The state Legislature, City Council and even the Somerton Civic Association have all been out of session since the start of the summer, but the state's Department of General Services and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) have been hard at work.

Last month, Department of General Services and PIDC (the city's industrial and commercial development arm) hammered out a new agreement of sale for the long-vacant former Philadelphia State Hospital, commonly known as Byberry.

Now, state Rep. George Kenney, City Councilman Brian O'Neill and Somerton Civic Association president Mary Jane Hazell are gearing up for a fall filled with debate about development on the 153-acre site at Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road.

The former psychiatric hospital was ordered closed by then-Gov. Bob Casey in the 1980s following repeated allegations of patient abuse. The last patient was released in 1990.

Under the new agreement, PIDC stands to buy about 130 acres from the state for $1. The agreement does not include a 22-acre tract that Kenney (R-170th dist.) is pushing for community recreational use.

PIDC would have 18 months to plan and get required approvals for the demolition of more than 20 existing dilapidated and environmentally hazardous buildings on the site as well as the redevelopment of the land. Otherwise, the agreement would become void.

The state makes no commitment in the agreement to fund any of the demolition work, which will cost an estimated $15 million to $22 million. Unoccupied, the land would be worth between $75,000 and $100,000 an acre, according to Paul Deegan, senior vice president of PIDC.

Liking the deal

Despite the costly environmental concerns, PIDC feels that the new agreement offers it the best possible scenario.

"It's a pretty good agreement," Deegan said. "We have the responsibility of coming up with all of the funding for demolition, but that's what we do. It's what we did with Byberry East and Byberry West."

Byberry East and West are both former hospital-owned properties that PIDC redeveloped in the 1970s and '80s for commercial and industrial use.

Hazell, a Democratic committeewoman in the 58th Ward, said she was impressed by PIDC's willingness to compromise with the community on those developments, so she is optimistic about PIDC's participation in the current project.

"I know I can deal with PIDC," Hazell said. "I have dealt with PIDC."

Like the earlier developments, PIDC envisions corporate or light-industrial uses for the 130 acres included in the agreement. Twenty-five of those acres would be preserved as a natural buffer zone between new development and neighboring homes.

Of particular interest to the PIDC, Deegan said, is the long stretch of land along busy Roosevelt Boulevard.

"I think the Boulevard frontage is the really big thing here," Deegan said.

PIDC has no "definite" corporate buyers or tenants lined up for the ground, but the agency has received a steady stream of inquiries from commercial real estate agents in recent years, Deegan added.

As a designated Keystone Opportunity Zone, companies moving into Byberry would benefit from property tax and business tax exemptions through 2011.

Hazell weighs in on plans

Hazell has no problem with corporate offices or similar development along the Boulevard, but she also supports residential development toward the rear of the property, closer to existing homes on Carter Road. The civic leader favors new single and twin homes with a 55-and-over age restriction.

Hazell believes that age-restricted housing is a hot commodity on the real estate market.

"There are developers lined up. They haven't contacted me, but they're just lined up waiting to get into a fifty-five plus community," she said.

Kenney and O'Neill both indicated that they would support whatever development the community determines is acceptable.

The agreement of sale is actually PIDC's second attempted purchase of Byberry land in less than three years.

In December 1999, the agency was part of an agreement of sale with the state, along with two other buyers. Those were a company headed by former Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz and a firm led by prominent Philadelphia area developer Mark Mendelson.

That deal died under opposition from Somerton Civic, which was backed by O'Neill (R-10th dist.). Hazell raised questions of political favoritism involving Katz and Mendelson, who was a significant contributor to both major political parties.

Unlike that agreement, which took effect simply on the signatures of the involved parties, any new agreement must gain approval from the state Legislature as well. That can't happen until Kenney introduces a bill when the House reconvenes in Harrisburg next month.

Kenney wants details

That won't be an "automatic" for the local lawmaker, however. First, he says he wants to get a clearer picture from PIDC about what its intentions are with the ground.

"I'm not sure if you asked them, that they'd really have any concrete plans," Kenney said. "My concern is, they don't do speculative buildings (without knowing who might move into them)."

Also, Kenney wants Gov. Mark Schweiker to transfer the aforementioned 22-acre parcel not included in the agreement from the Department of General Services to the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. That way, he maintains, the ground will be protected for recreational use, and it will match up with adjacent state park ground.

"To protect the community, that should be transferred to state park land," he said.

A former hospital laundry building is the only structure remaining on the parcel. According to the lawmaker, inspectors have determined that it is beyond practical repair and cannot be converted for recreational use. It will cost an estimated $800,000 to remove the building as well as some underground service tunnels beneath it.

As with the last round of redevelopment proposals, traffic control remains a high priority for all parties involved. Congestion issues in the Somerton area have already reached crisis proportions, most agree. Any new proposal must contain strict limitations on the quantity and flow of traffic through the area.

"Traffic is an absolute nightmare in the community," Kenney said.

"In doing site plans, part of it is a traffic study," Deegan added. "Hopefully, we can keep traffic out of the neighborhoods. That's upper-most in (residents') minds."