{"id":2899,"date":"2026-07-21T15:43:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2899"},"modified":"2026-07-21T15:43:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:43:56","slug":"a-strawberry-mansion-church-will-be-redeveloped-as-affordable-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2899","title":{"rendered":"A Strawberry Mansion church will be redeveloped as affordable housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div><audio><\/audio><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Strawberry Mansion\u2019s Cornerstone Baptist Church is slated for redevelopment as an affordable apartment building with 44 units. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2897\">Westtown removes its entire historical commission after clashes over preservation: \u2018The cleanest way to deal with a lingering problem\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The sprawling church, located at 2117 N. 33rd St. on the edge of Fairmount Park, was sold earlier this year to Philadelphia-based Select Redevelopment for $1,925,000. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Most of the units will be available to those making 75% of area median income, or less than $45,000 a year for a one-person household, with some available for even less for people earning lower incomes.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>There will be 29 one-bedroom apartments, 14 two-bedrooms, and one studio. The project is estimated to cost $10 million to develop, with construction estimated to be completed in April of 2028. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Travis Seal, a principal with Select Redevelopment, says that Strawberry Mansion\u2019s historic building stock, walkability, and park access have long been underappreciated by the real estate industry. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cObviously [Strawberry Mansion] had some economic disinvestment over the second half of the 20th century, but a lot of people are waking up to the sense that neighborhoods like this are not being made every day anymore,\u201d said Seal. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Seal says that the roughly 100-year-old building \u2014 originally a synagogue called B\u2019nai Jeshurun \u2014 is actually in robust condition, better than many historic religious buildings.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re really trying to work within the existing structure because structurally, it\u2019s [in] pretty good [shape],\u201d said Seal. \u201cIt has some pretty fundamentally good bones, as opposed to churches that might be of a slightly older vintage, from the late 19th century.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The church is not historically protected by local preservation regulations \u2014 earlier proposals from other developers would have razed the building for new construction \u2014 and Select Redevelopment\u2019s project will also not require any zoning approvals to move forward. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The company has held some neighborhood meetings to gather community feedback, although it was not required to do so. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The church\u2019s closure \u201cwas a really big loss to the neighborhood in terms of just us utilizing that space,\u201d said Tonnetta Graham, the executive director of Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corporation. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Graham says that at its height Cornerstone Baptist was a huge presence in the neighborhood. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The congregation allowed its property to be used for a lot of neighborhood needs, including hosting a boxing ring, Boy Scout troops, summer camps, a community kitchen and high school graduation ceremonies. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>But as the neighborhood and congregation shrank, they could not keep up with repairs, a common reason for churches to fall into disrepair. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2895\">Colman Domingo has taken over \u2018Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u2019 and a surprise makeover is his first order of business<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Graham said there are some neighborhood concerns about the project \u2014 some would like to see evenmore affordability \u2014 and that residents would like the project to include efforts to honor Cornerstone\u2019s history. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re just happy that it\u2019s not going to be demolished,\u201d said Graham. \u201cThat\u2019s the main thing. We won\u2019t lose the actual edifice.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Redevelopment backed by innovative affordability fund<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Like many areas of North Philadelphia, Strawberry Mansion was hit hard by white flight and racist lending policies in the second half of the 20th century, which discouraged investment in the neighborhood and drove away residents. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>In 1977, the federal government passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which compelled banks to make loans in neighborhoods that had experienced redlining and other discriminatory practices. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>As part of TD Bank\u2019s federal obligations to historically divested neighborhoods under the CRA, it has formed a $25 million partnership with CEI-Boulos Capital Management and together they are helping fund the redevelopment of Cornerstone Baptist Church.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The $25 million fund with CEI-Boulos is meant to allow TD Bank to invest in affordable projects without the long wait lists for competitive Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Many affordable projects suffer delays as they wait for that federal subsidy, and some are doomed if they don\u2019t get a LIHTC award. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The CEI-Boulos partnership \u201chelps us build a pipeline of CRA eligible deals outside of that pool,\u201d said Scott Mularkey, CRA Investment Officer at TD Bank, which hopes to contribute to eight affordable projects in Philadelphia with the $25 million. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The TD Bank and CEI-Boulos fund will provide over a third of Cornerstone Baptist\u2019s redevelopment costs. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>They have previously backed a 49-unit project at 1348 S. 32nd St. in Grays Ferry and another 46-unit project at 2800 W. Diamond St., also in Strawberry Mansion.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Sam Spencer, CEO of CEI-Boulous, also argues that affordable rentalhousing is essential for Strawberry Mansion, where 57% of residents rent (compared to 45% of Philadelphia residents). <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>He also notes that 36% of residents in the census tract spend more than half their income on housing. He hopes the project will help people stay in their neighborhood.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cStrawberry Mansion has gentrification pressure,\u201d said Spencer. \u201cOur intent as a fund is to invest in projects that are going to serve current residents rather than drive current residents out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2893\">More layoffs today at ESPN, NFL Network following Ryan Clark ouster<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The project is being partly paid for as a result of the 1970s-era Community Reinvestment Act, which requires banks to invest in historically neglected areas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commercial","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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