Cluny Neighborhood, in the Fairhill section of Philadelphia

• In the St. Hugh of Cluny Parish neighborhood, OCD is partnering with the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises (HACE) — a long-standing, local community development corporation — in rehabilitating 17 vacant houses for low-to-moderate-income homeownership.

Construction began in November 2005 on a group of five houses, which are scheduled to be completed this spring and summer.

The OCD worked with the city’s government to designate the neighborhood an Urban Renewal Zone, and subsequently acquired vacant houses through the city’s condemnation process.

The project is supported by a $340, 000 contribution from Beneficial Savings Bank, using a Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development tax-credit program.

The city Redevelopment Authority’s Homeownership Rehabilitation Program, and proceeds on the sale of the homes, cover the remaining costs.

The OCD, through St. Hugh of Cluny Parish, learned that neighborhood residents identified the rehabilitation of vacant houses and the development of affordable housing as neighborhood priorities.

The neighborhood strategic planning process, facilitated by the OCD and funded by a $25,000 grant from the city’s Office for Housing and Community Development, reinforced those priorities.

OCD works with the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises to qualify prospective buyers. A partnership with United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania gives prospective buyers an opportunity to have their savings matched 2-to-1, up to $4,000, through a federal savings program.

The OCD staff has also worked closely with its board of directors and the St. Hugh of Cluny School alumni to develop a scholarship fund that is helping to support the school as a neighborhood anchor institution.

For more information, or to make a contribution to ongoing development projects sponsored by the Office for Community Development, call (215) 587-3589.