APM Cuts Ribbon on Sheridan Street Development

Mayor Michael A. Nutter, Councilman Darrell Clarke, Deborah McColloch, and others joined Nilda Ruiz and Rose Gray in cutting a green ribbon to celebrate Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha's (APM) new environmentally friendly affordable homeownership development in Eastern North Philadelphia. The Sheridan Street Green Affordable Housing Development transformed formerly vacant land into 13 contemporary homes that will lower costs for the homeowners while strengthening the neighborhood.

The concept for Sheridan Street stemmed from the 2002 Neighborhood Revitalization Plan developed in partnership with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The plan that sought to apply smart growth and environmental sustainability best practices to eliminate blight in low-income areas.

Sheridan Street has received LEED for Homes Gold certification. LEED Gold is the second highest level in this recognized standard for measuring the sustainability of a development. Each home uses a solar hot water panel to provide water heating. Green roofs, rain barrels and turf pavers reduce stormwater runoff into Philadelphia’s Combined Sewer Overflow system. The green roofs also decrease heating and cooling costs and extend the life of the roofs.

The exterior is clad in fiber-cement board, which is resilient and contains a high level of recycled content. The interlocking L shape of the site plan organizes houses, parking spaces, and yards in a manner that maximizes use of the constrained lot size. Exterior windows are positioned to improve interior climate control.

APM partnered with Interface Studio Architects LLC (ISA) to use design and technological innovation to create an architecturally interesting and sustainable affordable housing model. The partners submitted the Sheridan Street design to Community Design Collaborative’s Affordable Infill Housing Design Challenge, which addressed policy and funding constraints for affordable housing. The design received positive jury feedback on the development’s unique style and the integration of an original design into familiar dimensions of urban townhomes. The project also won the prestigious American Institute of Architect’s top Philadelphia design prize, AIA’s Silver Medal, in 2006.

The Sheridan Street homes complement previous City investments in APM neighborhood initiatives. The multi-phase Pradera development brought new affordable housing to the neighborhood while also raising property values. The City’s investment of Community Development Block Grant funds in Borinquen Plaza, located just one block away, brought a bank, a supermarket and other shopping options to the community.

One home will be accessible to those with physical disabilities and all units will be visitable. Homes will be sold to households at 60-115% of Area Median Income with prices from $150,000-165,000. (A family of 4 at 60% AMI earns $48,240.) There are 12 three-bedroom units and one four-bedroom unit.

The City of Philadelphia provided $1.84 million in HOME and Housing Trust Fund support to the $4.57 million development.  The City also provided a $1.98 million construction loan that will be repaid with sales proceeds.  Other funders included PHFA with $500,000, Philadelphia LISC with $102,000, and The William Penn Foundation with $100,000.