Little new information about the Liddonfield property sale has trickled to leaders of the Upper Holmesburg Civic Association, according to the neighborhood group’s president, Stan Cywinski.
Yet, the community should not interpret the lull as an opportunity to forget about the sale for a while, Cywinski said during the UHCA’s monthly meeting on Thursday.
On the contrary, neighbors should unify and prepare to fight for the “Holy Family proposal” that the civic group has officially endorsed.
“[The Philadelphia Housing Authority] needs money, and I don’t think the Holy Family proposal is going to be the wealthiest proposal they’ve received,” Cywinski said.
As reported earlier this month in the Times, Holy Family University has teamed with a developer in a plan to buy the 35-acre, former public housing site and convert it into a combination of uses including faculty or student residences, assisted living apartments for seniors and athletic fields.
Holy Family and its partner, BSI Construction, presented their concept publicly at a UHCA meeting in January and at an on-campus news conference early this month. City Councilman Bobby Henon, other elected officials and other area civic associations also support the plan.
PHA, which owns the property, has not identified other bidders or their alternate proposals publicly. Cywinski cautioned last week that some proposals might include low-income or high-density housing that might generate more income for the developer and for PHA, but might not be in neighbors’ best interests.
The UHCA president also revealed that the civic group is planning a fund-raiser to create a legal fund. More details should be announced at the group’s next general meeting on Thursday, March 15, at 7 p.m., at St. Dominic’s Marian Hall, 8504 Frankford Ave. ••
