Somerton residents and others who traverse Southampton Road on a regular basis might have thought they were seeing a mirage last week.

They saw towering cranes smashing, tearing and leveling buildings on the site of the former Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry, the same site that many observers believe has been neglected ‚‚ virtually abandoned ‚‚ by its owner, the state, for the last 10 years.

Finally, the demolition had begun.

Contractors hired by the state set up shop on a 22-acre piece of the 153-acre Byberry tract on Oct. 2 to start work on two garages, a laundry building and a warehouse. They began removing asbestos from all four structures, located on the south side of Southampton Road, west of Roosevelt Boulevard. The area sits between the Somerton Youth Organization and Self Help properties.

Over the next seven months, the garages and warehouse will be torn down. The laundry building will be left standing for potential use as a community recreation center, according to state Rep. George T. Kenney (R- 170th dist.).

The project will cost about $600,000. The funding will come from a 1993 capital budget allocation of $20 million that had been earmarked for a cleanup of the entire tract but was never released by Gov. Tom Ridge or his predecessor, Robert P. Casey.

DO THE DIRTY DEED

In a series of community meetings sponsored by the Somerton Civic Association last winter to discuss a proposed sale of the ground, residents voted overwhelmingly to demand that the state clean it up before any sale.

In March, the Ridge administration agreed to begin demolition at the request of Kenney, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, and state Sen. Frank A. Salvatore (R-5th dist.). The R.T. Winzinger company was awarded the contract after a sealed bidding process.

There are no immediate plans to demolish approximately 30 other buildings on the remaining 131 acres of Byberry, north of Southampton Road. But even a small step forward on the project is welcomed by the legislators and the community.

"As you enter the Somerton community, aesthetically they're the ugliest buildings, and they're what people see first," Kenney said. "They're in your face, and they're ugly."

For five-plus years, after Ridge took office in January 1995, the state money was withheld as the administration looked for a purchaser who would foot the cleanup bill, according to Kenney.

"They were hoping, over the years, that 'hey, maybe we can find a partner to re-use that site,'" Kenney said. "We argued that, in the meantime, the community should not be subjected to those ugly buildings." "It's an eyesore," Salvatore added. "They were getting people back there drinking, using drugs. They were getting back there and partying."

Ironically, days before the demolition work began, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation submitted its final redevelopment plan for the site to the Ridge administration, incorporating proposals from two private firms, U.S. One Associates and Community Sports Partners (formerly American Skating).

PIDC, a quasi-city agency, still stands to purchase the ground on behalf of itself and the two private interests, providing it is able to meet specific development requirements set forth in an agreement of sale dated Dec. 6, 1999. PIDC must seek and obtain necessary city zoning approvals as well as the approval of City Council.

FAIR DEAL

If successful, PIDC would be responsible for providing the state with $5 million in so-called "fair compensation" (including economic growth, job creation and expansion of the local tax base) within five years.

Also as part of the sale agreement, PIDC consented to give 22 acres to Community Sports Partners and 40 acres to U.S. One Associates, leaving PIDC with 90 acres. Both private companies would get their land for $1.

At the time of the agreement, Kenney and Salvatore defended the apparent land giveaway by explaining that the cost of razing the existing dilapidated buildings was greater than the inherent value of the land itself. At the time, the estimated value of the land was $50,000 per acre.

According to Craig Schelter, executive vice president of PIDC, the ground is now worth about $72,000 per acre. Advantages to potential buyers are the land's close proximity to major highways and its designation as a Keystone Opportunity Zone, allowing the developer local and state property and business tax breaks.

The ground reserved for Community Sports Partners is the same piece now being cleaned up by the state. Former Republican mayor and gubernatorial candidate Sam Katz, who now chairs the business-executive group Greater Philadelphia First, heads Community Sports Partners. The company is looking to build and manage an ice skating rink and/or indoor soccer facility, if not at Byberry, then elsewhere in the Northeast Philadelphia market.

"Certainly we want to keep the process moving," Katz said. "Whether it moves to a conclusion, it's too early to tell. We're very committed to trying to get something (in the Northeast)."

U.S. One Associates, meanwhile, has proposed everything from commercial offices to senior citizen assisted-living facilities on its piece of land. The president of the company, Richard Chikajian Jr., did not return telephone messages left for him by the Northeast Times last week.

PIDC wants to build corporate headquarters-type office buildings on its section of the land.

All three buyers, seeking community support, presented their plans to the Somerton Civic Association last winter. But the civic group voted to oppose the proposals and the terms of the land transfer.

Without consent from the immediate community, passage of the necessary City Council legislation is unlikely. City Councilman Brian O'Neill (R-10th dist.) continues to hold out for community consent before introducing Byberry legislation. "That leaves us still in limbo in terms of re-use," Kenney said. Schelter says that there have been minimal changes to the three proposals since last winter, but PIDC was obliged to submit the final plans anyway, to avoid defaulting on the agreement, which is still legally active.

"We were under a September 30th deadline to submit a final plan," Schelter said, adding that the changes were "to take into account comments from the community."

BUFFERS AND BASINS

The notable changes, Schelter said, include the creation of a landscaped buffer area along Carter Road (to the west of the site), the redistribution of water-retention basins and the dedication of a two-acre tract for the possible construction of a new city firehouse to serve the area.

Another significant change is the access drive to Katz's proposed recreation center. Formerly laid out to connect with Hornig Road in the Byberry West Industrial Park, the drive now empties onto Southampton Road.

The change is in direct opposition to the sentiment of the neighbors, who have repeatedly expressed their concern about increased traffic on Southampton Road. But the change was required because, the developers discovered, the Byberry tract does not have the necessary frontage on Hornig Road.

"With the land the state gave us, there's no possible way to get access off of Hornig Road," Schelter said. Mary Jane Hazell, president of the Somerton Civic Association, received a copy of the final plan last week. She does not foresee her organization's opposition softening.

"As far as this plan they came through with, they haven't changed, and we haven't changed," Hazell said. According to the plan, there would be 1.4 million square feet of office space and more than 6,000 parking spaces created on the 130-acre section north of Southampton Road.

"If you're going to take (all those) acres and blacktop it, it's going to cause major problems for (the Poquessing) creek and anybody who lives near it," Hazell said, "no matter how many water catch basins you have."

Hazell is willing to accept offices built along Roosevelt Boulevard but none along Southampton or Carter roads. Instead, she suggests building small senior citizen homes in those areas.

Both state legislators say they have received inquiries from developers interested in building senior housing, but they declined to name them. Schelter realizes that the situation does not look good for the existing plan. "I think there are still lots of discussion to take place," Schelter said. "We see this (plan) as meeting our moral and legal obligations to the state."

Schelter said he did not expect to "hear back" from the Ridge administration about the final plan within 45 days of the submission.

In the meantime, Hazell and the Somerton Civic Association planned to discuss the plan at their monthly general meeting last night. The meeting ended too late for inclusion in this edition of the Times.